Prologue
Eight years ago…
“Psst. What are you doing?” Alysia whispered.
Harmony flinched before she glanced at the girl in the bunk next to hers. “Nothing,” she lied as she slid the pamphlet under her mattress.
It was early in the morning. The sun was just coming up. The alarm hadn’t gone off yet. This was the window of time each day when Harmony could improve her mind without being detected.
Except apparently Alysia had caught her. Suddenly her eyes went wide as she brushed a lock of red hair from her face and leaned closer. “Can you read?” she hissed.
“Of course not,” Harmony lied again.
Alysia sat up, spinning around so she could put her bare feet on the floor and lean in even closer to Harmony. She glanced around before she set her elbows on her knees. “You can read.”
Harmony pursed her lips. Sure, she could read. There wasn’t anything to read around here in this godforsaken home for girls that was more like a prison. The only way Harmony could keep her mind engaged was to find random things to read. She’d stolen the directions that came with the new oven in the kitchen this time. They’d been taped to the side. No one had paid any attention to them. Of course they hadn’t. No one who lived or worked in this home knew how to read.
“Will you teach me?”
This shocked Harmony. She wasn’t sure how to respond.
Alysia grabbed Harmony’s hand. “Please. I heard one of the guards saying that reading is power. That’s why they don’t let us learn to read. I want some of that power. Please teach me,” she pleaded in a whisper.
Harmony looked around. No one else had woken up yet. “It’s too dangerous. If we got caught…”
“Some of the other girls want to know how to read also. Can you write too?” She looked excited. “And do math? Of course you can. You just got here. You’re already twelve. You learned stuff on the outside before you were brought to this girls’ home, didn’t you?”
It was shocking how quickly Alysia pieced together Harmony’s education. She narrowed her gaze. “If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.”
Alysia shook her head. “I would never tell. I swear. I want to know too. Every time I see words, it frustrates me. They’re just scribbles. They have no meaning. I want to know.”
Harmony thought about Alysia’s enthusiasm and insistence. She wondered how many of the other girls in their dorm room might also be sponges for information.
She knew how lucky she was—if a moderate level of education could be considered lucky in a world where she was only permitted to stay with her mother for the first twelve years of her life before she was stolen from the only home she’d ever known and sent to live at a girls’ home.
Compared to the other girls in this home, she was lucky. Most of them either never knew their parents or didn’t remember them. Most were kidnapped and brought here as infants or toddlers.
Harmony had led a different life. She had no idea who her father was, but her mother had been a teacher before the fall of society. She’d been hired by a prominent family in The Republic to educate their son and his friends. As a show of good faith and a “kindness,” Harmony’s mother had been permitted to keep her daughter with her u
ntil she was twelve.
What no one except the three boys and her mother knew was that Harmony had learned right along with them. She’d loved learning from a very early age. She’d soaked up everything her mother had said, usually even faster than the boys.
Braylon and Riggs had been five years older than her. Storm had been seven years older. She’d been like a little sister to them. In fact, they had been the ones who had taught her to read when she’d been about three. They’d done it just to see if it was possible. When her mother had found out, she’d chastised them, but she hadn’t stopped them from continuing to work with her, and she never said another word.
There had been something different about those three boys. They’d been kind and considerate. They’d never told a living soul what they’d taught Harmony in secret. She owed them.
She owed her mother too. She’d been sly and sneaky, making sure Harmony was as educated as possible by working with her indirectly. Harmony was pretty sure she had far more education than the average boy of twelve.
“Harmony?” Alysia hissed again. “What do you say? Will you do it? Will you teach me?”
Harmony licked her dry lips and took a deep breath. She knew one thing for certain. Alysia was right. Reading was power because knowledge was power. She owed it to Alysia and anyone else who wanted to learn to help them. They’d have to be careful. They’d have to sneak around and study when no one was looking. But Harmony couldn’t think of anything she’d like to do more than educate the other girls.
“I’ll do it.”
Alysia silently clapped her hands together. Her expression said she would be dancing around squealing if it wouldn’t attract attention. “When can we start?”
“I don’t know. We’ll need to figure out where and when we can work and not get caught. We need something to write with and something to write on.”
“I don’t care if we use sticks and the dirt in the back of the playground as long as I learn to read and write.”
It wasn’t a bad idea. At least to start. They could sit on the far side of the playground and pretend they were playing jacks if anyone showed up. Harmony could start with letters and numbers. If other girls were interested, it would get trickier, but she
was suddenly determined.
It would work. It had to work.
Because knowledge was power, and one thing Harmony knew for certain was that girls were not stupid. They were just as smart as boys. Perhaps even smarter. If girls were educated, the world would be a better place.
Harmony should have felt nervous about this plan. Instead, she felt a sense of peace. At twelve years old, she felt like she knew what her calling was in life. She could be a teacher. Even if she had to teach in secret for seventy years, that’s what she would do. Share her wisdom with anyone who wanted to listen.
Chapter 1
Present day…
Mykel took a deep breath and pulled his hat lower on his head as he waited for someone to open the door. As far as he was concerned this was the riskiest part of the mission he and his partners were preparing to execute.
This was the third time he’d come to the Hanson residence. He hoped it was also his final visit. He also hoped Marian herself opened this door. She had the first two times. He needed his luck to hold out one more time.
He was at the side of the estate. The service entrance. The place where deliveries were received. And he had a delivery.
He held his breath and stood taller as the door squeaked open, beyond grateful to find Marian standing in the doorway. “Floral delivery for the Hansons.” He held out a large arrangement.
“Thank you. These will look fantastic on tonight’s dinner table.” She handed him an envelope, and he handed her the flowers. Tucked between the stems was a note. Marian would find it.
Marian glanced over her shoulder before whispering, “Do you really think you’re going to pull this off?”
“Yes.”
Marian slowly closed her eyes. “Thank you. No matter what happens, I want to thank you for trying. If you manage to rescue my daughter and get her someplace safe, I’ll be indebted to you for life.”
“It’s my pleasure.” He tipped his head and turned to walk away. One minute later, he was back on his bike, pedaling out of the neighborhood.
It took ten minutes to get back to the abandoned warehouse he and his partners were using as essentially a command center for this operation. As soon as he stepped inside, Eldin, Blane, and York stopped their collective pacing and breathed sighs of relief.
“Success?” Eldin asked.
“Yes.” He held up the envelope Marian had handed him. He hadn’t been expecting to get something from her. He’d been there to give her information.
“What’s that?” Blane asked.
“No clue. Marian gave it to me.”
York took it from him and opened the envelope. He pulled out a piece of lined paper and unfolded it before he started reading. “Received another communication. Date is still accurate. Hope is overflowing my heart. God be with you.”
Mykel drew in a deep breath. “So we’re on schedule. Two days until showtime.”
Eldin nodded. “I can’t believe we’re this close to pulling this off.” He ran a hand over his head. “It seems like it’s been too easy.”
Blane clasped both his hands behind his head and stretched. It was obvious he was also feeling uneasy. “This is the first time we’ve traveled this far to rescue someone. It’s the first time we ventured so deeply into enemy territory. We didn’t expect to find so many people working for the resistance within The Republic.”
Mykel shook his head. Blane was right. The four of them had been running rescue missions for The Wanderers for several years. They’d had amazing success. They’d never traveled as far east as Virginia before. Nor had they infiltrated The Republic like this. It had always seemed far too risky.
Their mission had always been to save lives, but this was different. In two days the
were going to intercept the transport of a woman en route to her arranged wedding. A wedding to a wealthy member of The Republic. A wedding she had not consented to. A wedding to a groom she had not met.
This was the way of The Republic. Kidnap girls, hold them in group homes until they turned twenty, and sell them to the highest bidder. This was The Republic’s response to the fact that the female birth rate had mysteriously diminished to about one in eight births over two decades ago.
Freedoms had come to an end. The only free society Mykel was aware of in the country was the underground organization that referred to themselves as The Wanderers. He was grateful to be a member of that society.
“We’re ready,” York stated. “We’ve been planning this for almost six months. We’ve been fortunate enough to discover that a good percentage of the people living under the rule of The Republic are defiant and willing to do whatever it takes to help people escape.”
Mykel nodded. “Our luck has been abundant. Let’s hope it holds on for a few more days.”
“I still can’t believe Harmony has successfully been sending letters to her mother for the past month,” Blane mused.
Mykel couldn’t believe it either. It meant that at least some of the employees at the home where she lived were working for the good guys. “It’s certainly helpful that she has been able to confirm not just the date but the time of her wedding.”
“We’ve got this,” Eldin said. “It feels good.”
“Yeah. Let’s just hope we don’t encounter a snag.” Mykel was well aware that if anything went wrong, there was a good chance he or any of his partners might not live to see another day.
“Let’s hope Marian doesn’t either. If she’s not able to get to the rendezvous point after we secure Harmony, it will be damn near impossible to make another arrangement,” Blane said, though this was something they all knew.
Mykel had given Marian the final details, letting her know when and where they would pick her up. Everything needed to run like clockwork. As soon as both mother and daughter were secured, the six of them needed to get as far away from Virginia as fast as humanly possible. The entire state would be looking for them.
Chapter 2
Eldin tucked his weapon in the back of his jeans and moved quickly into place. It was showtime. They’d planned for this day for months. All that was left was the execution.
So far, everything was on schedule. Blane had informed everyone that Harmony had been picked up from the girls’ home at precisely four o’clock. She was traveling toward the church in a black SUV. The only person with her was the driver.
Eldin had no idea what the political leanings of the driver were. Considering how many people Eldin had met in the past few weeks who worked for The Republic, there was about a fifty-fifty chance the driver himself would freely turn over Harmony without argument.
Eldin and his partners weren’t counting on that though. It was an unknown variable. What was shocking was how trusting this community seemed to be. The girls’ homes were secure like fucking fortresses, surrounded by armed guards. ...
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
