Free The Torrent (The New Agenda Series Book 4) by Simone Pond Page A

drop the charges and send you back down to Ojai.”
    “But if I’m in Ojai, how will I protect Christian from Faraday? What about Mom? How am I supposed to help the natives?”
    Joseph stepped up, moving Lucas out of the way. “Listen, Grace, and listen carefully.” He paused, narrowing his eyes. “You’ll be lucky if you get the charges dropped. You’ll be even luckier if they allow you to leave Seattle and go back home. You’ve committed multiple crimes against the city center. You removed property without permission and disappeared for months.”
    Grace’s eyes welled up. “He’s a child. Not property.”
    “According to Faraday, you broke the law. If you wanted to change the law, you should’ve gone through the proper channels. Now nobody wins.” The wall between them thickened with his words.
    “Except Faraday. He wins.” Annoying tears trailed down her cheeks. She jerked a hand to wipe them, but the restraints held firm.
    Lucas stepped forward and used his sleeve to wipe her face. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, only making it harder for her not to cry.
    “I didn’t mean to screw up. I wanted to do the right thing.”
    Lucas held her head for a few minutes and let her cry into his shoulder until Joseph pried them apart.
    “I need you to understand that wanting to do the right thing is good. But going about it all wrong is why you’re here. Do you understand that? I know you’re just as stubborn as your mother, but I also know you’re a highly strategic thinker. Are you willing to take responsibility for your actions?”
    Grace breathed in deeply, steadying herself. She didn’t want to be an embarrassment to her father. Not after all of the years he had spent training her to be a smart and fearless warrior. Somewhere along the way she had wandered off into the wilderness and lost herself. It was time to make the return. But she wasn’t going down without a fight. Her warrior mentality clicked into gear and she nodded at her father.
    “I am,” she said. “I know what I did was wrong. I acted impulsively, out of fear. Christian wasn’t mine to take.”
    Joseph nodded and patted his daughter’s head. “You’ll need to keep this attitude if you want to make a strong impression and sway the council in your favor. Humility will go a long way with them. Faraday has a strong case against you, and he’ll go out of his way to get what he wants. But you need to prove to the council that you thought you were protecting the child, and his precious DNA. But they’ll know what’s best for Christian. They’re reasonable people and will see the truth, if it’s communicated properly. Do you hear me? I mean, really hear me?” His eyes cut to the blinking red light on the wall.
    Because they were being monitored, her father couldn’t speak openly. His subtle hints had finally penetrated into her hard head …
    Joseph knew Faraday was in the wrong, but the director had probably made deals with some of the more shady council members. Grace was in the weaker position and needed to find someone on the council he hadn’t poisoned.
    Obviously, Faraday’s main concern wasn’t just punishing Grace; he wanted to permanently keep her away from Christian. He had an agenda. Her father had mentioned Christian’s “precious DNA” and that got Grace thinking. Maybe Faraday was adamant about placing the child in the solider program because he wanted to study his DNA coding? The coding that Dickson had designed. Faraday would mostly likely use that information to garner even more power. The other babies had been adopted and only Christian remained. Getting rights to the child would be difficult with Grace in the way. He was using her crime as a distraction. He’d convince the council she was a loose cannon, and they’d lock her away. Then he could proceed with his plans––without any static from Grace. She wouldn’t be able to do anything if she were stuck in a containment cell.
    Her father was on