Noel was jittery at the wheel, and the car jerked down the gusty streets. Gabi slumped in her seat, grateful that Noel was too anxious to make conversation. He had only driven a handful of times. The nurse’s salary his mother earned and the little they got from the Veterans Fund after his father’s death wasn’t nearly enough to cover fuel costs, which had quadrupled in the last four years alone. The water resources necessary to force natural gas out of the earth now that all the oil wells were dry, not to mention the expense of purging the toxins leached into the soil and groundwater in the aftermath of fracking, had driven the cost of a fuel ration up over three hundred dollars a gallon. Fuel rations for councilmembers and the allotment needed for Witness teams to get to their base camps were covered by the fellowship, but everyone else had to pay.
“Don’t tell my mom how you got here, okay?” Noel said as he turned into the parking lot by the plaza. “She’d kill me if she knew I took the car without asking.” He came to a stop and flicked on the overhead light to peer at her. “I’d walk you in, but if she saw me….”
With an impatient snarl, Gabi wrenched the passenger-side door open and began forcing herself through the gusts shearing across the plaza, not even bothering to slam the door behind her.
Gabi’s destination was not, in fact, the Care Center. She was determined to find her father in his office and demand he tell her the truth about her mother, but there was no way she was going to let Noel know that she believed him. She was convinced he would race back to his good buddy Bradley and share all the delicious details of her collapse in the kitchen. The headlights from Noel’s car lit the plaza, and a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed he was watching her walk away.
Gabi knew that her father would be working for another couple of hours if he kept to his usual schedule. Councilmembers met at the beginning and end of each day to evaluate reports from Witness teams in the field. These meetings had an official start time but were open-ended as it was impossible to know what might need to be dealt with swiftly, and it was important to have good news for the bulletins. The entire fellowship read these updates avidly, as the Witness work was not only a top priority for the spiritual mission of Unitas, but a matter of security. The Tribes were a violent lot who’d been raiding and fighting their way into the protected zones since the formation of the fellowship.
As Gabi marched into the teeth of the wind, she knew if she were to trust Sam with righting the wrongs at the Care Center, she had to know who he and she really were. The possibility that her mother was not her real mother dealt only a glancing blow. Therese was a face in a photograph, a handful of stories her father and Gram told her. Nothing would be lost to her that hadn’t already been taken the night Therese died. But to lose her father and Mathew? To know she was no more connected to them, or even Gram, than she was to any of the hunched figures rushing by her on the plaza? The thought pained her, but if she couldn’t keep herself together, she was never going to learn the truth.
Noel was still there, she noticed, as she arrived at the double doors of the Care Center. Still watching her. She’d been hoping he would have driven off by now so she wouldn’t have to go through the charade of stepping inside and fielding pointed questions from Officer Katz. It wasn’t until she’d walked through the doors that Noel finally backed out of the parking spot, and by then Officer Katz was already rounding the desk with an intent frown.
“Gabi!” Katz said. “You’re looking a bit better. The new dose must be agreeing with you. But should you really be back out in this weather so soon?”
“Hi, Officer Katz!” Gabi said in what she hoped was a breezy tone. “Just getting out of the cold for a second. I’m going to see my dad.”
“He’s not in his office right now, dear. We track all the councilmembers so we know how to reach them in case of an emergency. Why don’t you wait with me and I’ll let his assistant know you’re on the grounds? He can come get you when he’s done, and you and I can have a nice little chat in the meantime.” Officer Katz herded Gabi to a second chair behind the curve of her security desk. “Would you like something to drink? Or a cracker perhaps? I’ve got some left from my snack ration.”
This was not the plan. If Gabi had to sit and make small talk with Officer Katz while everything boiled inside her, she would surely lose her mind. She needed to see her father now, otherwise she never would have gotten into a car with the likes of Noel Sutton.
“I really have to see him,” Gabi demurred. “It’s important. Can you call him?”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Katz said stiffly, V-shaped wrinkles bracketing the border of her mouth. “Go ahead and have a seat. You’ll see him soon.” There was no mistaking the note of command in Katz’s voice. She was used to being obeyed. Just as Gabi was about to back down and try to formulate a new plan, Nurse Mehta swept inside, letting a shock of night air in with her. She was so bundled up that Gabi might not have recognized her had it not been for the smear of purple lipstick just visible over the top of her scarf.
“Well, look who’s back to see us!” she sang as she whipped off her hat and smoothed her hands over her cropped
