Chapter 25

Aaron sat up straighter as Tawny fell silent. She sniffled and set her hands on the table. Whether she knew she was doing it or not, she rubbed her hands like she was washing them. "I can still feel his blood on my skin, whenever I look at my hands, that's all I see. Blood, not all of it his. I didn't want to kill him but if I didn't, he would have hurt my friends more." She spoke as if in a trance, like she wasn't aware of what she was saying.

Aaron arched an eyebrow and looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"Huh?" she asked.

"What do you mean he would have hurt your friends more?" Aaron clarified.

"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbled. The guilt etched on her face was obvious.

"Tawny, what's happening to Carly, Allen and Felix right now?" Aaron asked. He wanted to pull the question back the instant he asked it, but he needed to know if the rumors they had heard about the friends of traitors were true. Her body tensed as he said their names, her eyes squeezed shut. Her lip began to quiver.

"If they're lucky, they're dead," Tawny said.

The ominous answer was enough to confirm his suspicions and he tucked the information away. An innocent teenager transformed into a killer by a war she doesn't support. She's broken in every way. Aaron realized as he watched her sit in silence, staring at her hands, rubbing them together as if trying to wash them. He reached out to cover her hands, but hesitated. Her water bottle sat empty on the table.

"Tawny, would you like something to drink?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, please," she said. "And something to eat."

"Alright," Aaron said. He stood up and kept his face placid. "I'm going to have some medics sent in to tend to your wounds and then I'll have the food sent in. I have some things I must attend to and it will take a few hours. Would you like a cot brought it for you to sleep on?"

She looked up at him and blinked a few times. "Can I see Vicki?" she asked.

"Not right now, she's still with the doctors," Aaron said. He honestly had no idea where Victoria was now but he couldn't risk letting Tawny of the interrogation room, not yet anyway. He didn't need her lashing out at his troops mistakenly.

Luckily, Tawny seemed to accept his lie without second thought. She nodded. Aaron left her alone in the room, entering the observation room to see a man leaning against the back wall. Aaron pursed his lips. "I didn't realize you knew our young guest, Desmond," he said.

The man pushed off the back wall and walked over to the glass, the scar splitting his face contorting his would be handsome features. "I didn't think she would make it across the front lines," he said. "Can she see me?"

"You know she can't," Aaron answered. "What are you doing here, don't you have an international treaty to disregard or something?"

Desmond clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Aaron, why the attitude? I am always careful when I break international treaties."

"And that's why we had to ask the resistance to break your sorry ass out of a maximum security facility," Aaron said.

"One mistake, that wasn't even my fault," Desmond said. "You think she knows that I'm here?"

"I don't think she knows who you are," Aaron said. "You should be more careful about who you show your face to. It's rather easy to remember."

Desmond shrugged and straightened up. "I'll keep an eye on her while you're gone," he said.

"Why? What do you care about her?" Aaron asked.

"She intrigues me," Desmond shrugged and sat down in an unoccupied seat.

Aaron sighed and looked at the two techs. "Summon medics and have some food made up for her. Desmond, if you're going to be a body in my observation room the least you can do is confirm her story."

"You don't trust the girl?" one of the techs asked.

"I trust her, I just want to make sure she isn't changing details to save face," Aaron said.

Desmond pulled out his phone and began typing in a number. Aaron turned and left the observation room, looking at the time on his interface. The trip to the holding cells was mercifully uneventful. Tawny's story swirled around in his head, pulling him this way and that.

And I thought I had it bad when Loyalists got me, he thought.

"Commander? Is there something I can help you with, sir?" a voice dragged him out of his head.

Aaron blinked a few times, realizing he was standing at the guard station at the entrance of the holding cells. "I'm here to see the Axis prisoner, the new one."

"Oh, the one who finally settled down, sir?" the lieutenant asked with a smile on her face. She stood and motioned for Aaron to follow. Most of the holding cells were empty, some held drunken alliance soldiers, a few axis prisoners. The lieutenant pointed to the one on the end. "Good luck getting anything out of him, sir. He's been rather uncooperative."

Aaron shook his head. "Of course he has," he sighed. Walking over to the cell, he saw the prisoner sitting against the wall, his head leaned back and his eyes closed. His bionic arm hung limp, a tamper clamped around the wrist. The prisoner opened his eyes and frowned.

"Well, it's about bloody time, Aaron! Get this damned tamper off my wrist!" he said.

END BOOK 1