Free Fifty Years of Peace (Abrupt Dissent Series) by Charlotte Andrews Page B

me.”
     
    “That’s not it Jenny,” Aiden said. “They can see in the dark.”
     
    “What? I don’t understand.”
     
    “It’s technology from before the war,” George said. “They can see you even when it’s night.”
     
    “We didn’t know they still had it,” Aiden said, “Or we never would have…never would have made the mistake we did.”
     
    “Then I’m just going to have to make them look someplace else,” she said.
     
    As she turned to begin her trek, George grabbed her hand and pulled her back into his arms. He gave her a long hug and whispered softly into her ear, “Thank you.” There was a feeling of comfort in George’s arms that she’d only ever felt from her grandfather.
     
    After taking one last look at George, she began her climb down the mountain, hoping that her plan would work.

Chapter Ten
     
    Dillon watched the tree line through his binoculars, waiting for the boy to make his next mistake. The boy was smart, but he was young; there was no way he could slip past him twice. As evening approached, Dillon knew he had his target.
     
    He raced toward the thin smoke that curled up from the trees at the base of the mountain, surprised at how little ground the boy had managed to cover before starting his campfire. Then again, maybe he hadn’t been planning on escaping east after all. One of the questions he’d ask before he ended the boy’s life was why his family had chosen the tactics they had. That way he would be better prepared for the next group of spies that tried to cross the bridge.
     
    The evening light scattered through the trees as Dillon made his way through the forest. He climbed a low hill to check his bearings, and saw a second fire a few hundred feet away.
    “No,” he growled to himself, and then he sprinted forward. After ten minutes of cutting a path through the thicket, he arrived at what he’d thought had been the boy’s campfire. It was nothing more than a great handful of smoldering leaves, and when he climbed to the top of a tree, he saw two more fires burning hundreds of yards apart.
     
    The boy had tricked him twice. There would not be a third time.
     
    ***
     
    The rail station sat on a bluff above the river that looked out into Kentucky. Mayor Trestle limped beside Assemblyman Arnold on his crutch as the New State’s great locomotive settled to a hissing stop. Behind him, dozens of the town’s stevedores stood ready to load New Louisville’s produce from warehouses filled nearly to the rafters with bags of wheat, corn, potatoes, beets, hams, sausages, cheeses, and the rest of the town’s bounty. The mayor would have been proud of his people, if darker thoughts weren’t clouding his mind.
     
    “I want that girl found Mayor,” the assemblyman said.
     
    “We’ll find her Linden. She’s just confused. I don’t think she knows what she’s doing.”
     
    Linden stopped, and then pulled Trestle in close.
     
    “I don’t know if I quite believe that. Her grandfather was buying her time. I’m sure he’ll tell me why when I question him, but right now I’m growing more and more concerned with what’s going on in New Louisville. It’s something I intend to take up with the Assembly when I return. I’m not sure we’ve been as vigilant as we need to be here.”
     
    A conductor dropped from his compartment in the engine and jogged down to each car, knocking a fist against the door. One by one, the latches cracked and the doors slid open while the stevedore’s captain barked at his men to line up their loads with the car doors.
     
    “I don’t think there’s any reason to imply things like that,” Mayor Trestle said. “People are innocent until proven guilty.”
     
    Linden stopped, a scowl crossing his face for a moment. Then he smiled and gripped the mayor’s arm.
     
    “You know Mayor, you’re right. The stress of the past few days has led me to forget my manners, and I owe you an apology. Your town is about to do a great