The Wolves and the Vipers

Chapter 13 - Telling on Yourself

I'm doing SO GOOD with these updates! You guys have noticed, right?? Every single week, like clockwork. Who cares if my uni work is falling by the wayside or not. Making updates is way more fun than memorising all the different types of kidney stones :)

PS. We're meeting someone very important this chapter. Best pay attention.

***

"I recognise you, beautiful girl," the rogue said. He was smiling away at me and sneaking glances at Jace every few seconds, as if checking that his words were having the desired effect. "Whatcha doing down here? I thought you escaped."

The guards were in the process of guiding him out of his cell. I'd never seen someone so cheerful while being manhandled. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and he looked painfully thin, but here he was, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I glanced back at Jace, almost wanting reassurance, and he gave me a tiny nod. I needed to talk to them, or there was no point in me being here.

"I did escape," I told him, "but ... well, let's just say I didn't get very far."

The rogue laughed at me. "Evidently. That sucks. Why're you hanging out with him, of all people?"

"Ki," one of the other rogues bellowed from a cell opposite. "She's not a rogue."

He stopped short in his tracks, forcing the guards to stop with him. "She's not?"

"No."

'Ki' made a face at me. I'd made similar expressions upon discovering that a toilet had been left unflushed, and I couldn't help but be a little offended. Didn't these guys realise that being a rogue was not something to be proud of?

"Do they all know each other?" I asked Jace in an undertone. "Even the ones in different cells?"

"They don't have much to do except talk down here," Jace replied. "But yes, as far as I can tell, most rogues know each other. That's why I'm hoping this will work."

"What'll work?" our prisoner asked.

Jace ignored him. The guards were leading him into a little room with a table and two benches. It was all made of metal and bolted to the floor, and I got the sense that it was New Dawn's version of an interrogation room.

Just to kick things off, Jace told him, "This place is soundproof, so anything you tell me stays between us. No one else will know you talked."

"Oh," the rogue laughed. "Oh, so you want me to snitch. Guess again, shithead."

"Think of it more like being a confidential informant. I just want you to look at pictures of some people and identify them for me," Jace said. And when the rogue opened his mouth, so obviously ready to give him more lip, he held up a hand. "Before you say no, there is an incentive. If I'm satisfied you're telling the truth, I'll release you. If not, you stay here for the full six months."

The rogue's eyebrows went shooting upwards. "Oh, so you criminalise theft and murder in this shitty-ass pack, but you reward snitching? That's messed up, that is."

"Yes," I told him. "We reward snitching. Do you want to see the picture or not?"

He shrugged at me. "Sure. Why not? Worth a glance."

The first picture was pushed across the table towards him.

The rogue leant over it and pulled a few interesting faces before pushing it back towards us. "Looks like Joe. So tall ... and that jacket ... and the stubble ... yeah, I'd say Joe. What'd he do?"