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Nova shrugged. It would be dangerous. He could as easily turn them over to Devon the minute he smelled rebels.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Well, for now, we have other things to worry about,” Elizabeth said, the worry lines on her face deeper than usual. “We need to plan a rescue.”
“I heard the rebels talking about it at the meeting last night. I’m not interested in risking my life on another one of their plans.”
“This rescue would not involve them at all. It’s just you and me.”
“Why? Why do you care so much about Brent, but not the others? Are you worried Brent will reveal your identity?” She wondered if she should be worried as well.
“No,” she answered looking at her with frustration. “Brent would never do that. There’s no special reason. We just take care of each other. I can’t know every rebel on the planet, not only because it would be unfeasible but also because it would be dangerous. I try to know one or two from each clan. Then they have their own individual rebel groups that I am not involved with. But the people I do know, we help each other out, we stick together. It’s how we’ve managed to survive the last twenty years. They trust me with their lives, and I trust them with mine. If Devon found out my secret, he would be tying the noose around my neck himself.”
“And Brent is one of those people that you trust?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, what’s the plan?”
“The execution will take place at the prison. A Mudden executioner will take care of the hanging, and I, as the doctor on the scene, will declare him dead.”
Elizabeth had managed to infiltrate their society so well that they’d become dependent on her. Nova had to admire her thoroughness.
“We need to temper with their equipment so it won’t kill Brent, but without the executioner noticing anything wrong. Brent will then ingest a pill that will put him into a deep sleep. I declare him dead and hide him until he can go somewhere safe.”
“And you need me for something?”
She nodded.
“Two things, actually.”
Nova bit her lower lip. This was going to be dangerous.
“First, I need you to take Rex into the prison to sabotage the equipment. Once you’re in there, you’ll need to give Brent the medication.”
Nova nodded. She’d already seen the locks in the jail. She was fairly confident she could break in.
“I’ll need tools,” she said. “And I’m more worried about the guards than the locks.”
“I’ll take care of the tools,” Elizabeth said. “Rex will take care of the guards.”
Rex was Elizabeth’s brawny, scary-ass husband, and Nova wasn’t excited about going anywhere with him, though having him there would be safer.
“The second thing might be more complicated than the first.”
Nova waited with her arms crossed over her chest. More complicated than breaking into a well-guarded prison?
“There is one lock your tools won’t be able to get through. Altair wants to keep Gary out of his business. After Gary killed Neil and announced Brent’s hanging at the council meeting, Altair put a SecuLock on Brent’s cell. That way, Gary has to get his permission every time he wants to talk to Brent.”
A SecuLock was one of Fartech’s most expensive products, again she wondered how the Dugals made their money. Selling marble wouldn’t make them the amount they needed to casually use SecuLocks to guard prisoners and decorate their offices with flintoid statues.
The only way she’d ever gotten past a SecuLock before was not by manipulating the lock, but by stealing the entry key in the first place.
“Altair keeps the key to the lock on a necklace around his neck. You’ll have to get it off him.”
Nova didn’t remember him wearing a necklace. He must have kept it hidden under his shirt. She’d have to go in his room while he slept. Maybe he kept it on his bedside table.
“The execution is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. You break into the prison tomorrow night. The less time we give them to discover that something is wrong with the equipment, the better.”
