Haywire Ranger

Chapter 46: A Shield Made of Steel Around the Heart

*Naomi's POV continues here. 😊

The fluorescent lights in the prison's corridor gave a sickly, sterile look on their faces. Halle's pale expression matched the white tiles all around her. Her wide-open eyes left Naomi frozen, but not Kovak.

"It's the first time I've ever seen you taken aback like this," he said, his arms still up in surrender. "Not that I care enough, but... it's something I never thought I'd see."

I agree. Her reaction is weird. She never freezes like this. Her eyes are glued to mine through the bean slot as if she couldn't believe anything she's seeing right now.

Halle shook her head. "I... I didn't think you were so foolish," she told Kovak. Her usual frown was back. As she aimed back at him, she added, "Dosing and knocking out all those guards to get into this maximum security prison. Idiot! The virtual assistant tipped me off when their vitals went down in resting mode. Coming here was a mistake. You're under arrest!"

Kovak scoffed. "I thought so. Not a single kind word to your sister, just a threat aimed at me."

Naomi rolled her eyes. Indeed. I'd love it if she at least said something to me. Anything to acknowledge me. She's far too tense. Look at those stiff shoulders and arms! She's solely focused on Kane. As if he'd kill her or something—which he wouldn't. He's after Mrs Evergreen, not her, despite her loyalty to that megalomaniac.

"Because you're the greatest enemy the Hovering Hive will ever have, Kovak!" Halle yelled, the finger on the trigger about to pull it.

"Wrong. Mrs Evergreen is," Kovak replied in a bored tone of voice.

Halle chuckled. "I'll prove you wrong once I've captured you and brought you to face justice!"

"Sure. Go ahead," he replied in a smug voice. "But, since you're the only conscious guard here, you'll have to focus on me and leave both your son and your sister to meet their worst fate."

Naomi bit her lower lip. I really hope this last bit doesn't come true!

Kovak shifted his weight from one foot to another. He went on daringly, "You're a cold-hearted bitch who doesn't care about her son getting killed or her sick sister dying in prison. So, you won't have a problem arresting me and taking me to justice, as you say."

Halle's face morphed into a paler one with even more furrowed brows, as if part of her refused to believe that and another couldn't let it go. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Kane, stop it," Naomi said through the bean slot. "Halle, look at me, please."

When Halle's eyes wandered down to the bean slot, Naomi's smile trembled.

"You didn't know I was here, did you? Is that why you looked so shocked before?" Naomi's voice was genuinely honest and hopeful.

"I didn't know, but... Why are you locked up in here anyway? Why is this monster trying to get you out? Did you do something...? Did you help him in any way?!" Her questions came out of her mouth like bullets from a machinegun: in a fast, unforgiving sequence.

"I committed no crime," Naomi replied. "You know me. I'm good. I didn't help Kane in any way. I only defied Mrs Evergreen to save Sky, something which apparently is a great crime punishable by inhumane treatment until I die in this maximum security prison."

"Where's Sky?" Halle asked.

"The guards took Sky somewhere else." Naomi sighed. "I don't know where."

I hope this can convince her to do the right thing and stop supporting Mrs Evergreen.

"You don't have to worry about him," Kovak told Halle with a defiant grin. "His friends helped him escape when they saw the pathetic lies Mrs Evergreen forced the media to say about him. Unlike you, they truly love him and support him."