“So, Hannah, you’re going down south?”
“To the beach,” I said, and I hoped he wouldn’t ask where because I had already forgotten the location.
The guard then scanned my face and arms with his cubox. Hannah Osborne yet again. Greer was an expert.
“You wearing a swimsuit?” he asked. He started the standard pat down and jokingly, but with dark undertones, he said, “Nope.”
I felt exposed, like this man was undressing me with his eyes, and I would have loved to punch this guy in the jaw. If it hadn’t been a life and death situation, I might have. His fingers lingered and dug. He was halfway down my torso when he gazed up into my face, and he went slack-jawed standing there and staring at me. Crap. I’d hoped the contacts blocked my eyes well enough to stop this. They didn’t. I closed my eyes, but this guy was still staring at me. He was uncomfortably close, and I didn’t know what to do.
Greer came right over. He put his hand on the man’s arm and said, “If you don’t stop mistreating my wife, I will enjoy your screams as I break your fingers one by one.”
That woke the man up. “I must have drifted off there.”
I promptly put my hat and sunglasses back on. Greer protectively put his arm around my back. And with that, we went into the train. We headed to a private car equipped with two large leather bench seats and dark wooden tables.
Greer put our bags in the overhead compartment. Still seething from moments before, he plopped down onto one of the lush leather seats.
“I’m sorry,” I said and sat across from him.
“For what?” he asked, still mad.
“I had to... you know.” I pointed to my hat and sunglasses.
“Those idiots. Not your fault. They should fire him.” Greer turned to the window. “The man was probably like that with all the woman who came through his line. He’s a pervert, and he’ll be fired.”
“Do you know an employee in transportation?”
“You could say that,” he said. “The goal is to keep the trains safe and to search for explosives, not to take advantage of people.”
Greer’s pat-down must not have been as thorough. “How did they not feel...?” I didn’t have to say ring or necklace; he already knew.
Greer smiled a wicked smile and leaned across the space between the seats. He put his arms on each of my sides, boxing me in, and whispered in my ear, “People might be listening.”
He lingered inches from my face, all mint and clover. My body tingled, and my fingers ached to touch his face, his hair. Greer shook his head, tucked the same unruly curl behind my ear, and returned to his side of the compartment.
Out of my window, people were still crowding into the train. I noticed about forty Libratiers entering the cars. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. “How long is the ride?”
“We’ll be there in two hours.”
“Two hours? We’re traveling so far. That’s like plane speed.”
“Magnetics are fast.”
There was a sudden knock at the door, and we turned to see four guards, the conductor, and two of the stewardesses standing at our door.
Crap, crap, crap. Crap was all I could think. They had caught us. I didn’t know what to do, but Greer was more than ready. He stood up and went to the door. “What’s the problem?”
My heart pounded in my ears. What were we going to do if they found us? Run? Where? How? The windows were large enough for us to squeeze through, but what then? They might be carrying a freeze gun like Rudolf had. I’d be home with the Merrics tonight and Greer… God, they’d kill him. They’d turn him into a gnat. No, a flea.
“Our apologies. We are sorry about this, but it appears we’ve somehow overbooked. We hoped that you would share your cabin. There will be a full refund, Mr. Osborne, and two free tickets to anywhere in America,” the conductor pleaded.
“That better be the deal for us too,” a woman’s voice called from behind the crew.
Greer gave them a million-dollar smile. “Not an issue. Hannah, is that all right with you?”
“Sure,” I said with my freaking heart in my throat.
“Are you sure, ma’am? You seem upset,” a stewardess asked. If only she knew who I was, and the danger Greer and I were in at that very moment
Greer still smiled. “It’s her first time on a train. She’s new to the transit, and this will be the fastest thing she’s ever ridden.”
Two round women with big fluffy hair bustled their way through the others.
“Get her a drink,” said the woman in the black dress. Blue-green jewels pinned back her fluffy coif.
“Get us all a drink.” The other woman, who wore a lavender shawl and a white and purple polka-dot dress, glared at the stewardess. “And it better be free.”
“Yes, right away,” the conductor said to us. He turned to the stewardesses. “Everything is on the house for this room.”
The two women eyed me up on the seat. “Mind taking the other side, honey pie? I get sick moving backwards.”
I shifted to the other seat. Greer joined me and protectively put his arm around me.
The stewardess followed us in with her drink cart. “What can I get you?”
“Mojitos for everyone!” the woman in black demanded. She threw her purse down on the seat, chanting, “Mojitos, mojitos, mojitos for everyone!”
The other woman with the shawl sat back, studying Greer and me. After a moment, she said with a smile, “Make it champagne.”
The woman popped the cork, and some champagne spilled onto her cart. She offered the glasses to Greer, and he hesitated before taking it and putting it in my hand. I should have said I was too young. I should have mentioned being eighteen and that I wasn’t allowed, but I hadn’t paid attention to my age on my ID. Not good.
The woman in
