Chapter 55: Diogo

"The prisoner is yours." I say, stopping by Jorje's office. He sits back in his chair and stares at me. "I want any and all information on the rebellion. You have my permission to take whatever steps are necessary to get the information. Don't kill him yet."
I don't wait for an answer. I don't need to. Jorje will do his job, he'll get what he can out of Gunther. Before I leave though, he calls out to me.
"We got someone in lockup you should know about." I turn back to him and raise a brow in question. "Picked her up as a known rebel and you have her flagged in the paperwork as a friend to Mrs. Fuentes. Name's Emery Bailer."
I nod and consider him for a moment. I'm eager to get back to Taran. I've vowed not to go anywhere without her, yet in her weakened state I wasn't able to bring her with me. I placed a guard in the apartment and another on the outside of our door. I didn't want to pull resources from my security team, but Taran's safety is more important.
"Where is she being held?" I ask.
"I had her segregated from the other female prisoners and put her in interrogation room three when you came in. Figured you'd want to talk to her."
I grunt my acknowledgment. As usual, Jorje is correct in his assumption. He may not approve of Taran, or of my taking a known rebel as a wife, but he'll do his duty to his dying breath.
"I want any information you get out of Gunther right away." I turn and leave his office, heading for the interrogation rooms.
Emery Bailer sits in a chair, her hands cuffed to the table in front of her, her back straight and her eyes on the door. Despite the undoubtedly uncomfortable position, she looks as steadfast and resolute as the last time I saw her. When she recognizes me her expression becomes worried. Her eyes dart behind me as I take the seat across from her. I'm reminded of Taran's interrogation. Of leaning over to take her hands in mine and threatening her.
I wonder how this interrogation will go, how Emery will respond. She'll have to be careful with her words, and, depending on her answers, I may be able to help her. For Taran's sake. But first and foremost, I need answers. We are not on the same side, we have different agendas, and my role as Warlord has to come above her friendship with my wife. She's high up in the rebellion and I'm the Authority.
Still, I feel protective toward her, an extension of my feelings for Taran toward the woman that took her into her home and cared for her like family. "Are you alright, Ms. Bailer?" I ask her.
She narrows her eyes, perhaps trying to divine my thoughts from the simple question. Then she sighs and shifts in her chair. "I'm worried about Taran," she says, looking at me sharply for a reaction.
I don't give her any. Instead, I say, "I need information on the explosion. Were you part of the plot to bring the wall down?"
A flash of fear shows in her eyes, giving her a haunted look. Then it's gone, and she sits in silence refusing to answer. Is she afraid of the consequences should she be found guilty of being implicit in the rebel plot? Or is something else frightening her?
"The explosion was extremely effective, Ms. Bailer. It'll take months to get enough of the wall back up to keep the Primitives out."
Again, the flash of fear, and, if I'm not mistaken, regret. Fuck. She must've been involved somehow. Not something I want to hear. I want to find a way to get Taran's friend out of police custody, or, if that fails, a lighter sentence. But it's starting to look like she's guilty.
"W-was anyone hurt?" she asks tentatively, allowing the regret from her eyes to leak into her voice.
She was definitely involved.
"Tell me about the bombing," I say softly, keeping the accusation from my voice.
She flinches at the word ‘bombing,' then lifts her eyes to mine. There are tears in them. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. I was told that you were keeping Taran prisoner, that she was extremely unhappy and had nearly killed herself trying to escape from the Tower. You refused to let her come home and I couldn't visit."
Though I keep my face wiped of expression, anger rushes through me at the lies being spread about my wife. Though I have placed restrictions on her movements, she is not my prisoner. I will do anything to ensure her happiness. I don't tell Emery this. I don't have to explain myself or my relationship. Instead, I say, "Tell me what happened."
She nods and shrugs her face into her shoulder, wiping a tear on her sleeve. She composes herself before speaking. "I was told that we had the opportunity to get Taran back, that she wanted to come back into the fold. It was a dangerous plan that involved taking Taran over the wall to meet with some people that could protect her. I wasn't privy to the entire plan. By the time I'd started voicing my doubts it was too late."
"Too late for what?"
"The plan was already in action. A woman, a rebel with more extreme tendencies than most of the rest of us, was on her way to the wall with a bag full of explosives. Directly after the explosion, news reached us that the men were heading into the foothills to meet with with Taran." She avoids saying Gunther's name, not knowing that I'm well aware of who took my wife.
"You're wrong," I say coldly.
Her brow wrinkles in confusion. "Wrong?"
"There is something you could've done. You could've come to the Authority with your story. You could have prevented that explosion."
"I didn't know it was a bomb meant to blow up the wall! I was told it was just a small distraction, so we could get Taran out of the Tower and out of the city."
"What kind of distraction do you think is going to be good enough to take my attention away from my wife?" I ask, allowing her to hear my impatience with her willful naivety. "It wouldn't take anything less than a full bomb and the shattering of our main defense against the Primitives to swerve my attention from Taran."
She shudders and drops her eyes, her shoulders slumping under the weight of her complicity.
"One of my men was killed by a horde in the desert. Ripped apart limb from limb and then shot to save him the misery of turning. He was killed defending the city from the Primitives attracted by the explosion." She lets out a sob that shakes her thin frame. "Two people have been reported missing. I was told that they were last seen near the western wall, prior to the explosion."
She gasps and lifts tear-filled eyes to me. "Wall guard?" she asks.
"Civilians."
I turn away from her and leave the room, the sound of her sobs following me.