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“Really? Because even the official searches you report are ninety-two percent female despite the population being nearly fifty-fifty.” Deacon crossed his arms over his chest.
“Come on,” the guard complained. “You know how boring this job gets. You’ve got to let people blow off a little steam or we’ll go crazy.”
The argument didn’t seem to affect Deacon. “Doing that is not only inappropriate but it also means the male residents are left alone, that they can have more contraband because they aren’t getting searched. Let me make myself perfectly clear—fix this problem. If I see another report that skews the numbers that way, you won’t need to worry about boredom because you’ll be busy searching for a new job.”
The other guard rolled his eyes, the action disrespectful, but Deacon said nothing about it. He was probably used to others treating him like that. If he lost his temper at every eye roll or glare, he’d get nothing else done.
Still, I struggled with the desire to turn my focus on that guard instead of Deacon.
Except…that wouldn’t help him in the long run.
I approached, the noise of the cafeteria almost overwhelming. I’d picked this time because of the audience, because forcing people’s hands often meant doing things as publicly as possible.
I walked up to Deacon and shoved him as hard as I could.
Not that he even stepped backward, as if it meant nothing to him.
It probably doesn’t.
He narrowed his eyes. “What the hell?”
The guards reached for the weapons on their belts, but Deacon snapped out a quick, “No!”
At their looks, he shook his head. “She’s just a silenced siren. There’s no reason to escalate things.” He shifted his gaze back to mine, the look full of meaning.
No doubt he was trying to tell me to knock it off, to watch myself, to not push this any further. He couldonly protect me from so much, and if I went too far, he’d be helpless.
Which was exactly how far I needed to push it.
“Now, what is the meaning of this?”
“I hate you,”I signed, feeling sick at the lie.“I slept with you thinking you’d help me, but you just used me!”
His eyes widened, then he glanced around as if to see if anyone else understood. The other guards’ smirks said they could read ASL.
Which was exactly what I’d hoped for.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Deacon muttered. “But this isn’t a conversation to have in the middle of a crowd. Let’s go.” He wrapped a hand around my arm, no doubt ready to drag me off to some corner where he could question me, where he could try to figure out just what I was doing.
But I needed an audience for my plan.
I snapped and twisted the sound, then used it to shove Deacon backward. This time it worked, the pressure far more than what I’d managed with my hands. He stumbled away but caught himself before getting knocked down.
If I didn’t trust Deacon so much, I might have given up right there. The expression he gave me was full of anger, a look that said if he got me alone, I was indeeptrouble.
And for a moment I wanted that time to feel that anger of his. I knew it was just a reaction to the truth, to how I wouldn’t be able to touch him anymore, that I wanted some sort of goodbye.
But that wasn’t possible.
The other guards took the batons from their waists, snapping them to full length, the electrical prod on the end sparking to life as they hit the button. They wereused to dealing with dangerous shades, and I doubted they thought much of me.
At least, not yet.They’d see how wrong they were soon.
Deacon held his hand out. “Everyone calm down for a minute.” His tone came out desperate. “The Warden doesn’t want this one hurt.”
“Yeah, well, she isn’t supposed to be able to dothat,”one of the guards said, his gaze hard and locked on me. “Things change.”
“Maybe the Warden already knew she could, which is why she’s taking such an interest in her. Did you ever think of that? Do you want to piss off the Warden by hurting her favorite pet project?”
