Page 43 of Caught By Menace

Naya sized up Hallie. “You must have a ton of fabric left over.”

“I turned some of it into napkins or throw pillows The rest is in my scrap box.” She made a face. “Vicious thinks it’s silly for me to keep the scraps but old habits, you know?”

“Oh, I know.” Naya’s gaze fell to the top pamphlet. Surprise gripped her. The drawing on the front was all too familiar. “Who drew this?”

Hallie broke a cookie in half. “I did. Why?”

Naya’s startled gaze jumped to her new friend. What had Danny said? The Artist had been Grabbed and lived happily on a ship. Could it be? Was Hallie the young woman she’d known only as the Artist? “I bet my aunt Ruthie Frances would love one of your paintings.”

Hallie stiffened. Her shocked expression slowly faded. “I know Ruthie would.”

Ruthie Frances. Red Feather. “Should we keep talking in code or do I just come right out and ask?”

“Ask me.”

“You were part of the Red Feather. You drew passports.”

“I did. And you?”

“I’m very good at smuggling.”

Hallie’s eyes widened briefly. “Wait! Are you Dankirk’s contact in Connor’s Run?”

Now it was Naya’s turn to be surprised. “I was. You know Danny?”

“I spoke with him via my sister just the other day. He has a list of women who want out of Harper’s Well. Dankirk helped my sister escape to the colonies. How are things now? Has the smuggling chain been busy?”

“There were riots in The City five weeks ago. The government clamped down pretty tightly.”

“Riots?”

“Over food shortages,” Naya explained. “We had people pouring into Connor’s Run and Grogan’s Mill. There were so many cargo ships from the Jesco colony making illegal flyovers and taking passengers that the colonies put up a barricade. The backlog for customs processing in Safe Harbor and Jesco is so bad that some of the illegal immigrants were dying in the cargo holds.”

Hallie gasped in shock. “That’s awful.”

“The fees for those kinds of transports have gone up tremendously. The ships we work with like theShepherdare still doing low-fee transports, but it’s getting harder and harder to move people. Finding people to sponsor immigrants is almost impossible. The colonies have also stopped offering paperless entry for women who win the Grabs. I had to buy fake papers for Jennie and me. They weren’t nearly as good as yours.”

“Jennie?”

Sadness squeezed her chest. “She’s my friend. Her number was pulled in the lottery so I bought my way onto the list. We had a pact that we’d both run together and get taken together if we couldn’t escape.”

“Is she here with you? I can put a call through to her quarters and have her over if you’d like to see her.”

Naya gulped down the grief that swamped her. “No, she actually made it to the safe zone where her boyfriend was waiting.”

“Oh,” Hallie said quietly. She reached across the table and grabbed Naya’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

Naya looked at the friendly hand gripping hers. Hallie’s kindness overwhelmed her. “Thank you.”

“I know how hard it is to adjust to your new life. I’m not promising it’s going to be sugar and sweetness. There are going to be bumps. You’re probably going to want to thrash Menace a few times but you’ll get through it. If you’re meant to betogether, that is. If you’re not? You come to me. I’ll make sure you get your separation papers and I’ll help you find your way to the colonies and your friend.”

Naya gawked at Hallie. “You’d do that for me? But Menace is your husband’s friend. Wouldn’t that make things difficult between you?”

“You let me worry about Vicious. You just worry about your relationship with Menace.” Hallie pulled her hand back. “If you can make it work, I think you’ll be very happy. Menace is a wonderful man. Vicious wouldn’t count him among his closest friends if he wasn’t loyal and honest.”

Hallie hadn’t said anything that Naya wasn’t already thinking when it came to Menace. “I do like him. He’s been patient and sweet with me. The sex is pretty awesome too.”

Hallie actually blushed and dipped her gaze. “Yes, these Harcos men seem to be masters of seduction.”

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