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Thankfully, Altair had done a bad job tying her feet. Maybe he’d been too distracted by her naked ankles. She was able to loosen the knot enough to get her right foot out, and with some more wiggling, the left too.
With her legs freed, she managed to awkwardly scoot herself to the kitchen where they kept the knives. She didn’t know how long it took her to free herself from the chair, but the moment the last knot came undone, she rushed to her bedroom to change into her plain dress and ran out the door. It was late in the evening, and few people were walking around the street. Elizabeth would be home by now.
Fortunately, she did know where her house was. The “doctor’s house” had been one of the points of interest during the orientation tour. If they got injured after hours, they could go there instead of the clinic.
She knocked, and Rex opened the door.
“It’s late,” he said, in a tone that didn’t invite conversation.
“I’m very sick. I need a doctor.”
Rex looked around the street, but there was no one there. Nova had been careful to knock while no one was around.
He opened the door and let her pass.
Elizabeth sat on a couch with a book in her lap. She got up as soon as she recognized her.
“Nova?” she asked. “What happened?”
“Altair knows I’m not Meghan.”
Elizabeth and Rex exchanged worried looks.
“What? How?”
“He had Meghan’s file. He said he got it from a friend who works on the algorithm project. There was Meghan’s picture in it.”
She didn’t find it necessary to tell them Altair’s other accusations, the picture was enough.
“Shit. Where is he now?”
“He tied me up to a chair and went to tell somebody.”
“I’ll make sure she wasn’t followed,” Rex said, going outside.
Elizabeth grabbed her arm and led her to sit on the couch.
“What does he know exactly?”
“That’s all. I told him my name was Nova. He asked why I’d done it and who sent me, but I didn’t answer him.”
“You shouldn’t have come here.” Elizabeth bit her finger. “If they find you here, they’ll know right away it was me who made the exchange.”
“I’m sorry,” Nova said. “I didn’t know where else to go. I thought you could hide me like you did Brent.”
Suddenly the front door burst open.
Nova gasped. Rex walked in pushing Altair in front of him. Altair wasn’t much smaller than Rex in height but Rex held his arm behind him at an awkward angle forcing Altair to lean forward.
“Found him sneaking around.” Rex’s voice was sharp enough to cut through diamonds.
Nova’s heart beat against her chest. She’d just given them away.
Altair looked at her with pain in his eyes.
“Was he alone?”
Rex nodded. “I think so.”
