Pipe Dreams Read Free Page B

his left and looked with longing toward the closed curtains at the back of the living room. Behind them lay his private quarters and the comfort of his bed.
    Scanning the room for Ashley, his eyes softened as he took in the heavy shelves in the library. Made from cinderblocks and wooden planks, they formed three substantial walls filled with books in every genre and category. Armchairs, reading lamps, and a rectangular coffee table made of rich, dark wood complimented oriental style rugs colored in reds, blues, and greens. In the children’s section, bright cushions were scattered between baskets filled with storybooks.
    Ashley was curled on her favorite couch, her body tiny against the oversized cushions. He approached and tenderly stroked her long, blond hair.
    “Rough day, huh?” he asked. She didn’t reply.
    “Come on, girl. Get past it.” 
    “Just leave me alone, Jeremy.”
    “Can ’t we talk?”
    Her eyes snapped open and she glared at him. “No. There’s nothing to talk about. Aren’t you the one who told me I needed to learn to shut my mouth?”
    Jeremy pursed his lips and straightened his shoulders. Without another word, he turned and went back to the tunnel. There was one more thing to do before he could rest for the night. With a hand trailing the wall to his left, he counted doors until he reached the one he wanted. When it opened, a cool light illuminated the blackness and the smell of warm, wet soil filled his nostrils. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. If he prayed, the success of this room would be his prayer.
    Long, rectangular boxes, lined with plastic and filled with dirt, covered the floor in rows. Soft, white lights hung from the ceiling above them. Michael bent over a box where tender leaves uncurled on tiny, green seedlings. Jeremy smiled as Michael’s fingers moved nimbly in the dirt, carefully thinning them.
    “Think they ’ll make it this time?” Jeremy asked.
    “They ’re lookin’ good so far.”  Michael replied.
    Across the aisle, Mariah worked with squash and potatoes. Jon bent over the salad garden where lettuce, spinach, chard, and kale grew in a lush riot of green. After losing the first crops to their inexperience, they had read everything they could find on gardening, grow lights, and vegetables. They couldn ’t afford any more mistakes.
    Walking the rows, Jeremy bent his long, narrow frame to avoid the low hanging lights as he documented the crops. Then he inspected the bins that held the organic seed packets, fertilizer, and spare parts for the drip irrigation system. If the mice got to them, they wouldn’t have another chance. Finally, he checked the thermostats and returned to the basement.
    It was a bounty. Mariah had led them to it. Before the rebellion changed everything, she had been putting herself through school and raising her daughter on her own. Needing extra cash, she had become a small time dealer. Through an acquaintance, she had met Charlie and, when they fell in love, he had shared his sanctuary – a giant, underground facility for growing marijuana inside the city. The basement was a fortress of solitude. City Hall didn’t have the plans. Power and water companies didn’t know it existed. Illegal and secret taps into the city mains fueled the enterprise.
    The tunnel was the result of Charlie ’s elaborate design. Since the cell had destroyed the freight elevator, there was no other entrance, unless you counted the escape tunnel that opened into an old branch off the sewer main that few knew still existed. The entrance to that tunnel was closed and locked now. Jeremy had the only key. After Charlie was killed in the second purge, Mariah had brought the cell here. It had become home.
     

 
    CHAPTER 5
     
     
    Behind his metal desk, Detective Ramirez rubbed his eyes. The office was his prison, the job his living hell. Sighing, he opened the file on his desk, unimpressed by its contents.
     
    Name:   Vanessa Kovalic
    Race: