Page 2 of Hidden By the Convicts
“And now you’re a Level 4 like the rest of us, Harlis,” Gavin replied. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be out of here in nine years.”
“Nine? My sentence is only for four. I mean five now.”
“And my three-year sentence ended nine years ago. Got here when I was twenty-nine, probably won’t leave until I’m sixty.”
The woman stared at Bowen but didn’t move. She looked terrified. He had to keep her from running. And she would run. He was sure of it.
“You’re awfully quiet, Bowen,” Gavin called over to him. “No words of wisdom?”
Bowen had been half-listening to Gavin. Sooner or later they’d have to break it to Harlis, let him know that chemists had the worst chance of leaving Narkos. Any professional, really. As the planet’s only horticulturist and the man responsible for the food supply, Gavin wasn’t likely to leave ever, and he knew it, though he held out hope.
Bowen, on the other hand, had a chance. It didn’t take much skill to learn how to run the planters and harvesters to ensure the food supply for the two thousand convicts on the other side of the mountain range. It just took some patience while programming the machines, making sure he didn’t send more than one to the same field where they’d collide. And coordinating the few prisoners who worked the fields, to ensure they didn’t get run over while performing duties the harvesters couldn’t. Any half-wit could do that. He was as replaceable as the miners in West Side. It all came down to playing the game, cooperating with the guards, and not giving them any trouble.
Trouble. Like hiding a female.Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“Seriously, Bowen,” Gavin called over to him as he started picking up the spilled seeds. “What are you doing over there? There’s no fruit on the nelim trees this time of year.”
“It’s not right,” Harlis vented to Gavin. The young man’s frustration coming through loud and clear, but Bowen couldn’t deal with him right now, not with a woman hiding in the greenhouse.
“Keep complaining and you’ll find yourself on West Side,” Gavin replied. “Just because you’re a chemist doesn’t mean the guards won’t throw you into the mines to teach you a lesson for several months.”
Bowen bent down to her level. The widest eyes, bright green with flecks of gold, stared back at him. Beautiful eyes, and a round face with shoulder-length hair, though her face and hair had more dirt than one of Gavin’s precious plants. The woman wore a simple frock, no shoes, and contrary to his earlier guess, she did not appear to want to leave her hiding spot.
“East Side serves three functions on Narkos, kid,” Gavin carried on. “First, food production. That’s us. Second, guard training for the guards who work on West Side. It’s cushy over here in comparison to West Side. Take my word for it. I spent two years over there before The Company transferred me to East Side. Hey, Bowen,” Gavin called over. “What the fuck has you so distracted?”
The female shook her head. She feared he’d expose her. But these were Bowen’s men, his unit. They’d follow his lead. Even Harlis, as impetuous as he was, would never intentionally put the unit at risk.
Having a unit on Narkos meant survival against the guards and other prisoners. Just because they were on a Level 4 prison planet didn’t mean a man couldn’t get killed or become the fuck toy to a gang of men without a unit to watch over him.
Like the few women unfortunate enough to be sent here. Fuck, what the hell was he going to do with her?
Gavin appeared at his side. “Oh, this isn’t good,” his friend of the past five years said. “We have to get rid of her.”
“Her?” Harlis said, sprinting over to the nelim tree.
The woman began shaking. She had gone from scared to terrified.
“Who is she?” Harlis said. “Can we keep her?”
“Fucking shut up,” Bowen snapped at him. “She’s not a dog.”
“No, worse. She’s here for the guards,” Gavin said. “She’s theirs.”
“What do you mean?” Harlis said.
“The third purpose of East Side. Recreation for the guards.”
* * *
TEAGEN
Teagen didn’t knowwhere else to go. With nightfall approaching, she needed shelter. Kuvaks roamed the jungle while the guards roamed East Side. She had considered the jungle over the guards. At least death by kuvak would be fairly quick compared to what the guards had done to her. . . what they’d continue doing to her.
The greenhouse was dry, had some food, and the guards didn’t go in there often. At least she hadn’t thought so. But today they had, and they would have caught her too if that prisoner hadn’t distracted them. Bowen. That’s what the others had called him. The way he took charge of the others suggested he was their unit leader.
He headed her way. She squeezed as far as she could behind the potted tree, but it was too small a space for her to hide fully. Almost immediately, he spotted her.
The man was larger than most of the prisoners on East Side. Broad, with large muscles everywhere. Larger than the guards, even. As for the expression on his face. . . shock. She understood that. The Company didn’t send many women to Narkos. Those that they did send ended up like her. A commodity to be used.
