Her Rebel

Shit. This is a big-wig, or someone very close to the big-wigs.

This is trouble.

Taking a deep breath, I get myself under control. This is not going to bring me down. No basic blonde bitch of a temporary Regime is going to sabotage what I’ve done. Digging through her bag, I see there’s no phone, but I checked everyone for phones and cameras as they entered the studio. What I do find in the blonde bitch’s bag is a spy camera. It’s disguised as a metal stud in the bag’s trim, but there it is.

She’d no doubt taken footage of everyone in the class while they were checking in. Anger flashes through me and I grab hold of the camera’s tiny lens and destroy the camera. Then I grab a magnet closure from a nearby bag to erase the digital storage that might be left on it. The basic hardware of the bag is left intact, but the tape will contain nothing.

Once I’m finished, I put everything back exactly the way it was before. Then I turn off the water and return to class.

I go about the class like everything is normal. The new girl follows along with the flow at a decent enough pace. She’s fit and lean with very little fat on her for an elite. But this is not the average, soft member of elite society. This is an agent.

I place my hand at the small of the suspected informant’s back, then put my other hand on her shoulder. Without words, I adjust the woman’s position so the twist goes a little deeper. Then millimeter by millimeter, I adjust her neck, then shoulders, then hips. The adjustments are barely noticeable, but they’re enough to do the job.

After class, everyone leaves without incident. I pack up the supplies and cover them with the shabby painter’s tarp in the corner before heading to the locker room. I change into my scrubs as if nothing is out of the ordinary and clock into work right on time. But in the back of my mind, I know I need to hit the supply room as soon as possible.

Chapter Eleven

Minnie

The pregnancy stick shows a plus sign. There’s no doubt about it, I’m pregnant.

“Oh shit,” I whisper, and toss the stick into the trash of the employee bathroom. I bury it with paper towels so no one can see it. You can’t get a condom these days, but damn, if you want a pregnancy test, the Regime is giving them away at every turn. Literally, there’s a free dispenser of test sticks in just about every women’s public restroom.

My emotions are all over the place. I’m excited and scared all at once. I have a piece of the man I love inside of me, something made by the two of us that’s a piece of our forever.

I know after this morning’s events with the spy, I have to close up shop. I can only hope that the physical adjustments I made to her during class will be enough to cause her a lot of fatigue and maybe even aches in places that won’t allow her to run to the Regime right away. She should be in a good amount of pain since her muscles have had time to rest. It was an asshole thing to do, but I have to give myself as much time as possible. I can’t have her running off to her superiors even if I’ve damaged her evidence.

Worst-case scenario, there are no photos and no way to follow the money. I only took cold hard cash and goods as payment for the classes. It’s a good thing this secret occupation has been bringing in a little extra cash. I’m going to need it now that I’m having a baby. My hand goes to my stomach in a protective hold. I’d do anything and everything for this little one inside me. And I know Owen will feel exactly the same.

It’s a slow Friday morning in the emergency room, so I park myself in front of the television in the hall by the nurses’ station. My mind wanders elsewhere though. While the people on television prattle on about some official business, my thoughts drift to the woman I discovered in my class.

The informant wouldn’t die, but what I did was enough to give her an explosive migraine from hell and knock her out of commission for a day. Hopefully that and lack of evidence will give me enough time to alert Owen so he can get things moved. Or I might have to shut down completely, at least for a while. I know I can’t go running to him right now or it puts us all in jeopardy. All I can do is hope that what I did was enough to buy the precious time we need.