His Slave

40. Not What They Seem

Erin

I pace back and forth in the foyer, waiting for Riley to arrive. He said he had an important file to bring over for when James gets back from Portenville, so it's not likely that we'll get caught, but I'm still nervous.

I'm contacting the A.E.D.P. for fuck's sake! God, what am I doing? If I get caught, I'm probably going to get sent to debtor's prison. If James finds out I've had even minimal correspondence with them, he's going to be livid. He might decide I'm not worth the trouble of keeping around and have me transferred to work somewhere else.

Tears well in my eyes at the thought. I... don't want that to happen.

Maybe I shouldn't have called Riley.

I contemplate calling him back and telling him not to come, but before I can make up my mind I hear the roar of an unfamiliar engine outside and I know he's here.

It's too late to turn back now.

A few moments later there's a very faint knock on the door and I hurry to answer it before any of the others can.

Riley smiles at me, his long blond hair flowing freely in the spring breeze. "Good afternoon, Erin," he greets, adjusting his glasses. He's got a manilla envelope tucked under one arm. That must be the file for James.

"Hi," I reply, a little awkwardly. I step aside to let him in, glancing outside to make sure none of the others saw him come in before shutting the door.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him, playing along like he told me to, just in case someone is listening in.

"I have some paperwork that Mr. Harrington needs to look over and double check. I understand he's out of town at the moment, but there's no rush. Can I trust you'll give it to him when he arrives home?" He asks Mr in his chipper tone as he hands me the file.

I nod. "Yes, of course," I say, taking the envelope from him. It's thick and kind of heavy.

"Thank you," Riley replies, yawning. "Goodness, I'm tired," he adds with a laugh.

"Oh, would you like a cup of coffee?" I ask him.

He nods. "That would be delightful. Thank you," he replies and I lead him to the kitchen.

After I've made up two cups of coffee, we sit down at the table off to the side of the kitchen and Riley sets a small circular device on the table, pressing a button to activate it.

"That will scramble all security camera footage and listening devices for the next ten minutes," he explains, taking a sip of his coffee. "According to the DNA recognition scanners, I'm not here."

"Wow. You really know how to make a good cup of coffee," he adds, taking another sip.

I laugh. "Yeah... that's like the one thing I'm good at," I retort.

"Well, may I ask the reason for your call?" He asks curiously, licking his lips.

"Well, I want to know what you guys are about. What you're doing to end the debt program. I'm intrigued, but I'm not going to get behind an organization I know nothing about," I tell him.

He nods. "That's understandable. Well, right now we're kind of in a state of limbo. We're currently amassing our rebel army and recruiting as many people to our cause as possible," he starts.

"Why?" I ask, taking a sip of my own coffee. I glance to the plate of cookies Dalia left on the table earlier, and I contemplate taking one but I stop myself. No. James told me not to touch another cookie while he was gone and I'm going to listen to him.