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

Fathers and Mothers,
whose members were colloquially known as Sacs, according to
Herakles, or Sisans according to the priests.
    They were said to be charged by the gods
with managing internal affairs of the human race related to matters
of law, morality and religion. They answered to no nation state but
to the Supreme Priest. I didn’t have any idea who ran the SISA. He
wasn’t of interest to the priests, or I’d have been taught his
name.
    The world was sounding more dangerous by the
minute, and I didn’t like it. The priests’ claim that the SISA
would torture me if they found me was sounding more likely given
the grim words of Niko.
    But there had to be a way to find Herakles.
I couldn’t think of him as being completely lost or worse, at the
hands of someone Niko said worked outside the laws. The real world
outside the forest, however, was completely new to me.
    Red signs warning of an enforced curfew and
mandatory checkpoint ahead began to appear along the highway. Two
miles from the checkpoint, Niko pulled off the highway onto an exit
leading into a quiet town near the forest.
    “ Where are we going?” I
asked.
    “ You have a
biotag?”
    “ I’m not sure what that
is.”
    “ Then we aren’t going
through a checkpoint where we can get thrown in jail for not having
one, now are we?”
    I rolled my eyes. He was moody at best
tonight, probably tired like I was.
    He drove through quiet neighborhoods before
pulling into a long driveway leading to a sagging doublewide
trailer surrounded by a fence topped by barbed wire. Huge dogs
barked at our approach, and a man with a large caliber rifle
sauntered out of an outhouse-sized guard shack beside the road.
    Niko stopped at the rolling gate, and I
looked from a scene out of a horror movie back to him.
    “ Really?” I
asked.
    “ Shut up. These people
don’t like strangers or fugitives and you’re both.”
    I sank into silence.
    He rolled down his window and shook the hand
of the man outside. “Hey, Mike. Need some work done.”
    “ You got money this time?”
the man named Mike asked and leaned down, peering at me.
    “ Yep. Quite a
bit.”
    “ Who’s this?”
    “ No one. New girl
toy.”
    “ They getting’ prettier
and younger.” Mike seemed to find that funny and laughed. He stood.
“I’ll tell Mama you’re here.”
    “ Thanks, Mike.” Niko left
his window down and waited for the gate to roll open before he
began driving again.
    “ Your mother lives here?”
I asked.
    “ No.” He snorted. “Mama is
the head of the criminal underground. No one knows her real name.
They have to tell her anytime anyone enters her compounds. If she
doesn’t like you, she’ll order you killed on the spot,” he
answered. “Stay close and keep quiet. We’ll get you a biotag and be
on our way.”
    He pulled around back, an area populated by
more men with guns drinking beer kept cold in a kiddie pool filled
with ice. I looked at him skeptically.
    “ Don’t judge these people
or me,” he grumbled. “Your damn priests died before paying me what
they owed. If you’re worth half what I think you are, you’re the
one on the most wanted posters so don’t tempt me. This is coming
out of my pocket, and those rednecks out there might just save your
life.”
    I said nothing. I was too tired for my
temper to flare.
    “ Come on.” He climbed out
of the car.
    I exited more slowly, not at all convinced I
wanted to leave the car with the rough men in the backyard. I
leaned into the back to grab my knife from my pack and placed it at
the small of my back, just in case, then trailed Niko.
    He was weaving through the thugs and
criminals, greeting those he knew and smiling like he belonged.
Which he probably did. I eyed everyone I passed, my nose wrinkling
at the stench of beer, marijuana, gun oil and body odor. These were
not the kind of people Herakles or the priests would want me
around. Most of them were too drunk or wasted to pay attention to
us, and others jostled into me