“Don’t worry, I’ll never give up. I owe everyone down here at least that much.” Before I could ask him what he meant, he pulled me against him and gave me a long kiss. He released me reluctantly. I watched him descend the stairs until he was out of sight, and then made my way up to the laundry room.
A guard was standing outside the door when I arrived. He gave me a nod that was almost imperceptible, and I knew he was an Alliance guard. The laundry room lights were on and the door was unlocked, so I went in. I was surprised to see a woman sitting behind the desk. She didn’t look very old—maybe early twenties, which was young for a supervisor. I looked over at Crystal’s station, hopeful that she might have made it to work, but there was no one at the sink. I was the first worker there.
The woman behind the desk pointed to the scanner. “Scan in.”
I wasn’t sure if I should give her a respectful greeting or not. Madi had never been partial to us talking to her unless we had been spoken to first. I had no idea what this woman was going to be like. I decided to err on the side of caution and stayed silent. I waved my hand across the scanner, and it beeped. I felt the familiar moment of relief when I saw the green light.
“Autumn Jones,” the woman said thoughtfully. “I’m Supervisor Gina. I’ll be working here now.”
“Good morning, ma’am.”
“What is it you do here?”
“I operate the washers and dryers and sort the clothes, ma’am.” I respectfully turned my eyes to the floor. I didn’t want to provoke another supervisor.
“We’re going to be short-handed today. Do you think you can help out with hand washing?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I tried to hide the alarm I felt when she mentioned hand washing. She obviously knew Crystal wouldn’t be in that day. I wondered what else she knew.
“Well, just go about your normal duties, and we’ll see how the day progresses.” She dismissed me.
I took a cart of dirty laundry on the way to my station and began sorting. A few minutes later, Di arrived. She scanned in and talked to Supervisor Gina. Once our new supervisor dismissed her, Di took a cart of dirty laundry and stopped to greet me on the way to her station.
“Good morning,” she said cheerfully, motioning with her eyes at Gina. “So if this one turns out like the last one, we going to kill her too?” Di gave me a wink.
“Keep it down,” I whispered. “Hopefully this one isn’t like the last one.” But if she were, I wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of her. Life was so much better without the Madis of the world.
Di looked over at the two guards lounging against a wall talking. “There seem to be a few extra guards on today.”
“I think they’re with the Alliance. They might be trying to find out information on Crystal.”
I saw Gina looking over at us, raising her eyebrows at our whispered chatter. I dropped my eyes to the laundry I was sorting and Di went to her station. More workers began to arrive and scan in. Everyone seemed uneasy with a new supervisor. Little wonder, considering how bad the last one had been.
I put my sorted loads in the washing machines and gathered up the hand washing to take to the sink. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I decided to play dumb and just set them on the counter like I normally would if Crystal was there. I was walking away when Supervisor Gina stopped me.
“The girl who usually works there won’t be in today,” she said. “Do you know how to do the hand washing?”
“I’ve been shown once. I can try.”
I returned to the sink and started filling it up with cold water. I remembered how achy my hands and arms had become when Crystal had showed me how to hand wash. I wasn’t looking forward to having my hands in cold water all day, but on the bright side, I wouldn’t suffer heat exhaustion. Supervisor Gina didn’t leave. She stood there watching me. I felt uncomfortable in her presence. She seemed to be studying me.
“You’re tall for a girl,” she said matter-of-factly and then returned to her desk.
I wondered what she meant by her comment. Was it just an observation? Or did she suspect who I was? I hadn’t forgotten about the bounty on my head. I knew supervisors didn’t make much, so four hundred credits would be appealing.
My arms and hands were aching by the time I finished washing the few clothes I had. Di came over with a bundle, but offered to do her own when she saw how much pain I was in. I thanked her and let her. I didn’t know how Crystal managed to do that all day.
As my first washer stopped, I sorted the clothes between hang-to-dry and spin dry. I was conscious of Gina frequently glancing up from her computer to look at me. I wondered why. I cast a sly look over at the two Alliance guards in the room. I knew a third one was right outside the door. If Domers did come down here to arrest me, how far would the Alliance guards go to help me? If they challenged the Domers outright, they would expose themselves as traitors and face execution as well. I wasn’t sure I wanted that on my conscience.
I kept my head down and did my work, not wanting to draw any attention to myself. I knew there would be no escape from here if they came for me. I was relieved when the end of the workday finally arrived. My work was finished, and I could leave this room, which I now thought of as a trap.
“Be here bright and early again tomorrow, Autumn,” Gina said as I scanned out.
I know I didn’t imagine the emphasis on my name. Now I was positive she suspected that I wasn’t Autumn Jones. But if she knew for sure I was Sunny O’Donnell, she would have reported me by now.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
I opened the door and left the laundry room. I knew I couldn’t come back.
Chapter Thirty
I went directly to the common room after work hoping to find Jack there, but he wasn’t. His climb up out of the mine was significantly longer than the few levels I had to descend to get there. I noticed Terra sitting alone eating, so I picked up my rations and sat with her.
“Oh, hi!” she said. “I’ve never seen you here this early before.”
“For a change, I didn’t have to work late tonight.”
“I usually wait and eat with David, but I’m starving!”
A guard came into the room and turned on the television. The official presidential seal appeared on the screen. There hadn’t been a speech from the president since he appealed to the people to find Jack and me.
Terra narrowed her eyes. “I wonder what that’s all about.”
“I don’t know.”
I wondered what it was all about too. Had Gina reported me? Was this going to be an appeal for someone to hand us over to Holt? Or maybe it was about the riot last night. I doubted it would be about Crystal. Malcolm West would handle her himself. It had to be about either the riot or Jack and me.
Jack came in with a few of the other miners and scanned the room. I waved to him. He nodded toward the screen, looking uneasy.
Terra’s husband David was the first to join us, and others came toward our table with their food. A few of us got up and pushed tables together making more room. We were all leery of what the president had to say.
“What were you able to find out about Crystal today?” I asked Jack when he was sitting beside me. Everyone at the table quieted down at my question.
“She’s with West in the most heavily guarded wing of the Dome.”
“But you have a plan, right?” I asked.
“It’s not an easy plan. First I need a couple of Domer uniforms.”
A few people laughed out loud. “You’re right, that isn’t going to be easy,” David said. “In fact, it’s going to be impossible.”
“Maybe not. If Sunny and I disguise ourselves as guards, we can get upstairs into the Dome. Once we’re on the main floor, my computer will be back online, and I’ll be able to get into the storage room where they keep the uniforms. As Domers, no one will question our presence on the tenth floor.”