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Rane hesitated for only a second more. Whatever message Kirs had relayed settled in as the reporters went quiet – no doubt soaking up his reaction. Waiting to see what he would say when he had that surprised look on his face.
Rane jumped to his feet, slamming his hands on the table, he yelled out desperately-
“My mother has taken my mate hostage! She’s keeping her locked up in the manor and refuses to let me see her! She has been controlling me by-”
Elffa was up, running towards him. But Kirs swiftly cut her off. He couldn’t stop her from yelling, trying to be heard over Rane. Insisting already that he was lying, that he was trying to get attention, that he was trying to get her in trouble.
But Rane was still calling out over her. Begging someone to help. Begging the domini embassy to go get Sandy before she was hurt.
The reporters were up. Shouting questions. Security was running forward. Elffa was yelling. It was absolute bedlam.
Sandy could only smile.
Turning, she looked at Orza. “Thank you.”
He cast her a quick glance but said nothing. Clearly, he was done talking with her and was lapsing back into stoic silence. But that was fine. She didn’t need him to talk to her.
“Contact Drevor,” she ordered, gesturing to his combot. “I’m going to need him.”
Orza obeyed without question.
Several things then happened very quickly, one after another.
Drevor, like he had been waiting for someone to call, answered Orza’s comm immediately and told her that he was already on the way to the manor. To wait for him. He’d be there soon. Sandy told him about their plan to search the stadium and that she needed him to find a stasis pod somewhere there, but she wouldn’t take any questions about why.
Drevor was remarkably well trained by Elffa. He didn’t ask any and told her that he would have the stadium staff start searching – the ones he trusted to be bribed to do so without blabbing to anyone about what they were doing.
As soon as she finished talking to him, Orza cocked his head curiously, hearing something.
“I’m leaving now,” he said, giving her a look. “They’ve come for you. I won’t be caught up in it. I’m going to the stadium. Your combot is in the utility closet at the end of the hall.”
“Thanks,” Sandy said formally. She definitely did not consider him a friend, but she could still give him that basic appreciation.
Orza gave her one last look before stepping from the room. The door shut behind him and Sandy went to go lay down, flopping really, on the mattress she had in the corner. She didn’t have to fake how pathetic and tired she looked – that was fully natural.
So, when the authorities broke into her room – that Orza had very helpfully locked on his way out, like he knew how to stage the scene – they got the full impression of her being small and messy and helpless in the locked, dark, empty room. She grimaced, sitting up, covering her face from the bright lights on their weapons as they called out to her.
They promised she was safe.
They told her they were from the embassy, and they were there to help.
Sandy didn’t even have to fake the relief as they helped her off the bed.
She eagerly followed them out of the room. A shudder of delight went through her to finally be out of there after weeks.
And maybe she didn’t have to play the part of the poor, rescued damsel, because that was exactly how she felt as they marched her out of the house and to their vehicles.
She didn’t know what was coming, but she knew it was better than what she’d just left behind.
Chapter 34
Rane
“The emergency tribunal of Rane el Elffa el Avanie will now continue. I shall begin by reading the summarization of findings for the investigation before announcing our ruling.”
Rane kept his eyes down, staring but not really seeing the ground before him. His stomach was twisted up in knots. His heart hurt. His nerves were stretched to their limit and were strained to the point of near shattering.
He couldn’t handle much more of this. The investigation and trial had proceeded quickly – the media attention alone demanding a quick resolution – but it had still been too long.
