The Underground Read Free Page A

discreetly, staring outside.
    Nathaniel was sure they were coming for him! They found out about the book!
    The Good Samaritan was gone before Nathaniel had a chance to thank him for the warning. Peering out the storefront window, he saw a man being dragged away by the Tasers with his mouth duct-taped. It was a common sight, but Nathaniel never grew accustomed to it.
    Nathaniel wondered how many Parties of Availability that guy attended. He looked decent enough – not overweight, but still he clearly didn’t get picked for marriage.  
    That could be me, Nathaniel realized before gingerly stepping outside and heading to work. A few minutes later, he walked in the door of the Cambridge Public Works and breathed a sigh of relief, though he was still rattled. He couldn’t wipe away the look on that guy’s face as he was being dragged away.
    Nathaniel tried to force that image from his head, but realized how goddamn lucky he was to have Janice.
    Nathaniel’s thoughts consumed him as he walked down the corridor, and the more he tried to suppress his true feelings, the more he could not. His blood boiled at the thought of that man going through a horror. Still, abuse of men was considered the norm.
    On top of everything, Nathaniel now worked for the Queen’s daughter, Shayla Smith, at the Cambridge Public Works. People claimed she wasn’t as extreme as her mother, but Nathaniel didn’t trust workplace gossip.
    After the chaos he witnessed on the way to work, he relished the silence of walking alone through the hallway. He needed it. The only sound was the echo of his shoes on the cement floor, with each step. The hallway walls were off-white, lined with photos of woman supervisors in action. There was a consistent theme to the pictures: Supervisors yelling through a megaphone, giving orders to the staff of nervous men. He knew that feeling and hated it. He stopped looking at the photos and moved a little more quickly, but then paused as he approached Shayla Smith’s office. She had hardly been there a few weeks, and her freshly engraved nameplate shined and greatly contrasted the oversized steel office door to which it was affixed.
    SHAYLA SMITH, CHIEF OFFICER, CAMBRIDGE PUBLIC WORKS
    Maybe it should say: “The Queen’s Daughter – Better Kiss her Ass”
    He pulled out a coffee from his brown paper bag as he stared at her nameplate but realized his bag was still heavy. He discovered a second coffee and muffin. Nathaniel supposed it was Chester’s way of offering comfort.
    Nathaniel looked down the hall, both ways, and impulsively set down the extra cup of coffee and muffin in front of her door before hurrying along to meet Brigg.
    He didn’t know what made him do it, but less than thirty seconds later he thought it was a mistake. They’d probably fingerprint the cup and come arrest him, somehow manipulating a simple gesture of kindness into Nathaniel stalking her. He turned back and thought of retrieving it, but it looked tiny from a distance. He took two steps toward it but stopped.
    Nathaniel decided he couldn’t live in fear of everything. Besides, how much trouble could giving a coffee and muffin possibly cause?

Chapter 4
    “Couldn’t you at least have warned me?” the Queen said stiffly to her daughter. “Hiding my surprise from the reporters wasn’t easy.”
    “Can you please take me off speakerphone, mother?”
    “I’m getting dressed for a meeting. Sorry, but I just want to understand why you didn’t tell me. I’ve got enough to deal without being surprised by something my daughter should have told me.”
      “Must we rehash this every time we talk?” Shayla said. She couldn’t believe that her mother was still harping on the fact that a few weeks earlier she had chosen to become head of the Cambridge Public Works.
    “I promise not to bring it up again if you answer my question. Why didn’t you tell me that you were taking this job?”
      “Because I thought you’d try to talk me out of