Whispers of Refuge Box Set

CHAPTER 40-2

Benjamin wiped his brow. It was so cold he could actually see the sweat steaming off his forearms. He jabbed the shovel into the ground that would soon be hard from frost. Why should he care if Eve left? What did it matter to him? He had already evicted her from his heart. He should be glad at least now he didn’t need to live with the walking, breathing witness to his shame and guilt.

When it came right down to it, the Party was to blame. His superiors were the first ones to introduce Benjamin to voyeuristic pleasures, back when he was young enough he should have stayed ignorant. They liked taunting the boys they trained. “This is how you’ll be rewarded once you’ve risen through the ranks.” And Benjamin had worked harder than any of his peers.

He cursed the Party. He cursed the day the head recruiter arrived at his school to “ask him some questions.” He cursed the tears he shed when the man told him he couldn’t say good-bye to his family. “Your training is top-secret. It’s a matter of national security.” Benjamin plunged the shovel blade into the earth once more and thought about all the men and women he had buried so deep they would never be discovered. That was the problem working at the Sterns’. All he wanted was to forget, but haunting reminders lurked in every shovelful of dirt.

A commotion from inside made him turn once toward the house. A few seconds later, the back door flew open. Mee-Kyong stumbled past him and collapsed near the mound of soil. Doubled over, she gasped noisily, her shoulders heaving with each breath. The shovel dropped to the earth, and Benjamin knelt down beside her. “You okay?”

She glanced up at him. The only part of her that wasn’t wet was the messy braid of hair on top of her head. He placed himself in front of her and laid his hands on her shoulders.

“Look at me,” he ordered. She raised her gaze up once before retching onto the ground. “Look at me,” he snapped again. Mee-Kyong shut her eyes for a moment and then opened them slowly. He nodded. “Better.” He got up and closed the door behind him. If he knew the Sterns, they would be coming after her soon. “Let’s go back here. It’s quieter.”

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