Read Online Omega by Lizzy Ford - Free Book Online Page A

the real
world, and it’s ugly. It will eat you alive if you let it. SISA
means business.”
    I listened. I hated to be
schooled like this, and I was pretty certain if I saw an injured
child, I’d stop, no matter what the consequences. Which is why I’m here and not in my bed
tonight.
    Ugh. I had real issues and no part of me was
able to fathom the idea of people chasing me.
    “ Rule two, if someone asks
you your name, it’s Lisa,” he continued.
    “ How can someone ask me my
name if I’m not allowed to talk to anyone?”
    “ Don’t get smart. Gods
know I hate smart women.”
    I stared at him. “What do you mean you hate
smart women?”
    “ Different story. No
strangers, and you answer to Lisa. Rule three, no temples, police
stations or hotspots, or anywhere else where people might be
looking for you.”
    “ The police?” I echoed.
“I’m not a criminal.”
    “ Who do they think you
are?”
    An Oracle. I didn’t answer, though, because I didn’t know
who he thought I was.
    “ That’s what I thought.
Rule four, don’t lie to me, don’t deceive me, don’t betray me,” he
growled. “I have a real issue with that.”
    “ You have a lot of
issues,” I mumbled.
    “ Yeah. Keep that in mind.
Unpredictable mercenaries make for interesting allies.”
    “ You think they’re
following us?” I twisted to look out the back window of the
car.
    “ I know they will be if
they figure out which direction we’re headed. We’re going
underground. It’s my world, not yours, which means, rule five,
don’t blow this for me. It takes years and money to get to a good
place in the criminal underworld. I’m doing you a favor by taking
you in. Don’t ruin my life.”
    Criminal underworld? He wasn’t really giving
me warm fuzzies about our future. “So we can’t ever go back to the
forest.”
    “ No. What’re your
rules?”
    “ No strangers. My name is
Lisa. No cops, don’t lie to you and no blowing your reputation with
your criminal friends.”
    “ Exactly.”
    The glow of light pollution hovering over DC
brightened the horizon. We were getting closer to where I was born,
closer to Herakles’ location. “If someone was taken prisoner, how
do you find them?”
    “ Depends on who has them.
You talking a criminal or someone grabbed by the secret
police?”
    “ I don’t really
know.”
    “ If you know someone who
got grabbed by the secret police, there’s no finding them,” he
said.
    “ There has to be a
way.”
    Niko chuckled. “Look at you. All wide-eyed
and innocent.”
    “ Stop it! I am so tired of
people treating me like I’m an idiot!”
    “ You are an idiot if you think SISA will
give up anyone without a good reason,” he replied. “They’re run by
a man who doesn’t know the meaning of boundaries and who answers
only to the gods’ representative on Earth. The laws shift around
what he does, and no one is going to mess with him or his people so
long as they’re under the protection of the Supreme Priest who
advises the world leaders, among others, as to what the gods and
goddesses expect of their elite, sleazy, ass-kissing politician
underlings.”
    I listened. The priests had taught me about
the Supreme Priest and his connection to other high level
politicians. He was one of the most powerful men in the world,
according to the priests, who hadn’t liked him one bit because he –
and the Supreme Magistrate – stood between the people and free
will. The Supreme Magistrate controlled the military and was
responsible for securing the borders as well as enforcing
international policy and quelling civil unrest. The Supreme Priest
had its own domestic security arm – and was more feared than the
military.
    The security force managing the police state
had many names. Secret Police. Divine Police. And other slang names
Herakles had told me that offended the priests when I repeated
them. Their official title, though, was SISA – the Sacred
Independent Security Apparatus of Our Heavenly