Page 367 of Hunters and Prey

Good question. “The metal is solid, there’s no breaking it, so we need to switch off the remote connection to their main hub. There must be a way to turn them off.”

Dante’s face contorted in confusion. He really didn’t follow tech speak very well, but then not many Skins did.

“We disrupt the wireless connection,” Helgi clarified.

I grinned at her. She’d been paying attention in our class of two. “Yeah. There has to be a switch, a control panel, or a computer somewhere that has the ability to shut down the connection.”

“What about stopping the power to the building?” one of the mercs in the cell opposite asked.

“All great ideas, except we’re stuck in this fucking cell.” I slammed my hands against the bars, frustration a real writhing monster in the pit of my stomach. What use was my uncanny tech knowledge if I was a prisoner? There would be no escape while we were herded in pens like cattle. No escape with the guns trained on us as they transported us to and from the arena. My heart sank as it accepted the fact that without a miracle there would be no escape. But the tiny bird of hope that lived in my chest fluttered its wings, defiantly insisting that there had to be a way. It reminded me that we had a plan. We just needed an opportunity to execute it.

The doors on the far side of the room opened and Sophia strode in pushing her meal cart. Her head was down, and she worked quickly, pushing trays through the hatches until she got to us. Here she slowed down a little.

She had something to say.

“My mistress wishes to extend her thanks for saving her son.”

Her mistress? “The boy that fell into the arena is your mistress’s son?”

“Yes. She wishes you to know that she is grateful to you for saving Larson.”

Larson, the tiny boy who shouldn’t have been at such a horrific event. Anger ignited in my chest. “Yeah, well, you can tell her that it’s her fault he almost got killed. What the fuck was she doing taking a child to a spectacle like that? What kind of mother is she?”

Sophia balked, and then her jaw tightened. “Do not speak of that which you know nothing. My mistress is good, kind, and loving. It was the commander who insisted that his son be exposed to the bloodshed. He believes that the child should be desensitized to death in order to become a good soldier. My mistress abhors what the Bloods are doing.” She pressed her lips together, her eyes going wide as if she’d revealed too much, and she had.

She’d exposed another possible ally. Now to get her to elaborate. “Your mistress sounds like a decent woman.” I sighed. “If only more Bloods shared her sentiment ...” I left my sentence hanging to encourage the loosening of her tongue.

Several silent seconds ticked by, and Helgi caught my eye with a shake of her head. Maybe Sophia had said all she was going to? But then the silence was broken by her shuddering sigh.

“My mistress is a gentle soul. This unnecessary bloodshed makes her sick to her stomach, but she must put on a show for the people. She is, after all, the great Commander Royce’s wife.”

The commander ... Larson was Commander Royce’s son?

“Motherfucker,” Helgi cursed softly.

I silenced her with a look, and she clamped her mouth shut and nodded. The last thing we wanted to do was spook Sophia, who was unwittingly becoming a fountain of information.

Sophia pushed the final tray through the slot. “My mistress is just as much a prisoner as you; the only difference is that her cage is gilded with the illusion of freedom, and there are many others like her—others who do not agree with Gustov’s methods.” She turned away.

Others? “Wait. If your mistress hates what the Bloods are doing, then why doesn’t she do something to stop this? There must be something she can do to get us out of here.”

“There isn’t,” she said curtly.

Sophia kept her back to us and slid the tray to the opposite cell, but her neck was suddenly stiffer and her shoulders tighter. She was hiding something.

“Information, then,” Dante said coaxingly. “She can provide us with information, surely. For example, what do they intend to do with us now? Where will they take us? And what controls the collars?” He gently grasped the bars, his back to Sophia. “Where is the hub of power that runs this complex?”

Good, yes, all great questions.

Sophia finished feeding trays through to unit seven. There were only the two mercs now and so they had a tray each.

“Sophia? Please, will you ask her?” Helgi pleaded.

Sophia sighed. “There is nothing she can do for you, and the answers to your questions will not help you. Just ... just stay alive.”

She exited without a second glance our way, and the curses that followed her were far from soft.

The darkness was almost absolute, but there must have been some light coming into the room from somewhere for my night vision to kick into gear. Maybe another lamp hidden from my view? Helgi always admired my exceptional night vision, but having never known anything less, it was hard to appreciate the difference.

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