Free Feast by Jeremiah Knight Page A

with you?” Mason asked, shifting subjects.
    “Sir,” Boone said, speaking for the first time since entering. “I was wondering if I might—”
    “Let them answer, Boone,” Mason said. “Be polite.”
    “Her name is Alia,” Peter said, and when Mason didn’t shush him again, he continued. “Daughter of Brant and Misha Rossi, owners of the first biodome we reached. I promised I’d look out for her.”
    “What happened to the parents?”
    “We were attacked.”
    “More of those Stalkers?”
    “ExoGen,” Peter said. “They were looking for Ella. They had a Black Hawk and two Apache helicopters.”
    “And yet you survived,” Mason said.
    “Not all of us,” Peter replied.
    “And have you seen these helicopters since?”
    Peter shook his head. “I told them she was dead. I think they believed me, but they tried to kill us anyway. The leader, a man named Kenyon, I think he had feelings for her.”
    “Sounds like Dr. Ella Masse was a knockout.” He held a hand out to Ella. “No offense to you, Mrs. Crane. A woman with that much control over the opposite sex tends to bring trouble wherever she goes.”
    Ella grinned. “I couldn’t agree more.”
    A knock at the door turned everyone around. Boone opened it, revealing a nervous looking Stevie.
    “Better be important,” Boone said.
    “Gunshots,” Stevie said. “Three of them. Distant. Perimeter guards haven’t seen anything, but Roy and the others aren’t checking in. We’ve tried calling them a bunch of—”
    Boone unclipped a handheld radio from his waist, flicked it on and spoke into it. “Roy, this is Boone, come back?” He lifted his finger and waited, listening to static. Then he pushed the call button again. “Roy, quit fuckin’ around. If you’re hearing me, you best answer. Over.”
    When no reply came, Boone just looked to Mason.
    “Go ahead,” Mason said. “But take Mr. Crane with you.”
    Peter grew tense, but didn’t complain.
    “Sir, I don’t think taking this—”
    “Nonsense,” Mason said. “I believe Mr. and Mrs. Crane have been forthright in their answers to me, and while I still have questions that need answers, I don’t see any reason to refuse this man’s help…if he’s willing to provide it.”
    There was no mention of the children, but everyone in the room knew Mason had them as collateral.
    Peter stood. “I’ll do my best.”
    “Very good,” Mason said, standing and offering Peter his hand. When Peter shook it, the older man added, “And don’t worry about your wife none. I’ll entertain her in your absence.”
    Peter smiled and withdrew his hand. “Thank you.” He turned to Ella and said, “Be back soon.” Then to Boone, “Lead the way.”
    When the two men had left, Ella turned back to Mason, whose smile had widened enough to reveal teeth as white as his clothes. “Well then, Kristen, what am I going to do with you?”

 
     
    10
     
    “Don’t look at them,” Jakob whispered to Anne, who was staring at the people sitting on the far side of the cell. He didn’t fully understand what made someone a Questionable, but he guessed they’d done something wrong to end up here. Sure, the people who ran the place had an obviously skewed sense of right and wrong, but that didn’t mean they only locked up nice people. Murder and theft were probably still jailable offenses, even to the morally ambiguous.
    “They’re not going anywhere fast,” Anne said, not averting her eyes. “ Look at them.”
    Against his own advice, Jakob followed Anne’s instructions. She was a lot younger than him, but when it came to the wild world, she was far more experienced. That included dealing with people. While Jakob had spent two years holed up in a farmhouse with his father, Anne had lived in a large community, and then fled across the country with a group of people, including Eddie Kenyon, a man who turned out to be a little psycho. So he trusted her judgment. Not of their cell-mates’ character, but of their