“No need to worry, dear. Your friends—your family—are safely at home. I don't think there will be any need to involve them. Do you?”
“No. They're good citizens. They do their work and honor their Phaedra.” All true. Kira never shared anything dangerous with them, and none of them acted out the way she did. They didn't grow up with her mother. They grew up learning they were safe as long as they followed the rules. Life wasn't too bad for them here in Kallum, so they didn't understand that it wasn't true and that no one was safe until everyone was.
The others, the ones who spent the last three years helping her build drones, were not her family. They all kept their distance for a reason. It was safer to know little about one another.
“They honor their Phaedra,” Dr. Cooper said. “Your mother doesn't. You were separated because she was part of a terrorist cell. She took you and fled when a member of the group was captured. Do I have all that right?”
“She was never a terrorist.” The old wound still festered deep within her.
“I'm told your mother made valiant efforts to find you over the years. Still, it must feel like she chose the rebellion over you.”
“No.” Kira should probably shut up. “She chose the rebellion for me.”
Intrigue twinkled in his eye, and that didn't seem good for her. He wasn't letting her leave without digging something out of her. Why did she say it?
“We'll come back to that later. How do you feel about Zayne?”
Was he listening? Watching? Kira shifted, brushing a wire off her forearm. “I don't know.”
“That's not entirely accurate, is it?”
“Is that what your computer is showing you?”
He smiled at this. “Indeed, it is.”
Kira wasn't sure how to play this. Despite not knowing if he watched, she felt his stare. Felt it peeling away her skin. “It's hard to put into words.”
“We have plenty of time.”
“I…” Might as well say it and see what happened. “I think he's an asshole.”
The doctor murmured as he took notes. “Tell me more about that.”
“Even when he's trying to pretend he isn't one, he's distant and unfeeling. And mean. He's really, really mean.”
Dr. Cooper chuckled. “You wouldn't be the first woman to say that.” He looked up at her this time. “Do you want him to get closer to you?”
“No.”
Best not to elaborate. Kira may not get away with lying, but she didn't need to offer more information than he requested.
The interrogation exhausted her as it continued well past the three-hour mark. She figured that was part of the strategy, to wear her down and dig the truth out of her.
Kira felt like she had done well for the most part, until Dr. Cooper began a new line of questioning.
“Is there anything you're afraid to tell me?” he asked.
Not fair. It was so open-ended. He wouldn't stop until he found out everything she didn't want to say. What could she do?
“Yes.” Kira pried the admission from her lips.
“Tell me.”
She swallowed hard.
“We can't end the interview until you do.”
Her eyes closed. Dr. Cooper couldn't read her mind, only the signals of her body. She should find ways to answer this truthfully until eventually he stopped asking. “I don't want my mom to give information that hurts anyone. I'd rather die.”
