Chapter 145

“Where are you taking me?”
Adam couldn’t help but ask the question as the Mother dragged him along the hallways, a gun to his head. It was awfully convenient for her that all of the fighting was going on in other parts of the building so that the Quebecian troops were all pulled away from where she was forcing him to march in front of her.
“Shut your mouth, Twenty-four C, and walk,” she said.
“Or what? You’re going to shoot me? I find that unlikely.” The muzzle of the gun was practically buried in his brain stem, she had it shoved up so hard against him, her other arm wrapped around his midsection. She was strong, but he knew he could overpower her. It was just a matter of how fast she could pull that trigger.
Something told him she was probably pretty fast.
“It seems awfully stupid of you to assume I won’t shoot you under the circumstances,” she replied, her stale breath hitting him in the side of the face.
“Not really. I mean… you clearly want me for something, or you would’ve killed me back there like you killed Lightning,” he argued.
“For now, you just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and leave the reasoning to me, okay? You think you’re pretty smart for someone who spent much of his existence with his naked ass strapped to a chair.”
The comment might’ve stung if he had any respect for this woman whatsoever. But since he didn’t, her opinion didn’t matter.
What did matter was where she was taking him, though. He had a feeling she was taking him someplace as part of a barter of some sort. With whom, he didn’t know, but she had to think whoever she wanted to get something from would want him more than, say, Lightning.
So… that didn’t leave a lot of people.
She hadn’t been looking for any ol’ hostage.
She’d been looking for him.
And there was only one person who came to mind who fit that description.
But it didn’t make sense. What did Rain have that this Mother could possibly want?
Unless Rain had the data. Was it possible that Lightning made two copies, and this Mother knew that? There could be cameras in the office. Maybe she saw Lightning give the data to Rain, so she was trying to keep her from leaving. Was she just taking a guess that Rain cared about him based on the fact that they’d been fighting together?
Or did this Mother somehow know more about them than she should?
If that was the case--if somehow this Mother knew that Rain loved him and he loved her--he couldn’t let her drag him to where they were headed. It could only end poorly for Rain, and he didn’t want that.
He needed to find a way to overpower her and get away.
“How do you know my number, anyway?” he asked, trying to get some information out of the woman. “I’ve never seen you in IW.”
“Just because you haven’t seen me doesn’t mean I haven’t seen you,” she said.
“So you must be a pretty high-ranking officer then, huh?”
“Shut up, Twenty-four C,” Her reply was gruff. “We are not friends, and we are not chatting.”
“Oh, I know we’re not friends. I mean, I don’t usually let my friends hold a gun to my head, you know?”
The Mother jabbed the gun into his neck even harder, but she didn’t respond. Adam winced but tried not to let her know how much it hurt.
Over the speaker system, he heard a voice say, “Rain Gretchintown, report to The Bridge immediately.” Adam sucked in his breath. So that’s where they were going, for certain, and they were definitely meeting Rain, which meant that this was a barter.
He needed to make sure they didn’t make it that far.
With the end of the gun wedged against his neck, Adam knew any movement at all was almost a guarantee that he was going to be shot in the neck. With quick medical attention, he might live, but it would probably sever his spinal cord or maybe even blow his brainstem to hell, and both of those situations would be pretty bad as far as being a productive member of society was concerned.
He needed a distraction. One that wasn’t related to Rain. If only the fighting was happening closer to where they were, maybe something could happen to draw her attention away from him for just a second. That’s all he needed.
Otherwise, he was just going to have to try his best to get away from her without getting shot. If he did get shot, if it saved Rain, it would be worth it.
Adam started dragging his feet, trying to stall, to give him more time to think of something.
“Walk, Twenty-four C!” the Mother shouted, giving him a knee to the backside. “Any attempts you make at delay or getting away will end with you dead, and I’ll still capture the girl.”
Capture? She’d said ‘capture,’ not kill. Why would she want to capture Rain? To torture her? To try and get more information from her?
“Why do you want her?” he asked, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible. If he could appear to be serene, maybe she would be more likely to talk, to trust him.
“It’s not your business, now is it, Dick?”
So much for that.
“Well, if you want me to go along with you and make this easier on you, maybe I need a reason. Do you think I’m just going to let you drag me in there to make me a bartering chip to take Rain and kill her? You do know I’d rather die than let that happen, don’t you?”
“You’d rather die?” The Mother scoffed, but then she was quiet for a moment. “That’s not true,” she finally said. “You wouldn’t die for her.”
“Of course I would,” Adam argued. “I love Rain. I’d do anything for her.” She said nothing, only prodded him along. “Haven’t you ever loved anyone before, Mother?”
“No.” Her answer came quickly enough that time, “Not a person. Only the country. Only the Motherhood.”
Before he could even consider what her reaction might be, Adam found himself saying, “That’s really sad.”
“No, it’s not,” she said in her defense. “You don’t understand what it’s like to be a part of something like the Motherhood, to know that I’m fulfilling the destiny of all womankind.”
“While it’s true I don’t understand,” Adam said, “I wonder… does the Motherhood love you? I mean, if you die here, who is going to be upset? A lot of Mothers have died here today. Have you cried for any of them? Has anyone?”
“That’s not the point!” She jabbed him in the neck again. “It isn’t about crying. Crying is for the weak.”
“Crying is for the sad, too. People who miss loved ones. People who understand that, contrary to what the Mothers might say, we only get one chance at this life.”
“Well, I guess you’re about to find out,” she said.
Adam saw a door up ahead on the right. It was so well hidden in the wall, it would have been difficult to see if there wasn’t a bright light glowing beneath it.
If he was going to get out of this situation, it was now or never.
Adam jerked his head forward at the same time as he threw his elbow back into the Mother, aiming for her ribs. He hoped he got his head out of the way in time and that the impact was enough to knock her backward.
But this Mother was one tough mother. The elbow did nothing, and as her grip tightened around him, Adam felt a sharp pain in his head.
Then everything went black.