Rayford raised his eyebrows. "Maybe," he said. "You never know."
Buck and Albie stood with the culling squad in the female teens' area. Buck found it hard to believe the conditions were the same as for the men. There were two women guards, but the rest were men. The girls were not as noisy and raucous as the boys, but the makeup of the group was similar. There were tough girls and apparent victims, but all were curious.
Buck scoured the group, and a tall brunet stared back at him. He was convinced they had seen each other's mark at the same time. Her eyes grew wide, and he tried to communicate with his that she must not give him away. As Alex Athenas ran through his explanation, Buck casually moved close to Albie.
"I'd better not push my luck. Think you can get one out of here?"
"Maybe," Albie said. "You're not thinking of trying this in every building, are you?"
"I hate doing nothing."
"Me too, but we're going to get ourselves killed. And what about when there's a bunch of 'em?"
"I can worry about them only one at a time."
Albie sighed. "Where is she?" Buck pointed her out. "Watch and learn, buddy boy," Albie said.
Albie rushed the cage, shouting. Alex fell silent and watched with everyone else as Albie prowled up and back before the wire mesh, eyes on his prey. "You! You from the North American States?"
The girl froze, her eyes darting at Buck, who nodded slightly, and back at Albie. "No," she said, her voice a constricted squeak. "I'm-"
"Don't lie to me, dirt ball! I'd know you anywhere." Albie whirled in a rage that almost convinced Buck. "Alex, get somebody to open this cage." He turned back, pointing at the girl. "Step to the door! Now! Hands behind your head."
She advanced, stiff legged and shuddering, as the gate was unlocked.
Albie grabbed her and wrenched her out. "Cuffs," he announced, and a guard tossed him a pair. "Key too," he said. "I'll bring 'em back." He pushed her up against the cage and drew her hands down to hook her up. He slipped the key in his pocket and guided her out.
"Have fun," a guard whispered as they passed.
Albie turned on him, grabbed his jacket, and shoved him against the wall. "Say again, soldier?"
"Sorry, sir. That was uncalled for."
Albie gave him another shove and turned back to the girl, hustling her out. He returned a few minutes later and returned cuffs and key to the lender.
Buck was shocked when a girl with a pronounced Greek accent responded in the affirmative to Officer Athenas's main question. The other girls whirled to see who it was, and Buck leaned in to see if he could detect a mark on her forehead. There was none.
"You're refusing the loyalty mark of the Global Community?" Alex said.
"I'd certainly like to think about it," she said. "It seems a drastic move, not something to enter into lightly."
"You understand the consequences?"
"I'd just like to think it over."
"Fair enough. Anyone else?" No one. "Young lady, because you are the only one in this facility, rather than being sent straight to the confirmation facilitator, you may mull this over while in line. Your male counterparts are almost finished with the procedure, and where you wind up in line will determine how much time you have to decide. When you get to the place in the queue where you are asked where you would like the mark affixed, that will be your final chance to elect not to have it at all."
"And then?"
"You will be directed to the confirmation facili-"
"You know what that is, girl?" a teen called out.
"You're dead!"
"Guillotine! Head chopped off."
The girls quieted and Athenas looked at her. "Still want to think it over?"
"What, are they serious? You're going to chop my head off for wanting to think this through?"
"Not for thinking, miss. For deciding against. If you decide for, you just choose where."
"So I don't really have a choice."
"Where you been?" one of the girls said, and others joined in.
"Of course you have a choice," Alex said. "I believe I've made it clear. Accept the mark or accept the alternative."
"The mark or death, you're saying?"
"Still want to think it over?"
She shook her head.
One of the girls said, "You sure made that harder than it needed to be."
"Well, I didn't know there was really no choice."
Before proceeding to the adult women's lockup, Buck and Albie followed the young women to the lines in the middle building. It had already become a model of efficiency. The prisoners moved along steadily. They were ready with their forehead or hand choices, and the disinfectant/anesthesia was applied quickly. The injectors sounded like electric staplers, and while some recipients flinched, no one seemed to feel pain.
Almost all the teen males took their marks on their foreheads, and one of the last, as he got back in line, raised both arms and shouted, "Long live Carpathia!" That soon became the custom, as it did with the young women choosing to receive the mark on their hands.
Buck stood staring, wishing he could preach. They had made their choices, yes, but did they really know what they were choosing? It wasn't between loyalty and death; it was between heaven or hell, eternal life or eternal damnation.
His heart raced as the line of young women neared its end, and they were herded back. In the next building he expected to see Mrs. Miklos. How many of her friends would be there with her?
The women's facility was surreal, in that there was no cage. The guards, again, were mostly men, and they apparently didn't expect trouble. The women sat, mostly passive, chatting quietly, but their curious eyes also took in the Athenas squad.
Buck strolled around the outside of the group of women, looking for Laslos's wife. Finally he noticed a group of about twenty women in a back corner, on their knees. In the middle of the group, praying, was Mrs. Miklos.
"Shut up and listen up!" a guard bellowed, and most of the women came to attention. "This here's Officer Athenas, and he's got announcements and instructions."
Alex began, but the women in the back-who Buck assumed were Mrs. Miklos's believing friends-paid no attention and continued praying. Some gazed toward heaven, and Buck saw the marks on their foreheads. Others peered up and around the crowd at Alex, and Buck noticed that some of them had no mark. Laslos's wife had apparently been trying to recruit new believers.
Athenas grew impatient with those kneeling in the back. "Ladies, please!" he said, but they ignored him. He nodded to one of his female assistants, who handed her high-powered rifle and side arm to a compatriot, pulled out her baton, and moved directly into the tough-looking women in the front, heading toward the rear. A young, thick, healthy woman, she stared down the menacing ones, clearly knowing that her comrades had her back.
"As I was saying," Alex took up again, but he stopped when the attention of the women diverted to where his guard was headed.
"Ladies!" the guard bellowed. "You will cease and desist, face the front, and give Officer Athenas your full attention."
Many did just that. Some stood and moved away from the group. Others remained kneeling but looked up. Still others kept their heads bowed and eyes closed, lips moving in prayer. Mrs. Miklos, kneeling with her back to the guard, kept her hands folded, head bowed, eyes closed, praying softly.
The guard poked her with the baton, and she nearly lost her balance. When Mrs. Miklos turned to look up at her, the guard bent close and shouted, "Do you understand me, ma'am?"
Mrs. Miklos smiled shyly, reset herself, and returned to prayer. The guard, clearly incensed, put both hands around the end of the stick, set herself, pulled the baton back, and stepped into her swing.
Buck was barely able to hold his voice, and Albie had to grab and hold him back as the hardwood baton cracked loudly off the back of Mrs. Miklos's head.