Chapter Forty-Five Faith

Glancing down at her body, Faith assessed her situation. The crook of her right elbow was bleeding slightly, where the needle had scratched the skin. It wasn't a bad injury though. She glanced at her left arm, where a tube was already feeding drugs into her system.

Slowly, she eased into a sitting position. Investigating the cannula with the fingers of her other hand, she could feel the needle piercing into the flesh. The tube snaked upwards to a clear plastic bag mounted on the front of one of the machines. The label on the bag read femgazipane.

First things first. Faith steeled herself. Taking hold of the plastic sleeve which held the needle in place, she pulled. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but the needle came free more easily than she had anticipated. She pressed her fingers against the site, but it didn't bleed much.

Swinging her legs around, she pulled herself to the edge of the bed. Her head was spinning and the effort the movement required made her nauseous. She spotted some water on the bedside table. Edging towards it, she grasped the glass and raised it to her lips. She took a sip. Cautiously, at first. Then, when the water settled in her stomach without making her sick, she drained it.

Once she felt a little more stable, she glanced down at herself. Clad in a hospital gown, she wasn't exactly dressed for running. But she didn't have much choice. Pushing herself to her feet, she stood still for a few moments, making sure her legs would hold her.

When she was pretty sure she was okay, she crept towards the door. On the other side, urgent voices muttered. But no matter how hard she strained, she couldn't make out what they were saying.

Turning the handle slowly, she eased the door open a crack. The voices grew in volume.

"…academy was overrun." Faith's heart leapt. Had the Resistance freed the other girls? "…couldn't get to Anderson."

"We don't know what's happened to the girls yet." Danforth was pacing. "Citizens have been flooding down there ever since that damn Thane woman started broadcasting. We just can't get near."

At the mention of Madeleine's journalist friend, Faith found herself smiling despite her situation. Stella Thane had been forced into hiding after printing the leaflets which had started all the trouble. Danforth's words confirmed that she was as determined as ever to broadcast the truth from her safehouse.

"…only just escaped the new government base before it was overrun," Danforth was saying.

"…forced to head here." This was Hammond again. "To regroup."

Faith pulled the door open a little wider. No one was looking her way. It didn't sound like things were going well for Danforth. If the Resistance mission was finally working, she had to get away. But she had to figure out where she was.

She glanced around. The place looked like a warehouse. Though the inner room Faith was being kept in was clean and fairly small, the outer area was much larger. The ceiling soared high above, and the space had floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with boxes. Faith recognised the green star logo of the Bellator hospital on the side of some of them and it made sense. This was one of the locations the drugs had been taken to after leaving BellaLab Corp.

Clearly, she was being kept in one of the warehouses listed on the document she had found in Sanders' office. She felt a tiny ray of hope. If the Resistance had received her message, they might already be on their way to rescue her.

But she couldn't count on that. Sanders had said the camera had been switched off. There were no guarantees the rebels knew where she was. Straining forward, she spotted an exit on the opposite wall of the warehouse. It wouldn't be easy to get to, with Danforth and her guards in the way.

If she managed to reach it, it might be locked. And there were no guarantees she would know where she was if she managed to escape.

Faith cast her mind back to the locations she had scribbled on the pieces of paper. Eliot Street. And Acton Street. Which one was she in? Where were they in relation to the library? When she'd conveyed the locations, Faith had relied on the Resistance working out where the warehouses were. She had never anticipated having to find her own way out of the unfamiliar industrial district.

She tried to focus. Warehouses were probably located on the outskirts of the city. If she ran, would she be better off heading back to Eremus or returning to the city? It seemed ironic that she was considering Eremus as a potential sanctuary when it had once been a place she was imprisoned.

"What's your plan, Chancellor?" Hammond's voice brought Faith back to the here-and-now.

"We'll have to wait until the chaos in the city abates." Danforth paused. "I've dispatched every available guard to quell the riots. They're well-armed." Faith recoiled at the suggested threat. "They'll resolve things, eventually."

"And then what?"

"Then we'll spin this in our favour." Danforth didn't sound quite as cocksure as she usually did. "I'll blame the Resistance, of course. Find a way to prove it's them who are lying, not me."

"You think they'll believe the Resistance falsified the evidence?" Sanders asked.

What evidence was the doctor referring to?

"By the time I'm finished, they will," Danforth sneered. "I'll broadcast a speech. From here, if necessary. Denounce the Resistance, and Eremus, of course." She sniffed, disdainfully. "They'll swallow it."

"They always do," Hammond tossed the comment over her shoulder as she moved towards the door, "as long as you make the men sound terrifying enough."

"You're right." Danforth shot a grateful look at her lieutenant as she cracked open the exit door, keeping watch. "They might take a little more convincing this time, though." She started pacing. "I may have to reveal the extent of the damage to the seed stores."

There was an audible gasp from Sanders. "Won't that cause panic?"

"Perhaps. But if I can provide the solution to the issues caused by the seed deficiency, I'll be the hero again." Danforth gestured over her shoulder. "That's why it's even more vital than ever that we get the fertility experiment to work." She held out a hand to stop Sanders from interrupting. "With the academy overrun, Faith's potentially our only subject."

The doctor was already on her feet. "We'd better get back to it then."

Faith drew back from the door as Danforth raised an eyebrow. "You haven't started the procedure yet?"

"We were just about to." Horror took hold of Faith as Sanders continued. "You want us to go ahead then, despite the situation? It will be difficult to move her, once–"

"Definitely." Danforth's tone was cold. "The faster we get on with it, the faster we'll have a success story."

Her heart sinking, Faith began to ease the door closed. They would come for her in a matter of minutes. And she could do nothing about it. Outside, Danforth continued to press Sanders.

"How soon before–" She stopped abruptly. "What is it Hammond?"

Faith tensed at her tone. At the door, the lieutenant was staring at a message on her wristclip.

"Intruders spotted at the far end of Eliot Street." She reached for her gun. "They'll be here any minute."