Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
But Mia seemed so determined to do this—maybe because of her background. Sev got the idea that she wanted to rescue other young women who were in the same position she’d been in—wanted to expose the charlatan who was running the PPP and take him down. Wanted to—
“You still look worried.” Mia’s soft voice distracted him from his thoughts as they flew out the other side of the fold. Ahead in the viewscreen was the desert world of T’zgarian—a patchwork of black and white and many shades of grey. “What are you thinking?” she asked.
Sev cleared his throat and shot her a glance.
“I’m wondering why you want to do this so much. This mission, I mean. Is it because of the way you grew up?”
Mia nodded firmly.
“Of course it is. I want to expose this bastard and help those women who are stuck in that compound of his—that big rainbow dome. Did you notice how many of them were pregnant in that stupid ad?”
“At least half of them,” Sev murmured.
“Right—because that’s one way the cult traps you. They tell you that you have to have lots of babies to make more members or bring more souls from Heaven or whatever line of crap they’re spouting!” Mia’s eyes flashed. “They want to keep you barefoot and pregnant as much as possible—that keeps you from thinking for yourself. Because once you have kids, they have something else to hold over your head and then you can never get out!”
Sev frowned, fascinated.
“I had no idea. How did you avoid it?”
“It was the one thing I did for myself, even before I decided to get out. I went to a clinic and got some birth control. I had to hide it from Michael of course—it was against the rules to try and keep from conceiving.” Mia shook her head. “I felt so guilty for it at the time but I’m so glad I did it. If I hadn’t, I might never have gotten away.”
“But other women in your sect weren’t so lucky?” Sev guessed.
She shook her head.
“No. Including my older sister. She wants out—or she did the last time I was allowed to talk to her—but her husband won’t allow it. And he’d never let her take the kids.”
Sev didn’t know what to say. Mia was sharing more with him than she had in the past two years since they’d become partners, but somehow it wasn’t making him feel any better, though he had always longed to know more about her past.
“See, this is what has me worried,” he told her. “For you, this is personal. And when you let a mission get personal, it can also get dangerous. Because you lose sight of what’s important—you lose perspective.”
“What’s important is taking these PPP assholes down,” Mia insisted. “The—”
Suddenly the com-link crackled to life.
“Unidentified craft, you are presently in PPP airspace,” a firm male voice said. “Please identify yourself and state your mission.”
Luckily, Sev was ready for this. In anticipation of their accepting the mission, Commander Sylvan had prepared backstories for both of them.
“My name is Severith and I have my mate, Mia, with me,” he said. They had decided to use their real names to avoid confusion. “We’re here because we saw your ad on the Outernet and we’d like to join the PPP.”
“Ah yes—new converts!” The voice sounded much warmer now. “Very good—if you’ll transfer your personal information we can do a quick background check and decide if we can offer you entry or not.”
“Fine, give me the coordinates,” Sev said. Again, Commander Sylvan’s forethought came in handy. He had uploaded complete fictional bios for both Sev and Mia, which Sev was now able to transfer straight to the PPP official they were talking to.
According to their bios, Sev owned a garment business on Rampling Prime. Mia was a women’s fashion designer and they had met during the bustling Rampling Prime Fashion Extravaganza, where people from all over the galaxy came to see the latest trends in women’s style. They had fallen in love at once but though both of them were extremely successful in their careers, they felt like they needed something more. Which was presumably why they were now seeking to join the PPP.
It was a good backstory and Sylvan had been able to plant some false information in the Outernet to back it up. He’d also made both their fictional personas wealthy, which was going to be immensely attractive to the cult, since it demanded a healthy “tithe” regularly from its members. So Sev wasn’t surprised when a few moments after he transmitted the fake bios, the com-link crackled again.
“Well, Mr. Severith, everything seems to be in order,” the male voice informed him. “We’ll be very happy to have you and your wife here. We’d like to have the two of you go through our orientation to see if joining the PPP is right for you.”