The Gender Fall (The Gender Game #5)

I looked over her head at two cars that had struggled through the underbrush to meet us at the heloship’s location, both of which had armed refugees inside, and then back to her. That explained the welcome party; she must have been preparing for a fight. Ms. Dale shrugged in noncommittal fashion at my look, but her gaze soon turned speculative again. “So, why all the need for secrecy?” she asked.

I grinned at her, allowing pride to get the better of me for a moment. What we had been able to accomplish with the Liberators had been well above our expectations. I was still reeling from how quickly everything had shifted. Hours ago, I had been frustrated by so much, angered and worried for Violet, and exhausted. Now, I was still most of those things, but had managed to paint a much-needed silver lining onto those dark, overwhelming storm clouds.

Opening my mouth, I began to explain all the details of the plot—only to stop as Ms. Dale’s eyes went wide in surprise. “You got them to agree to spy on Desmond, didn’t you?” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” I said with a smile. “It’s why I kept the message short. I was going to tell you—but you just had to ruin the surprise.”

She laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “Sorry, Viggo. I just started thinking about it, and it was the only thing that made sense.”

“Well, don’t get too excited.” I grimaced, shifting my weight from one foot to another, explaining what the women had told me during our meeting. Desmond had been away on mysterious missions, as she often had been in the past, but she’d checked in often enough, dropping hints and plans, that it seemed pretty normal. And they’d been so worked up over their haphazard, last-minute transition from the Facility in The Green back to their base that they hadn’t been paying too much attention to her comings and goings. She had always been a very independent leader.

“Well, that isn’t surprising,” Ms. Dale said thoughtfully. “She’s got too many pokers in the fire at this point. The Liberators are isolated enough that it makes sense she would put them on the back burner.”

I nodded, having come to the same conclusion during my meeting with their leaders. “Well, at least it’s something. Meera is really fired up about going after Desmond, but we convinced her to stand down for the time being. Still, I don’t know how long we can keep them from going after her themselves.”

Ms. Dale frowned, her expression drifting away as she thought about it. Then she shook her head. “We’ll have to worry about that later.”

“Yup.”

One of the Liberator men came up to Ms. Dale and began talking to her about the amount of equipment and the room in the vehicles, and I took it as my cue to leave—I could walk back to the house and leave the cars to take the bulk of our equipment. After all, Dr. Tierney had practically ordered me to bed… I began moving toward the cars, ready to get back to the house and check on Violet. As I approached the lead vehicle, I started to slow, then came to a stop when I saw a man wearing handcuffs in the passenger seat. “Uh… Ms. Dale?”

I turned back and caught her eye. She murmured some quick orders to the man and then jogged over. “What?”

“Why?” I asked, pointing at the man in the car.

“Why the restraints?”

I nodded, and she gave an exasperated huff and crossed her arms. “That’s something I needed to talk to you about. That’s Cad—Violet’s cousin. One of the men caught him sneaking back onto base a few hours ago.”

“Onto the base?”

She nodded, her ponytail bobbing. “Yup. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with him.”

“Didn’t Amber bring him and his family back in the heloship? After she picked up the women on the side of the road?” I wasn’t completely familiar with this part of the story, having been frantically driving around in search of a safe place to treat Violet at the time—I’d just been filled in on the big parts.

“She did. Violet’s uncle and aunt didn’t want to be part of the war effort, so I sent them to the place I am holding King Maxen. They’re not allowed to leave, but I don’t think they will, since Cad and his wife decided to stay in our camp with their children.”

I frowned. “Violet’s aunt and uncle left without stopping by to see if their niece was okay?”

“Yup.” Ms. Dale’s voice had a sharp note to it, and I couldn’t blame her. It was pretty rotten that they would up and leave like that, with no consideration for the woman who was family to them—and was right now half broken because she had risked her life to save theirs. We shared a moment of distaste, and then Ms. Dale continued, “Anyway, I had Cad cuffed and detained in that car so we could keep an eye on him before you got back. I wanted to see what you wanted to do.”

“But why did he sneak off?”

“I don’t know. He wouldn’t say.”

I growled in irritation and then marched toward the car. Cad’s head was tilted toward his hands, and he didn’t seem to notice my approach until I threw open the door. He jumped in surprise, his eyes bulging.

“Why did you sneak off base?” I demanded.

Cad shook his head a bit, blinking. Then he opened his mouth and slammed it shut with a click of his teeth, his expression mutinous. He’d probably been asleep in his cuffs.

Exhaustion made me impatient. “Now is not the time, Cad,” I said, my voice low and guttural. “I’ve had a long couple of days, and if you don’t talk, I’m going to have to assume you’re a spy, working for the enemy.”

That broke him out of his silence. “I’m not a spy!” Cad shot back, his face flushing red. “I was out there looking for someone.”

That had not been one of the things I’d expected him to say. The surprise of the realization helped reduce my boiling temper to a simmer. “Who?”

He gave me a long, hard look before sighing. “I was looking for my cousin.”

“Violet? She’s in the—”