Page 19 of Taken

Jolie was only seven when New Eden was occupied by the remaining Path of the Covenant members, so she’d basically grown up in the dark recesses of this shelter, very likely believing she was wildly lucky for surviving… what was it she called it? The Great Reckoning?

Christ.

No wonder ‘outsiders’ like myself weren’t supposed to speak to any of the girls down here. That would make it too easy for us to discover the truth of the place, whatever that may be. I was just lucky I happened to run into Jolie outside that bathroom earlier, or else I wouldn’t have spotted the tip of whatever dark iceberg lay below the surface of this sordid place.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to leave now, and it had nothing to do with the fucking money I had riding on it. Not anymore.

As fucked up as New Eden might be—unless I was simply overreacting and letting my imagination get the better of me—I wanted to stay down here for Jolie’s sake. She was too fucking stunning to turn my back on, and there was no way I could leave tomorrow and return to the regular world, pretending as if none of this happened. As if every inch of me didn’t ache and burn with desire after only a few stolen moments with her.

It wasn’t just a physical thing, though. No, it ran much deeper than that. I wanted to spend more time with her so I could convince her that the real world wasn’t that bad; that nothing like this ‘Great Reckoning’ had actually happened before the turn of the millennium. Sure, the outside world had its bad points, but the way the women seemed to be trapped here wasn’t fucking right. If they knew the truth, they wouldn’t want to stay here and serve the men like they did day after day.

I shook my head in disgust. Jacob and his minions probably thought they were so fucking smart, creating this ‘paradise’ for themselves where women were nothing more than a slave class to them.

That meant it wouldn’t be easy getting Jolie or any other girl to leave. The men would want to protect what they had here, desperate to hold onto the way of life they’d created for themselves. They wouldn’t let an outsider simply wander in and take one or all of their women away. That meant I had to be slow and careful. Ease my way into this place if I even wanted half a chance at speaking to Jolie ever again.

Granted, I could just call the authorities when I got outside and tell them what I suspected, but I didn’t have any solid proof that would force them to listen to me. No doubt the men here would also be able to cover things up like they’d done when New Eden was inspected in the past, and then I’d never get a chance to see Jolie again.

I couldn’t risk that.

“In here, Mason.”

Jacob looked at me. Despite the fact his face was arranged into a neutral expression, I could tell he was seething mad. I obviously wasn’t supposed to see any of the female section, let alone that fucking weird apocalypse room, but I’d gone there anyway.

He was probably more pissed at himself, though, for leaving me to my own devices for a few short moments. If he’d simply escorted me to the bathroom instead of trusting me to be alone for five minutes, he could’ve avoided this issue.

I bet he wouldn’t make that mistake with an outsider ever again.

He led me into an enormous communal dining room with black marble floors, long polished wooden tables, and plentiful wingback dining chairs. There was enough space to fit well over a hundred men in here, if not more.

The smallest table was at the far end, set away from the others. Jacob led me over to it and gestured for me to take a seat. I could only presume this was where he sat with the Elders, who—from what I’d gathered—served as his right-hand men.

“Dinner will be served in a few minutes,” he said lightly, pretending as if there wasn’t any tension between us. “I believe we are having étouffée tonight.”

“Sounds great. How do the women cook down here?” I asked. I was pretending, too. Pretending it wasn’t totally fucking weird that the women all lived down here like rats.

“Cast iron AGA cookers,” he replied smoothly. “They burn wood in them to keep them heated. Any smoke goes out the back through pipes which lead up and away from the shelter. It’s an old-fashioned but reliable way of cooking.”

“Right. It’s all very impressive,” I said, shaking my head in faux-wonder. “It must’ve taken so much planning.”

“It did.” He turned and gave me a hard look. “What exactly did you see when you mistakenly wandered off into the women’s section?”

Ah, here it was. The confrontation.

It occurred to me that he wasn’t so much angry as worried. Worried I might go back into the outside world and tell everyone what I’d seen and let them draw their own dark conclusions.

I shrugged. “Not much. I was a little confused by the room I found myself in, with all those strange pictures, but I figured someone around here is just a huge movie buff.”

He stared at me with beady eyes, not saying a word.

I kept going. “I was very impressed with your daughter, too. She didn’t say a word to me when she saw me, even though she was clearly quite surprised to come across an outsider. She just kept on cleaning. You’ve raised the girls here excellently.”

He nodded slowly. “You must’ve been surprised at the lack of electricity down in that section.”

“I’ll admit, that did strike me as odd. Why is it like that?” I asked.

“Well, before I tell you, you must understand that we follow our own beliefs here, and they might seem strange to you. I know you attend churches back in your city which all worship the same general idea of God, but things here are different. You may not believe me, but I have been receiving messages from our own God for many years now.”

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. “I believe you. I remember you saying that when I visited your spiritual retreat as a teenager. It was one of the things I admired most about you. I’ve always dreamed that one day God would deign to speak to me, but I suppose he only chose you as his divine messenger,” I said in a rueful tone.

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