Page 26 of Factory Thief

“Jack, you’re right not to trust the Factory,” I say out of nowhere. My lips moved before the thought had fully formed in my conscious mind, yet I know the truth of it.

“What brought this on?”

I sigh and shift about on the rough sand. “I was just thinking how little I really know about the Factory.”

“How do you mean? I thought you went to one of their fancy schools?”

“I did. For five years, in fact. They housed, schooled and fed me.” I shake my head slightly. “The housing part was incredible. We were eight in a room, but it took the entire floor of a Manhattan town house. A beautiful one on 84th Street close to Central Park. Close to the Met, too. I was taught incredible skills there, but one thing I never learned much about was the command structure, or what their actual goals were. We just heard they were responsible for a lot of good in the world.”

“Good in the world? Like what?”

“Breaking up human trafficking rings, exposing arms dealers, that sort of thing.” I purse my lips in thought. “Thing is, while I heard of those things, I never actually saw them. Enya had her doubts, though.”

“Who’s Enya?” he asks.

“One of the seven other girls in my room,” I explain. “Last I heard she was a profiler. She must be great at it. She was always good at reading people. She could even manipulate Roxy, talk her into doing things she didn’t want to do. That was impressive.”

He smiles as he listens to me talk about the strange sorority we were.

“Anyway, the Factory gave us a damned good education. Maybe the best that money can’t buy, and the price we have to pay is aFavor.”

“Why would they work so hard to train you for just one favor? Seems like a lot of money, time, and effort to put into someone when you don’t know if you’ll ever need them to do something for you one day.”

I shrug. “I worked up the courage to ask one of my instructors once. He told me it was part of the Foundation’s philosophy. In their mind, the more educated, skilled people in the world, the better it will be. I’m not sure they all believe it, but the party line is about making the world a better place.”

“I see,” Jack says with a nod.

“But when you think about it, being owed aFavorby someone who happens to be in just the right place can be literally priceless.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Well…” my brow furrows as I try to think of a way to put it. “Take the richest man in the world. Imagine he wanted to free you—well he couldn’t have gotten you out of that prison just by spending money. It took a few Factory Favors. Mine, the guard turning his back at just the right moment, and probably a few more we’ll never know about.”

“I think I’m starting to follow you.” He sighs, pulling me a little tighter.

I’m not sure he’s even aware of doing it.

All of the sudden, I’m seized by the urge to kiss him. I’m not going down that route ever again. I don’t want to get hurt, period.

Still, it does feel nice to be pressed up against his comforting bulk…

“So, what did you learn at the Factory?”

My mind drifts back to my academy days. “It was what you’d call an eclectic mix of lessons. On the one hand, I’d imagine I learned the basics, like other high school students, but then again there were the…special lessons.”

“Special lessons?”

“In my case, they involved learning how to move around without being seen. Roaching, we call it. There are other techniques as well, ways to blend into a crowd and hide in plain sight.”

“How do you hide in plain sight?”

“Well, let’s say someone’s chasing me—me, a young woman, an athlete. I run around a corner, out of their sight—and bam, I change my posture, my face, the way I move so it’s more in keeping with an elderly woman. The guy chasing me will run right on by nine times out of ten.”

“That’s impossible. You’re wearing the same clothes—you’d still be you, right?”

“Yes, but he wasn’t looking for my clothes or even my facial features—he was looking for the woman running full tilt away from him, a young woman.”

Jack shakes his head and sighs. “You’re something special, Victoria. You know that?”

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