Concealed in the Shadows (Book #1)

Chapter Twenty-Three

My anxiety is heightened more than it has been since last night's exhausting run to the station. I was so sure we were running to our deaths, but when Crewe, Cy, Galvesten, Della, and I met up with the others and didn't face any hostility, I began to feel relatively safe in the hands of the Sheridan militia. After that point, I also considered my sister and me not so sought after.

Although a fire of nervousness is spreading through me now as I sit in the hospital waiting room, it is not on account of a matter of safety. I have decided to tell Cy the truth about my last name, and I'm loathing his reaction. I can't get further tangled into a web of lies that will be impossible to undo later. He needs to know the truth. If I want him to have any chance of discovering why Evvie and I had such advanced chips, he needs to know who we really are.

An old man a few chairs away erupts into another fit of coughing. Each cough makes me more and more uncomfortable. Maybe I'm nervous he'll choke, because there's a definite correlation between his coughs and my anxiety level. Added to my other worries, it's enough to put me over the edge.

What are Galv and Della so busy with that this man can't get some help? He's older than anyone I've ever seen in person. Forget choking, he may simply break from the strain the upheaval is putting on his frail frame. I don't want him to die in front of me. Just as I stand to urge the receptionist to do something about this old man's agony, Cy enters the building.

"Follow me, pretty lady," he flirts as he struts past where I am standing. Cy doesn't wait to see the solemnity that characterizes me now, as I've resolved to tell him that I've been lying about who I am, possibly further endangering his people.

I take one step toward the receptionist to say something but she beats me to a cold 'We know'.

Walking through the expanse of the hallway, I realize this building doesn't serve just as a hospital. It makes better sense to me now why this place was considered a decent location to become mixed in with Sheridan's people.

Galvesten and Della double as care providers in the general-health clinic, which is located in the western wing of the hospital. Additionally, this building is home to a dentist's office and a childcare center for non-school-aged children.

Lastly, it is apparently the technological hub of Sheridan, as I'm shown when Cy politely gestures for me to enter the room before him. There are antennas, wires, and screens clustered in a few different stations. There is also a large dish and what appears to be a tablet before they were designed to fold open.

"Rico, this is Sydney," Cy tells someone who is hidden behind a monitor. "It was her little sister that you were unable to discover anywhere in Miles' network." Finally the man unglues himself from his work and slides his chairs out our direction.

"Evelette, right," he says. "I'm Rico—"

"Aves," I finish abruptly. Though I had only seen it once, I still clearly remember his broad smile. I would recognize Rico's face anywhere. Under his smiling picture, this Mexican-American was captioned: Rico Aves, a Man for True Freedom. He was the escapee who I had mistakenly read an article about years ago.

"Oh, you know," he states without the puzzlement that I see in Cy's eyes. Rico must assume that Cy has already informed me about him, but he didn't. Truth is, I'm astonished to know he really does exist.

"I read an article about you a couple of years back." I wait for Rico to acknowledge the article that I stumbled upon online.

"You did?" he asks, his face changing as he realizes that this is how I knew his name.

"Yeah," I answer to the man who is now equally as astonished as I am. "I didn't think you were actually real, or still alive if you once were. I read the article, but an hour later when I tried to find it again, it was gone."