Democracy is Dead

Chapter Twenty One

The Voting View: Second terrorist attack imminent, according to security services chief.

The Campaigner: Freedom Security warns that services are overstretched and understaffed.

The Pop Times: Jason Leighton makes sizeable charity donation to victims of the Trafalgar bombing.

The news alerts hadn't stopped since the evening the vote had been announced. There was always something going wrong; some new threat New London needed the Freedom Institute to save them from. Athena closed her news app with a sigh, unable to read any more fear mongering, and launched the recording she'd taken of the democracy lecture instead, opening her notebook ready to write up her notes.

Hi Athena. It's been a while since I've had an update from you. Cress mentioned that you were meeting a member of the group for dinner a few nights ago. Did you learn anything worth sharing? Even if it doesn't seem important to you, it might be of huge help to our cause. - Castor.

The message pinged across her recording, cutting across Ajax in a large, bold cursive that it was impossible to ignore. Athena blinked. The message shouldn't have opened without her asking it to. The lengths Castor could go to - sending out messages as if they were security alerts - were becoming more and more unnerving.

She'd been avoiding messaging Castor for days. She needed to tell him she was done; that she wasn't going to be his spy for the group any more, but getting the wording right was proving difficult. Closing the recording, Athena tried to compose something acceptable.

Hi Castor. I came to my senses that night and realised-

Thinking about the previous evening made her blood boil. As a wave of fury rushed through her, she tried again.

Hello Castor, I can no longer support your attempt to incriminate innocent people-

No. She couldn't alert Castor to the fact that she'd overheard his conversation. That wouldn't help end his investigation into the group; she'd only get herself put on an FI watchlist too. She needed to try something else.

Dyo. There's something we need to talk about. Can you meet me for lunch tomorrow?

Except she couldn't bear the thought of seeing the disappointment on his face when she told him... Maybe she should write the whole thing in a message.

Dyo. There's something I should have told you on the night you took me to dinner. Castor has been asking me to feed him information on you and your friends.

No: Castor forced me to spy on you and your friends? Stretching the truth a little bit, but it sounded better.

That night has changed everything.

That night...

That night...

Athena deleted everything and rubbed her eyes beneath the frames of her glasses. This wasn't working. If she told Dyo what she'd been doing for Castor, he would never trust her. She risked being cut out of the group for good. Could she bear to be left adrift so soon after discovering that everything she believed in was wrong? What would she do next? Dyo and Sephy knew how to navigate this strange, untrustworthy world. She needed them.

It was too risky. It would be safer to cut all ties with Castor and move on pretending the whole thing had never happened. Much safer.

Hi Castor. She tried again. I've tried to get you more information, I really have. But I don't think there's anything to find. Their meetings are more social gatherings than political debates. They haven't mentioned the bomb, or the system, at all. I think you're looking in the wrong place and I'd hate for you to waste your time on them any more. The bomb must have been planted by someone else. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. - Athena.