Free Divided by Kimberly Montague

don't want to die for my country. I mean—"
    "You're a prisoner, Dev." I squeezed his hand, and he nodded slowly at me.
    "What if we went to the media about this?" Sonya asked, but Dev was already shaking his head.
    "They have forms we've signed." He made air quotes around the word "signed." "They show our consent as well as our parents'. I asked my dad; they never signed anything."
    It was apparently Evelyn's turn to get up angrily and walk around the room. "Of course he didn't. What parent in their right mind would allow their child to be forced into the military? You're still underage for crying out loud. But wouldn't the media recognize that? They'd look into it, and they'd see."
    Gabriel smiled sadly at Evelyn. "I've always loved you for your optimism. The government won't let it get that far. They can easily control the information being released. They have the media in their back pocket." Then he turned to look back at Dev. "Okay, so escape it is. What do we do? Where do we go?"
    "I can't ask you to do that, sir."
    Gabriel sat up straighter. "I assume my daughter will go with you?"
    Dev was shaking his head, but I clamped my hand over his mouth and stared him down. "Yes, I will."
    "I can only deduce then that her sister will follow, and I can't accept not being with my girls. So again I ask, what do we do? Where do we go?"
    Dev pulled my hand from his mouth and kissed it. "Uh—I don't really know. Harm has a plan, but he won't share it with me until it's necessary. He said the less I know the better." He looked back to me. "I've sent you letters—I don't know how many. It feels like I've written hundreds, but I haven't gotten any answers."
    I shook my head, my eyebrows knit together in frustration and confusion. I'd never once received a letter from him.
    "I figured you weren't getting them. Harm has too, you know. I've seen him writing them myself." He looked back at Gabriel. "So mail isn't an option, and we aren't given any phone privileges."
    "Just what is the reason they give you for that?" Gabriel was getting angrier by the minute. He was a calm man, but when someone he loved was being mistreated—well, you just didn't want to be around to see him get angry.
    "National security," Dev said tiredly. "We might leak information about our location or about how bad the infection is or how quickly it's spreading. By the way, all your phones are tapped. We don't think they've gone any further than phone and email at this point, but we have sympathizers inside giving us a heads up here and there."
    "Damn it!" Gabriel said loudly, making me jump. "I should have seen that coming. It might be my involvement on the conspiracy message boards that led to them blocking her mail."
    Dev shook his head. "I think they would have kept me from her regardless, Gabriel. They knew I was willing to do almost anything to get back to her until a few months ago. Harm thought it best that I tone it down a bit in front of them. I stopped asking when I could talk to Evie or see her. It's why I tried to make it look like I broke up with her today. It was all Harm's idea." He put both arms around me. "I'm sorry I had to say those things to you, baby. It killed me to see the look in your eyes."
    "It's okay. It makes sense. But how are we supposed to plan anything or hear Harm's plan if we can't communicate?"
    He shifted me and pulled the scrap of paper out of his pocket, staring at it for a moment. "I can call you now." He turned to Gabriel. "I gave Gary the cash to buy Evie a prepaid cell phone. He activated it from a business phone that has nothing to do with her—"
    "Mel's Pizza," Gary explained.
    "And gave them a name and address that won't get traced back to her," Dev continued. "Now, I can call her and discuss plans." He looked back at me. "I have to do it when we're out on a mission. Everyone's got a cell phone these days, even Infecteds, it seems. I can get my hands on several when we're fighting and call you. I just have to wait for