Page 72 of Exit Strategy
I was feeling ashamed. Me. Over surviving what New Eden had done to me. I sat beside Kurt, my hand beneath his as we were being whisked away through DC and my skin justcrawled.I wanted tobegfor a shower before we did anything else after recounting the tales of how I’d been touched, how I’d been used, and how they had treated me.
As though I were the dirty one. As though I were the filthy one.
I mean, I knew that wasn’t true. I knew that I was far from it, that I wasn’t those things, that those things had been imposed upon me, my will subverted, and that I was a prisoner at the mercy of a group of fiends but I couldn’t help the miasma of confusion that clouded my thoughts and feelings.
A few hours later, after I had received the requisite shower and freshening up – including a change of clothes into something quite a bit lovelier and fancier than I’d had occasion to wear in what felt like a very long time – I found myself sighing as Kyle piloted the new and much less non-descript vehicle we were in to the curb back in DC.
A hunter-green carpet on the sidewalk, edged in gold beneath an awning that was likewise, a perfect hunter green and likewise edged in gold, bespoke the level of opulence awaiting us atLe Jefferson.I fixed my eyes on the street number emblazoned on the arching front of that awning and for whatever reason, fixated on it.
A man with white gloves in a dapper hunter-green coat edged in more gold, twin rows of gold buttons on the front of his coat, stepped up to the door of the SUV, blocking my view of the awning. A white shirt collar, crisp and neat peeked over the fine coat’s collar. He wore a military-esque captain-like hat, equally green with gold trim, the short black bill shading his eyes. Even his pants were a matching green for the carpet and the awning with a gold stripe down the side of his leg.
He opened Sadie’s door first and then Kurt’s. I leaned back where I had practically draped myself over Kurt’s lap to see out the window. Kurt rose like a leviathan from the deep, drawing the front of his jacket closed as he stood, and the man’s white glove appeared in the portal to the car to help me out. I rose with the aid of that steady hand, and I longed to be like the man behind it.
Simple, a blue-collar and essentially anonymous worker to the men and women in their power suits around us, notables being ushered in through the heavy wooden doors with its sparkling glass panes beyond into the sparkling marble and gilt lobby, only to be ushered past the Maître D’s little stand and into the dimly lit restaurant and bar.
I knew this type of place. Maybe had even been to this one in particular before, although truthfully, they all seemed the same.
“Are you sure?” I asked Kurt softly while Kyle and Sadie went through the doors before us, the doorman holding the door for them and looking to us expectantly as I faltered in my smart, designer pumps.
How I longed to be anonymous. How I wished I were anyone but who I was right now.
“Aye, if the captain deems it to be so, it’s safe,” Kurt murmured, putting his hand to the small of my back and guiding me through the door into the glitz and glamour beyond.
Ihadbeen here before, a long time ago, in another life. A special dinner for the first sons and daughters of New Eden. There had been five of us, a delegation to the capital as teens in high school to lobby for the good congressmen and women to adopt greener policies and to enact more legislation designed to protect our planet, or so I had thought. It hadn’t struck me then as it did now that the lot of us wore purity rings and had devoted ourselves to the planet, or that Scott, one of the two boys that had been with us, had a private meeting with a senator and how quiet he had been after.
I never did find out how that meeting had gone, just that Scott had changed. Gone from boisterous and smiling to subdued and haunted in the blink of an eye and then, I had just never seen him again. His family had been transferred to another state, a different division of New Eden in the state that the senator had been from.
My heart hurt for him, and I wondered now what had happened, but I think, deep down in my aching heart, I knew.
We were seated at a table near the bar and Kyle ordered himself a drink. Something fancy made with gin; I think. I didn’t know. I was only recently old enough in the last few years to drink but my intake had been closely monitored. I didn’t especially like the taste of alcohol and so I didn’t know much about what was good versus what wasn’t. The last time I had drunk was the wine with Kurt on the way here, states and states away. I liked it enough to have a second glass of it… but I didn’t know what it was and to ask would only give me away… that I shouldn’t be drinking at all.
“Have a drink, Kurt,” Kyle ordered, and Kurt frowned.
“No, thanks,” he said tersely, and his eyes drifted back to me. I smiled a bit and hid it with the wine list that Sadie had handed me.
“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound indecisive. “What’s good?” I asked when the woman looked at me expectantly. She smiled and narrowed the expansive list of wines down to two or three options while Kyle’s tone shifted to slightly impatient.
“Seriously,” Kyle said, eyeing Kurt sharply. “Have a drink. They don’t have beer, but they have almost everything else you could imagine.”
Something passed between the two men and Kurt nodded while Sadie and the Sommelier concluded helping me chose something to my taste. I was familiar with this back-and-forth, thewhat will you be dining on,andthe chef’s suggestions for this and that.
We settled and looked over the offerings for today. The limited menu printed on crisp expensive cardstock was something to behold and wasn’t nearly as distracting enough as boisterous laughter from the corner that caused me to jump slightly. Kurt put his hand on my knee beneath the tablecloth and I flashed him a brief, grateful smile.
Our drinks came, and our orders were placed. I fought valiantly not to reach for Kurt’s hand, to remain in the parts we played. Just the celebrity’s wife accompanied by the celebrity’s security – nothing more. Kyle and Sadie seemed to be intimately familiar with the menu and even seemed to know the staff. How often did they come here? At least Kurt seemed as nervous as I felt, his posture was stiff, his face was tight too. I recognized that body language – he was on guard. This wasn’t a nice dinner out for him, and maybe if he felt wary, maybe my worries were legitimate, and that made me feel a little better.
Kyle was speaking though I had no head for truly listening as my eyes roved the opulent, yet still chic interior ofLe Jefferson.
“Isn’t it fabulous?” Sadie asked smiling.
I smiled in return and nodded. “They’ve updated things since I was last here,” I said.
“Oh, you’ve been?” she asked.
I nodded. “A lifetime ago, as part of a New Eden teen leadership delegation while I was still in school. We were here in the capitol to lobby for tighter EPA restrictions and regulations on some of the titans of industry who are the worst offenders.”
“Let me guess, a certain billionaire and his capitalism-driven online-ordering service?” Kyle asked lightly.
I nodded and said, “That would be one, yes.”
