Freelancer (24 page)

“Oh.”

“My dad still says we were better off just waiting out the war back in North Carolina, but I’m pretty sure that’s just because he doesn’t want to admit he was wrong. I think it’s hard for him to admit that he wasn’t able to protect the family himself and had to have a teenage girl do what he couldn’t. The truth is we’d be rotting in that interment camp without you and he knows it.”

“I guess that’s understandable,” Kari said.

“He’ll come around though.” David said. Kari wasn’t sure she believed him so she shrugged it off.

“What about your mom?”

“Mom doesn’t like how close we were to . . . everything ending poorly. She says we should never risk family.”
I did force them to take risks they might not have been willing to take. What would I think if David had wanted to risk my family’s lives?

“I guess that’s fair too,” Kari said. “Well, I won’t plan on coming over for dinner in Kansas anytime soon.”

“I think they’re happy they’re here now, though,” David said. “In a little while, they’ll focus more on their gratitude for you.” Kari knew he was trying to make her feel better.

“Well, I didn’t do it for their gratitude,” Kari said, feeling oddly vulnerable that David’s parents might not like her.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask why you did all this, now that you bring it up,” David said. Kari turned to find him staring at her. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then they both tore away and looked ahead at where they were walking.

“I did it because I felt like I needed to,” Kari said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to feel good about myself if I let bad things happen to you just because your beliefs are different from most people.” David gave a small grunt to let her know he was still listening.

She continued. “Marshal Henderson was behind most of this. He was always trying to force people into teams, as if all there is in the world are two ways to look at things: if you like part of one side, you have to like all of it. He wanted everyone to hate everyone else who sympathizes with a different way of thinking, and that felt wrong to me.” Kari felt like she was listening to herself just as intently as David was. She had never before exerted such effort to put her thoughts into words.

“I think that’s what’s really wrong with the world sometimes. People start thinking they’re part of a team more than thinking like a human. When people start being like Henderson, they stop being decent. I wanted to be decent, I suppose.” Kari finished with some emotion in her voice.
When I put it like that, I guess I should be proud of myself.

“For what it’s worth, I think it was very decent of you,” David said. Kari turned to look at him again, and this time she held his gaze for a few moments as they walked down the side of the camp.

“Thank you,” Kari said. “And it’s worth a lot to me.”
He’s still the same. The whole world has changed, I’m an outlaw, my parents should be across the globe, his parents resent me, but David is the same.

“I’m the one who will always be thankful for you, Kari. I know enough about history to know that wars can go on for a long time, and it’s not a great thing to be in internment camps. I know you’re the only reason that my family is free and together,” David said. They still hadn’t broken eye contact when David’s foot caught and he stumbled forward. Kari couldn’t help but laugh. David’s face went a little red, which caused Kari to laugh harder.
And he thought I was the inelegant walker.

“What are you going to do when you get to Kansas?” Kari asked, eager to change the subject. She had never been comfortable accepting praise or thanks.

“That’s a good question. I thought I would start with tracking down those people who you said lived there—the ones who you said would be able to stand me. I haven’t had any luck yet with any of the people I’ve talked with so far,” David said.

“It’s a good thing I’ve recently decided to take up residence in the Middle States when they let me go,” Kari said. She blushed; it was about as direct as she had ever been. They had reached the corner of the camp and had turned around, heading back toward David’s family’s tent.

“So you can stand me now?” David asked.

“You could say that.”

“I see,” David said, his voice timid. “Is there anything else you could say? I mean, about us.”

Kari didn’t know what to say.
You basically dared a general to try to control you, but you can’t think of what to say to a seventeen-year-old boy?

“We did hold hands . . .” David said softly. Kari laughed because she didn’t know what else to do.
I should figure out a way to simulate these situations so I can be better prepared.

“I guess I don’t know,” Kari said finally. “I think it’s something I’ve got to take some time to figure out. But, right now, I know I’m really glad to have gotten to know you, even if it required me to break a few dozen laws.” Kari mustered the strength to look at David and gave him a warm smile. He smiled back thoughtfully.

“I guess that’s good news,” David said. “I have more faith in your ability to figure things out than just about anything else on the planet.” They walked in silence together for a few minutes, slowly and unsteadily because of Kari’s slight limp. Eventually, they reached the tent where David’s family had been staying.

“Well,” Kari said.

“Well,” David said. They looked at each other for a second before David kissed her on the cheek. Kari had no idea how to react, so she remained frozen.

“Stay in touch,” David said. He hurried away toward his parents, leaving Kari alone and confused.
A couple of months ago, I could hardly stand the kid. Now I’m standing here dazed by a peck on the cheek from him?
It seemed illogical to her. She wandered back to her room in the temporary command center. She was going to be released soon, but the general had wanted to keep her close to persuade her to join the cause. It wouldn’t work.

Kari knew she would, at some point, need to figure out exactly how she felt about David; however, she wanted to tackle easy problems. She still needed to hack the firewall that kept her from accessing the Internet outside the Middle States; it was the only way she would be able to contact her parents securely. For now, she logged in to her development environment. She needed to create; it had been too long since she had written any code.

Kari floated in the void that was her development environment, enjoying the solitude before pulling up her hacking-drone code. The electronic beat of music filled the space in her mind as she went to work. She had no plan to use the hacking drones any time soon, but she had noticed a few ways she could improve them. She didn’t like to leave projects in need of obvious improvements; it wasn’t in her nature. Kari was a freelancer. She programmed at no one’s orders but her own. That was true now more than ever.

The End