I don’t know who Dana is, but I can see the pain of the loss in Piper’s eyes. She blinks away the tears.
Charlotte’s mouth slips open, “Dana? She’s…”
“Yeah, she did everything perfectly, it was a different Official who accidently ended up where they weren’t supposed to be. They discovered her talking to a girl about rebellion. Luckily she hadn’t been discussing escaping, otherwise our entire plan might have collapsed.”
Charlotte murmurs something but I can’t make out the words.
Piper takes a deep breath and changes the topic, saying, “I’ve been thinking of a few ways we could take care of this spying thing.”
Charlotte stiffens, but keeps quiet.
Piper continues, “First of all, how would they know what you’ve said and learned here? There’s no one else here in Miranda’s office, and there wasn’t anyone yesterday either.”
Charlotte says, “I don’t know, that’s the thing. I’ve had conversations with Miranda all alone and the Officials ask me questions about them later on.”
Piper glances at the scar on Charlotte’s wrist. Her eyes widen.
Charlotte asks, “What is it?”
Piper quickly shushes her, loading up a hologram. She turns it so we can see the words that she is frantically typing.
What if there is a microphone inside the machine in your wrist?
Charlotte’s words are soft, breathless, and full of fear, “How could I have been so offie stupid?”
Piper types more words into the hologram. It’s inside your skin. Would it still be able to hear anything?
Charlotte takes the hologram from Piper and types her own message. They have the technology for everything else. Why wouldn’t they have it for this?
Piper bites her lip, sharing a terrified glance with Charlotte. The Officials have heard every word we’ve ever discussed with Charlotte in the room.
Piper said that if the Officials were to ever find that I was immune, I would be tortured, experimented on, and killed. Horrified, desperate tears fall out of Charlotte’s eyes.
Charlotte types into the hologram. You need to leave the Complex. Now.
Piper presses her lips together, taking the hologram back. She types. We won’t be able to leave until tomorrow. The third and final immune Eeke came into today. She hasn’t even woken up yet.
She pauses before adding, We need to pretend that we don’t know about the microphone.
Charlotte nods, opening her mouth to say something before closing it.
Piper says, her voice perfectly even, “Well, I need to get back to my Pros for the Kitchens. I am the official baker.”
If the Heads buy Piper’s lie, they’ll think she’s here in the Unknown, not an Official. I try to think back to all our conversation with Charlotte. Did Piper ever mention that she was an Official?
Charlotte says, “Okay, we need to get back to our Rivie Tour anyway.”
Piper types into the hologram. I need to go anyway. There’s a lot of things I’ll need to be doing in order to prepare for our escape. I wasn’t planning to do it for several more days. Claire, you need to be ready very early tomorrow morning. Miranda will come by to pick you up around the third hour.
YOU ARE READING
274 (Complex Series, #4)
Science Fiction-fourth book in the Complex series- Claire, known to most people only by her Complex number as 274, has always obeyed the Official's rules. You have to, unless you want to be sent away to the Unknown. Until, she meets Marie and everything changes. ...
