Julia Karr - Truth

Svette scowled at me, but she was quick to snatch up the bag of food I offered. She thrust it at Joan. “Take this to the others.”

“No,” I said. “I need to talk to Joan.”

“What do you want with her?” The woman’s eyes turned to slits, reminding me of the snakes in the reptile house at the zoo.

I drew myself up to full height. “I’ve got news about her family. It’s personal.”

“Nothing’s personal here.” She planted her feet.

Joan, who had been silent, said, “I’ll take it over in a minute.” She cast her eyes to the ground, flinching, as if expecting a blow.

“You’ll—”

“You’ll need more help.” Wei held out her bag. “She doesn’t look like she can handle both of these.”

I heard a gasp from the shadows and a strained “Two bags?”

“All right.” The leader motioned behind her, and a girl, not much older than Joan, appeared. “Grab that. Do your part.”

The girl obediently took the bag, and she and Svette disappeared into the darkness.

“What’s happened to my family? Is Mom okay? Mike? Yelena?” She grasped my arm.

“They’re fine. I said that only to get rid of the others.” I touched her icy hand. “You need these more than me.” I pulled my gloves off. “Don’t let Svette take them.”

“She won’t. She’s already got some.” Joan shoved her hands into the gloves. “Oh. They’re warm. Thank you.”

“This is my friend Wei. I wanted you two to meet. Wei’s someone you can trust—with your life. Come with us a sec.” I led her across the street to the DZ oasis. “Listen, we’re going to get you out of here.”

Joan shrank back. “I… I can’t go. I belong… here.” She pointed to the alley.

“No, you don’t. You belong where people won’t hurt you.”

“But how? I don’t have credits. What will I have to do?” Her eyes were haunted, as if I was going to ask her to do some unspeakable horror.

“Nothing. You’re going to Japan with Wei. She has family there. It’s safe, and they’ll take care of you. But you can’t say anything to anyone,” I said. “Especially not Svette. I’m not sure you can trust her, or any of them.”

“But they’ve taken care of me. Svette’s good… Well”—she glanced around, then said—“she’s usually good to me. She needs to keep strong. You know, the scarf for warmth, extra food, things like that. If something happens to her, we’ll all be caught.”

My blood was boiling—Svette stole Joan’s scarf, and here she was defending her. But it wasn’t time for me to lose it. “Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone. Please.”

“I promise.” She glanced across the street. “I’ve got to go. Now.”

“I’ll come back soon,” I said. “Maybe even tomorrow. Keep safe, and warm.”

Joan evaporated into the shadows.

There was an Alert while we were on the transit.

It was Lessig. It was FeLS. It was Ed.

All of that wasn’t surprising to me. What I wasn’t prepared for was the picture of my mother that appeared next to Lessig as he said, “This woman, Virginia Dale Oberon, was murdered in Cementville last October. She is the alleged mistress of Chamus, with whom she is purported to have had one child. Oberon was the widow of the late Alan Oberon, mastermind behind the terrorist NonCon organization. Bureau agents are investigating an anonymous tip linking Oberon’s involvement with the phony FeLS training station scandal. It is also noteworthy that Alan Oberon’s father, Herbert Oberon, is currently being held by the Bureau on charges of treason, possession of contraband, and resisting arrest.

“Virginia Oberon also had a daughter by Alan Oberon.” A picture of me, from Paulette’s party, flashed on-screen. I sat watching my PAV, stunned as Lessig continued to rip into my family. “One can only imagine the horrors those children, girls, both of them”—Dee’s school picture joined mine—“must have endured at the hands of Chamus and…”

I stared at the projection, oblivious to everything going on around me. I knew what was coming next, but like an express bearing down on me, foot caught in the tracks, I was helpless to stop it, or save myself.

“… their own mother.” He held up a chip to the camera. “Bureau agents have given their sworn statements that when they searched Oberon’s home the night she was killed, they found pornographic vids in a locked case. Since these were not a part of their investigation of Oberon’s death, they were not confiscated.” His voice oozed sympathy. “Oh, if only they had been. Then we might have a clue as to what those poor girls were exposed to.”

Hot tears threatened to spill out of my eyes, but I blinked hard, forcing them back.

“Are you all right?” Wei asked, her hand on my arm. “Nina, I know none of that is true. You know that none of it is true,” she said.

“Part of it was.” I looked straight ahead. “Those were Ed’s vids they found. I turned on the FAV once, and he’d left one of the porn chips in it.” Even after all the time that had passed, I felt myself redden. “It was awful. It was so violent… It was… I never told Ginnie. I was afraid to tell her I saw it.”

Wei threw her arms around me. “It wasn’t your fault he was disgusting.”

“But…” I pushed away from her. “I think they watched them together. I think he made her watch with him.” A tear trickled down my cheek. “What if she—”

“Nina, don’t! Look at all that your mother did to get information to stop what was going on in FeLS. If she watched that kind of stuff, it’s because Ed forced her to. Not because she wanted to. She did everything she could to stop girls from being abused. She sacrificed everything to get that information from him.” Wei grabbed my shoulders, turning me to face her. “Don’t ever think that again!”

My heart ached. Wei was right—I couldn’t let lies change the way I thought about my mother. How I wanted my mother back, for one minute. Thirty seconds. Just long enough to say I was sorry I thought those things. Ever.

“Wei, what do I say to Dee? School starts on Monday. Even though kids aren’t supposed to see the Alerts, you know all her classmates will know about it. I can’t let on, not even to Dee, what Ginnie was really doing. And I can’t go to school with her to protect her.”

“We’ll think of something,” Wei said.

The transit pulled up to our stop, and we got off. When we got to Soma, I said, “Go on in, I’ll be there in a nano.” After she left, I tried Sal’s PAV. Of course there was no answer. I thought about leaving a message, but what would I say? I clicked off and was about to go in when I paused. They’d shown my picture in the Alert. My mother. The last thing I wanted to do was go into Soma and be recognized.

A hand touched my shoulder. “You okay?”

“Chris.” I made some unnecessary adjustment to my coat. “I’m fine. What are you doing here?”

“I heard the Alert. Thought you might not want to hang with Wei and everyone else right now.”

“You know, I think I would rather leave. I don’t feel much like fun tonight.” I sent a message to Wei’s PAV letting her know I was going with Chris.

“How about a cup of coffee?” Chris pulled his trannie away from the curb.

“I guess.”

“Relax,” he said. “We’ll go to a little place I know up in Evanston. There won’t be anyone there who knows you.”

I settled back in the seat. The scenery whizzed by as we drove north on Lake Shore Drive, past the rehab center on Sheridan, where Gran would be transferred to. Eventually, Chris stopped in front of a place with an antique neon sign that shimmered JAZZ AND JAVA.