A New Day (StrikeForce #1) (21 page)

“Not fucking likely,” I said aloud, more to hear a sound than for any other reason.

I kind of liked the way my voice sounded. I started humming. Whistling. I heard someone in the cell next to mine whistling back.

“These walls are thinner than I figured,” I said.

“No need for thick walls, probably. We’re strapped in while we’re in here,” the voice, a woman’s voice, said back. “All of which is so freaking illegal I can’t even believe it.”

“Seriously.”

“Hey! Aren’t you the one who saved me?” I heard a quiet voice say to my left.

“Are you the screamer?”

“Yeah. Dani,” she said.

“Pleasure. I’m Jolene.”

“Amy,” the first woman said.

“Is this the girl wing or something?” I asked. Getting an idea of the layout of this place wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“I think the whole floor is women inmates. Men are on another floor,” Amy said.

“And we’re on five,” I said, remembering watching the numbers on the elevator.

“Yeah.”

“So, what? You were on the team. What are you doing in here?” Dani asked.

“I was arrested, and they gave me a chance on the team. I think I’m fired,” I said with a laugh.

“They put you in here because you saved me?” Dani asked quietly, and I didn’t answer. “I’m sorry,” she said after a while.

“Don’t be. If that’s what they are, I’d rather be locked up here than working for them,” I said.

“All so completely illegal. No Miranda rights read, inadequate facilities for prisoners, no trial. It’s like we’re not even citizens or something,” Amy continued.

“What are you, a lawyer?” I asked.

“Actually, yes. Former public defender,” she said back. “And this is utter bullshit, the way they handle us.”

“What are you in for?” I asked.

“I kind of broke a… courthouse,” she said, embarrassment in her tone.

“Hey! I broke a building too,” I said.

“On purpose?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re crazy. I did it on accident. And it was just my luck that some poor security guard was under me when I fell.”

“Um…”

“My body turns to steel, or something like it, when I’m mad. And I’m um… I’m not a small lady as it is, you know? And I lost a case, and I was ticked, and everything went nuts. And then when StrikeForce came to get me, I tried to reason with them and instead I ended up crushing Nightbane.”

I tried not to. I really, really tried, but after a few futile seconds, I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. I heard Dani chuckling, too.

“It’s not funny!” Amy protested, which only made me laugh harder.

“I’m just picturing his superior ass trying to wriggle out from underneath you,” I said, and then I erupted, and then Dani and Amy were both laughing, too.

“Okay. Enough,” Amy said, though she sounded like she was in a decent mood. “Dani, you’re the screamer?”

“Yeah. I didn’t mean to hurt anybody, either. I just couldn’t stop.”

“What made you start?”

“My landlord kicked me out. I lost my job after the Confluence, mostly because my boss caught me screaming after I hurt myself at work… it seems like it happens when I’m in pain or afraid or whatever, and then I can’t make it stop. Anyway, I found the eviction notice on my door and I lost it. I tried to run out and get away from the complex, at least, but I only made it out to the courtyard before I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

“See? See what I mean? Did anyone bother asking you that?” Amy asked.

“No. They knocked me out and I woke up here. That was it.”

“Uh huh,” Amy said, anger lacing those two syllables.

“So, do they let us get any exercise or anything?”

“A machine emerges from your chair that works your muscles. Twice a day. You’ll see. It’ll probably be time in a while. I think,” Amy said. “It’s easy to lose track of time in here.”

“What about eating?”

“It depends. Low risk prisoners get actual food, hands freed so they can use utensils. I get that,” she added. “High risk ones have a liquid fed to them by an orderly. No hands free.”

“Shit.”

“Totally illegal,” Amy said again.

“Yo, drop it, counselor,” I heard another woman’s voice call. “It’s not like anybody cares.”

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Monica,” Amy said. “She is a bitch, but I like her.”

“What are you in for, Monica?”

“Killed a man,” she said.

I didn’t answer.

“I was kidding. I’ve just always wanted to use that line.”

“‘kay.”

“I can move stuff with my mind.”

“Telekinesis?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” I said.

“It is when StrikeForce is chasing you down because you scared your ex-boyfriend and you decide to throw a bus at them to slow them down,” she said.

“Oh. Were there people on it?”

“Nah. It was parked.”

“They definitely don’t like being opposed,” Amy said.

“Alpha doesn’t like being opposed. Dictator asshole,” Monica muttered. “I hope he heard that, too. Motherfucker,” she shouted.

“Monica has anger issues,” Amy said.

“That makes two of us,” I answered.

A while later, the base of my chair opened, and it looked like the manacles that held my feet now held my feet on what seemed to be bicycle pedals. They started moving, and I had to move my legs to keep up with them or it was really uncomfortable. The handles of my chair started moving as well, moving my arms, shoulders, up and down, front and back. I went with it, paying attention to how it moved. I flexed my lower arms a couple of times, pushing against the manacles while looking like I wasn’t, like I was just trying to exercise.

Twice a day, maybe I could weaken them a little. Maybe. It was worth a shot.

My little workout ended, and a few minutes later, a guard entered with a large stainless steel cup with a wide straw.

“Dinner, Faraday.” Ah. So I was demoted. No more Daystar.

“Oh, hell no. I am not drinking my dinner. I want food,” I said.

“Alpha’s orders,” she said blandly.

“Then tell Alpha to fuck himself. I’m not having that.”

“You want to starve?” Amy asked.

“Why not? Better than living the rest of my life here,” I said.

“They won’t let you die. We’ve had people try that already,” the guard said.

I took a breath. “Look, I know this is your job. I’m sorry I was a bitch about it to you. I’m freaked out and I hate it here. But I’m still not eating that.”

The guard rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Next thing’ll be an injection, if you go a few days refusing to eat.”

“I want actual, real food. I’ll eat that just fine.”

The guard shook her head and walked out, and the door whooshed shut behind her. I could hear guards going into the other cells, serving dinner in whatever form the inmate had it coming. I could hear utensils clanking against plastic trays.

“Really, you’re lucky. This tastes horrible,” Amy said. “I don’t even know for sure what kind of meat this is supposed to be.”

I figured, by the number of meals served and how many times my body was exercised, that two days had passed.

The boring, unchanged surroundings were starting to get to me.

I started humming. Eminem songs, what I could remember. Not that I’d listened to a ton of his stuff, but the guys at the gym where I’d trained had been big fans of a lot of the pre-Confluence rap, and I had Eminem and training, which always made me feel more badass, connected in my mind.

I hummed what I knew, then started putting words to it.

“Bitch, you can’t rap worth a shit,” I heard Monica call when I was partway into my second song.

“Don’t care” I said, going back into it. I started another song and heard Amy join in. She was just as bad as I was.

“Oh, fuck it,” Monica said. And then she started badly rapping the words along with us, all three of us getting louder, worse, the longer the song went on. I couldn’t remember most of the lyrics, but Amy did, and I faux-rapped my way through it.

“Again,” Monica said. “You two are so bad,” she added, and Amy started up again. By the third time around, Dani was badly rapping along with us and I heard a few prisoners in the more distant cells babbling along with us.

Every round had us rapping louder, until we were almost shouting. I didn’t even know why we were doing it. I just knew that for the first time since I’d been locked up, I wasn’t staring at a blank wall and listening to my own breath.

“Hey! Hey, that’s enough,” I heard one of the guards shout, and then Dani started laughing, and so did Monica. And then Monica started rapping louder, totally off-beat, but it was like she’d been waiting to find a way to rebel, and even this small one was something.

“Let’s do this next,” she called, and she started singing Aretha Franklin’s
RESPECT
. Most of us knew that one, so we shouted it along with her.

We were halfway through the third time through it when my cell door whooshed open, and Alpha stood there with Portia.

His face was a red mask of rage, and I just kept singing, louder. Portia was doing her best not to look at anyone.

“Hey, how about this one?” I shouted. And then I started singing a happy little song I’d heard a few times called “Fuck You.” I was the only one who knew it, but my fellow lady inmates caught onto the chorus pretty fast.

“Enough!” Alpha said. And then he shouted it, and I laughed, and my ladies kept singing, shouting the “Fuck you” part of the lyrics.

“Stop,” he said, and this time, there was some danger to his tone. I ignored him, kept my eyes on him, daring him to do a single thing.

“Get Toxxin in here, knock them out for a while,” Alpha said.

“Toxxin is out on patrol right now,” Portia said.

“Well, hit her or something,” he said, pointing to me.

Portia looked at him in shock. “Hit her? I’m not going to hit someone who’s secured like that.”

“Fine. Go, then,” Alpha said. Portia met my gaze for a moment, then she left, unsure.

The doors closed behind her, and Alpha turned to look at me. “You’re going to learn how to behave.”

“Don’t hold your breath, dickless,” I said, and he moved like he was going to slap me, but he stopped, clenched his fists, then walked out. The singing had died down, but it started up again, not as loud, but it started just the same. My exercise machine started up again, and I worked against the manacles.

That night, I ate the stupid food milkshake thing the guard brought for me. It tasted like shit, but I ate it all.

Apparently, I’d started something. When it wasn’t the middle of the night, when we all seemed to agree we would sleep, there were always at least a couple of women singing, rapping, chanting, whatever. It was not the silent, dead place it once was. Every song, every note was like a protest.

Sometime the next day, my door whooshed open, and Portia walked in. She picked up the small stool near the door and brought it closer to my chair.

“Listen, Faraday. Please, just start behaving, all right? Jenson and I talked him down from just leaking your identity outright, and Jenson and Beta have ensured that your mom’s house is still protected, even if Alpha and Nightbane order the protection to be lifted. If you behave, you’ll get to be back on the team. That’s better than being down here, isn’t it?”

“Nope.”

She looked shocked. “Why on earth would you say that? At least up there, you have some autonomy, right? You can eat what and when you want. Move around. Call your mother,” she added.

“That was a shitty thing to do, bringing my mother into it,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and she actually did sound like she was. “But come on. Don’t do this just to spite Alpha.”

“You think that’s what this is?”

She nodded.

I met her eyes. “You were there. He was going to let them kill Dani… Screamer, rather than bring her in. I had it, and he was ordering me to stand down.”

“You’re not a hero,” she said quietly. “You never wanted to be.”

“I’m not. And I never will be. What kind of asshole actually calls herself a hero?”

She blushed a little.

“And here’s the thing. I’d rather rot down here, than work for a man who would let a woman die. Did they even ask why, or what caused her to scream like that?”

Portia shook her head.

“She was hurting. She was scared. She needed a friendly face, not a firing squad. It isn’t hard.”

Portia looked away.

“And what about Amy over there?” I said, moving my head toward Amy’s cell. “Anyone ask her if she meant to crush Nightbane? If she meant to turn to steel at that moment? Because that was an accident, and she was locked up before she had a chance to explain that.”

Portia looked uncomfortable, and she leaned closer to me.

“Look. Useful powers, Alpha doesn’t send them down here. Okay? Like you. You’re super strong. You can fly. You can take a hit and keep going. That’s useful. He’s willing to work with that. Toxxin was down here, too. So was Caine, and he let them on the team. They have powers he can use.”

“So not only are they imprisoned indefinitely, without any explanation, or trial or anything, but they’re useless as well?” I asked.

“As far as he’s concerned, yes. Toxxin and Caine both wear dampeners, but they’ve earned free rein when we’re out in the field. He trusts them somewhat. They’ve earned it.”

I closed my eyes and laid my head back. “I’d rather die.” A few minutes later, I heard my door whoosh, and when I opened my eyes, I was alone again.

The rapping/singing went on around me, and I smiled a little. They were rapping again, and I knew they were doing it to cheer me up a little.

Chapter Seventeen