“Excuse me,” interrupted Mia, flushed with anger and embarrassment, “what is it you think I should know?”
Leslie just stared angrily, looking like she wanted to hit John. He ignored her and said, “Look, Mia . . . I don’t want you to think that we’re just a bunch of idiots bumbling around, in over our heads. Maybe that’s what the movement was in the early stages, when we had no clue what they were or what they were capable of. It’s different now. We know our adversary well. And we have help –”
“Help from the Ks?” interrupted Mia, her heart beating faster at the thought.
“From the Ks,” confirmed John. “As I told you before, they’re not all the same. Some of them believe it’s wrong, the way the Ks have come to this planet to steal it from us . . . to enslave our population. They want to help us – to share their technology with us, to help us advance until we become their equals –”
“They’re like the PETA version of the Ks,” said Leslie, giving in to the inevitable, but with a frown still on her face. “We call them KETHs – Ks for the Ethical Treatment of Humans.”
“KETHs, or Keiths, to make it easier to pronounce,” clarified John.
Mia stared at them in amazement. He’d hinted at their powerful allies before, but this clearly went beyond just one or two rogue K individuals.
“What kind of pull do the Keiths have within their society?” she asked, trying to put it all into perspective.
“Not a ton,” admitted John.
“They’re kind of a fringe group, from what we understand,” added Leslie. “But they do have access to K technology, and they supply us with what we need to stay ahead – the scanning tools we use, the shielding technology . . .”
“But to what end?” asked Mia, still not comprehending. “So you run around unseen – or not, as we learned today – but what can a fringe group do to really make a difference? You still can’t fight them, even if you have a few bug scanning devices. Unless –”
She gasped in realization.
“Unless they were supplying us with more than a few scanning devices, that’s right,” John said helpfully.
“That’s enough, John,” Leslie said in a harsh tone. “Now she knows as much as most members of our group. If you tell her anything else and she gets caught –”
John sighed. “Leslie’s right. Your lover already knows everything we’ve told you so far. I can’t tell you anything else without putting you in danger. In even greater danger, I mean . . .”
Mia nodded in understanding. There was no reason for her to know the parti
culars of the Resistance plans. The last thing she needed was to be tortured for information. Of course, she had no idea if she could withstand even the threat of torture. Just the thought of Korum being angry with her was frightening in and of itself.
“Okay, then,” she said. “I have to ask you one thing . . . Since your security is not as good as you thought it was, is there a chance that Korum could know about me? Did you talk about me at any time in that place in Brooklyn? Because if you did –”
“No, Mia, you’re safe.” John understood immediately where she was leading. “There’s always a chance that he could know . . . but I really doubt it. You’re our secret weapon. I’ve never spoken about you with anyone. Except for Jason – and Leslie, who happened to be with me today when I saw your email – no one knows that you’re working for us.”
Seeing the surprised look on Mia’s face, he explained, “I didn’t want to put you in any unnecessary danger. If we were to get caught and interrogated, your name would not come up.”
He paused, apparently thinking about his next words. “And, frankly, I wasn’t sure you would be able to come across anything useful. What you just told us today is so far above my expectations . . . I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful we are. You see, tonight we were supposed to have a final brainstorming session – more than thirty of our top fighters were scheduled to attend. Korum must know about this . . . We talked about it in the last meeting – the one that you partially saw. If he had ambushed us tonight, he could have dealt a serious blow to the movement. You probably saved many lives today, Mia.”
Mia looked at him, her cheeks flaming with mixed emotions. She was glad she could help the Resistance and hugely relieved that her secret was safe for now. But she was also a little offended at his low opinion of her capabilities. Then again, it was sheer luck that she’d stumbled upon this information today. Prior to this, she really had been useless to the movement, so she could hardly blame him for thinking that.
“All right,” she said. “I hope that you can reschedule whatever you’ve got planned for tonight. Korum said he may not be home at all this evening, so whatever he’s doing is probably big.”
Chapter 11
“Hey stranger, welcome back!”
Jessie had apparently gotten her email and came home, bubbling with enthusiasm.
Mia grinned back and gave her roommate a big hug, genuinely happy to see her cheerful face. Her meeting with the Resistance fighters had left her unsettled, and Jessie was exactly the distraction she needed.
“So tell me,” Jessie joked, “how did the big bad K let you come out for a night? I was sure he was keeping you under lock and key there.”
Mia flushed. It was a little too close to the truth for comfort. Shrugging, she said, “I think he has to work this evening or something. He wasn’t sure if he’d be home at all, so he suggested we hang out.”
“Wow, how nice of him,” Jessie said, comically widening her eyes. “Do you know what this means?”