Tortured Read Free Page A

but he could see the fear and stress in her troubled gaze. He accepted her help with putting on the shirt, which billowed slightly behind him. Then he dipped his head into the strap of his pack, straightening to lift its weight and shift it to the most comfortable place along his chest.
    Genevieve reached for the water belt and slung it over her shoulder. “I can take this as far as the wall for you.”
    He didn’t argue with her. Donning his hat, he took a last glance down at the table with its bowl of reddish water, the dirty towel, and Myrna’s tools. Myrna was regarding him gravely, but she held out a hand to shake his.
    “Good luck,” she said simply.
    Mabrother Cho lifted a hand in silent farewell.
    Strangely moved, Leon reached past the cook to snag a last slice of apple from the bowl.
    “Thanks,” he said.
    The cook gave a twisted smile. “Get going, then.”
    Leon followed Genevieve out the back door of the kitchen, past the rubbish barrels and the empty crates left from deliveries. The night was edging toward dawn, and Genevieve’s white sweater was visible as muted gray over her slender form, sliced by the black of the belt and canteens over her shoulder. As they headed uphill, side by side through the dim, cobblestone streets, he watched warily for guards, still not trusting that he was safe with his mother. The open space of Summit Park was quiet except for a lone cricket, and from that elevation, the high point of the Enclave, he had a view out toward the wasteland, where the horizon was visible as a line of gray meeting with faint pink above. Vast seemed the wasteland, and trackless. Finding Gaia was going to be nearly impossible.
    The alternative was staying in the Enclave and waiting for the moment his adoptive father decided to put an end to him once and for all.
    They left the park and headed down the last curving streets. The occasional streetlights flickered on as they approached, triggered by sensors. At one corner, a mute camera was aimed at the intersection.
    “He’s watching us go, isn’t he?” Leon asked.
    “Yes,” Genevieve said. “He’ll paint you as a coward and a traitor, but you’ll be safe. You’ll be gone.”
    He glanced at her profile. “He can’t be very happy with you,” he said.
    “I’m not very pleased with him, either,” she said, and smiled. “Don’t worry about me.”
    He considered that. “I will, though.”
    She laughed briefly. “Just so you know, Emily turned in the ledgers tonight. I just heard, when I was gathering your things.”
    “Did they give back her baby?”
    “No. Miles advanced the baby. He thinks she had a copy of the birth records made. She had enough time.”
    Leon stared ahead to where the wall that surrounded the Enclave was coming into view. Gaia’s friend Emily must be frantic about her advanced son, and she’d be helpless against the injustice of the Enclave. He was glad Gaia didn’t know, for he was certain she would blame herself if she did.
    “See what you can do about that,” Leon said.
    “I will. I’ll try. But we also need to be sure our children are secure.”
    “It proves Gaia didn’t take the ledgers with her,” Leon said. “I know.”
    “So will he call off the search for her?”
    “That I don’t know. She’s still a criminal for stealing them in the first place,” Genevieve said.
    “Advancing the babies in the first place, though,” he said dryly. “That doesn’t count as theft?”
    “You know it doesn’t,” Genevieve said. “That’s completely different.”
    “Tell that to Emily.”
    “No, you think it over yourself,” she said, “and imagine what your life would have been like if we hadn’t raised you.”
    He laughed bitterly. “You can still say that, when my father has just had me tortured for four days?”
    She paused, and he was compelled to turn beside her. “I’m not going to try to excuse him,” she said. “But can we not argue about him? Just for now?”
    He could make out her