Page 15 of Jude

It wasn’t just the danger of traveling that worried Octavia. She was meeting Jude. After she’d sent the message to him, she’d considered retracting it. She was getting by without anyone’s help. Did she need this complication in her life?

But this was bigger than her hang-ups about the way she looked. Octavia needed to work with Jude and the others at the bunker to figure out what the State were doing.

She swiped her sweating palms down her pants. She wore the cleanest clothes she could find. Octavia had two changes of clothes. She alternated between navy khakis and a black shirt, and combat pants and an olive green long-sleeved T-shirt. When one set of clothes stank or were too covered in dirt, she’d use the valuable washing soda she had and venture out to get her clothes clean.

The same went for her underwear. Two bras, two pairs of socks, two pairs of knickers. Wear them for as long as was bearable, then flip them over and get another couple of days out of them, before getting them clean. More recently, she’d been going commando. It was easier that way. Octavia found it liberating.

She wanted to look as good as possible for Jude. She hissed air through her teeth. Who was she kidding? She was being ridiculous. Semi-clean clothes would not hide the mess she was in. They wouldn’t hide the scars on her face and how thin she was.

But she wanted to make a good impression. She didn’t need Jude to think he’d made a mistake getting to know her. Octavia needed him to like her.

She felt like a teenage girl going on a blind date. This was crazy. She was almost thirty. She knew how to handle herself when it came to guys. She’d always had the upper hand in the past. It helped that she had curves and blonde hair. Guys went crazy for that. Overall, they weren’t complicated creatures. You winked at them, gave them the promise of something more, and they were yours for the taking. She’d used that to her advantage on numerous occasions when working undercover.

Octavia didn’t have her looks or her power anymore. Her relationship with Jude had grown out of their conversations. She knew him and loved what she knew. He was smart and funny, and when he was tired, his voice grew husky and sexy, making her insides warm.

It felt like such a big gamble, meeting him in person. If she saw even a hint of disapproval or disappointment in his eyes, it would kill her.

“Get a grip,” she growled to herself as the van edged closer toward Jude. “He’s just a guy. We’re meeting to work together. There’s nothing more to this.”

If that was true, then why had Jude’s reply sounded so excited? He’d put two smiley faces at the end of his last sentence and two kisses. That wasn’t like him. He was looking forward to meeting her, he had to be. He had to feel something other than friendship after everything they’d shared late at night when it was just the two of them.

“You’re reading too much into this.” She caught her reflection in the rearview mirror of the van and grimaced. She looked like death warmed up.

The road curved in a loop, moving her closer to the city. She was getting into increasingly dangerous territory. Traveling at night removed some of the risk, but the closer she got to a city, the more hazardous it became. She stuck to small towns and rural areas. The State were less interested in small places. They focused on where the most people were, and where they needed to maintain control. They only ever ventured into small towns or villages if they knew there were dragon hybrids that needed rounding up.

Octavia had music playing on autopilot in the background and the State comms channel open so she could hear the garbled messages as she drove. Every hour that passed without figuring out what they were saying made her queasy.

She had to keep focused on this. This was the reason she was making the journey. To figure out what the hell they were planning and put an end to it. Meeting Jude was a bonus.

Another channel was also open, automatically scanning State messages. Octavia was on alert for any sign she’d been seen. She needed as much warning as possible in case the State spotted her and she had to find an escape route.

Her wireless mesh net was operational, and she’d maximized a wide signal spread of her comms. She was almost impossible to trace. But there was always that tiny percentage risk that someone would lock onto her.

“You’re fine,” she muttered. “You can do this in your sleep. Stop hunting for excuses.” Octavia headed on to a wider road. A tiny part of her, the cowardly part, was looking for a reason to avoid this meet-up. If the State noticed her, she’d have to abort. Jude would understand.

These roads were clearer than the smaller side roads she usually stuck to. They were used for private State travel or by auto taxis taking people on State-authorized journeys. She’d be unlucky if she encountered one this late at night.

Her gaze flicked up, and her heart slammed in her chest. There was a red light in the sky. Octavia stamped on the brakes and came to an abrupt stop. It was a State drone.

Licking her dry teeth with her tongue, she waited. Her fingers clutched the steering wheel. She’d be okay. It won’t have spotted her. She had no lights visible. She was a shadow sliding through the night.

The red light vanished. Octavia let out a slow breath. The blood stopped pounding in her ears. She was safe; it hadn’t seen her.

The red light blinked back into view, now much closer.

“Sneaky little drone.” Sliding from her seat, Octavia headed to a short stepladder that sat over her bed. It led to a roof hatch. On top of the roof was a mounted gun, ready for just this inconvenience.

Octavia flipped the hatch open and climbed onto the roof. The drone was closer now, its red light scanning the road. It was looking for her. It had to be.

The drone’s light slid from side to side, inching closer. Setting her feet onto the foot pads by the gun to keep herself steady, Octavia lined up her shot. “Come closer, sweetie. Let me show you what I’ve got.”

The light of the drone hit the front of her van.

She fired. “Dammit!” The shot clipped the right side of the drone, spinning it out of control.

It righted itself, its red light still operational.

Before Octavia lined up her next shot, the drone moved away.