But people whispered. “Bad things” happened to some of the boys.
Bad things. The words were whispered in the same way that the women whispered about the sex their husbands forced on them or the “fallen” who’d tried to flee this hellhole.
Hayley had an idea of what those bad things were. And there was no fucking way she’d let that happen to Graham. Not while she drew breath.
“What are you doing here?” he hissed back. “I followed you because you got that look on your face like when you’re planning something. You’re going to get us thrown in the box.”
The box. It was basically an outhouse, with little ventilation. One got locked inside for a period of time that suited the crime. Whatever the hell that meant.
“I’m trying to get into the office,” Hayley whispered.
Graham’s brows lifted. “Why? There aren’t any drugs in there.”
She rolled her eyes. “Like I’d use while I’m pregnant? There’s a computer in there, assface. I’m sure of it.”
Graham’s eyes widened. “Here? In Nowheresville?”
“Here, in hell.” She gestured to the locked door that led to the healer’s office. “I was in here yesterday for my appointment.” Which was a joke. The healer basically weighed her and told her to eat more vegetables. “I heard a printer. I know it. This door was cracked open and the healer went real still, like she heard it and was afraid I’d heard it, too. I pretended I didn’t, but there is something in there. If it’s a printer, there has to be a computer.”
Graham frowned. “How is it running? There’s no electricity here. How is it connected? There’s no cable, no Wi-Fi.”
Hayley wanted to scream. Graham was all about the why of things. “I don’t know. I don’t care. If there’s a computer, I can get a message to Cam. He can get us out of here.” She swallowed hard. “I can’t have my baby here, Graham. They’ll take her from me. I heard the women talking. Even if I live through it, they’re going to give my baby to Sister Rebecca.”
Graham’s mouth set in a firm line that Hayley recognized all too well. It was his stubborn face, which meant he was about to dig in—one way or the other.
“I need your help,” she whispered pleadingly. “Please, Graham. Don’t tell anyone.”
He nodded once. “Move away from the door.”
She warily obeyed, blinking in surprise when her brother dropped to his knees in front of the door, squinting at the lock. “Piece of cake,” he muttered, then slipped off his shoe, revealing . . .
“Is that a lock-picking kit?” she asked, already knowing the answer was yes.
He glanced up, mid eye roll, before selecting one of the slim tools. “Duh.”
Hayley shook her head. “I don’t want to know.” Graham had gotten involved with a rough group of kids back home and had spent a month in juvie for shoplifting. Turned out that their mother had been planning and plotting to bring them here the entire time Graham was locked up. Now they were both locked up, just in a different place.
“You really don’t,” Graham agreed amicably.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I didn’t know how I was going to get into the office.”
“How’d you get into the clinic?”
“It wasn’t locked,” Hayley said with a shrug.
In seconds he rose to his feet, pushing the door open. “Ta-da!” He slipped into the office, letting out a breath at the sight of the computer on the healer’s desk. “It’s old,” he murmured, “but not that old. Son-of-a-fucking-bitch. They take our phones, but have something like this here? Assholes!”
“Shhh. Be quiet. And stop swearing. They’ll throw you in the box for that, too.”
He lifted one shoulder. “If they catch us here, swearing will be the least of our worries.”
He was right. “Leave now. Go back to Mom. I’ll figure out the computer.”
“Right,” he said with a shake of his head. “Shut up and let me work. Better yet, go back to your hut before Joshua or one of his wives realizes you’re gone.”
“They’re all at the prayer meeting. They won’t be back for another twenty minutes.”
Graham made a face. “Don’t know why they’re all pretending to pray for DJ. There’s not one person in this compound that wouldn’t be happier if he’d bled to death.”
“Graham,” she chided, but her brother was right. Brother DJ was the only one allowed to leave the compound for supplies. And, apparently, to track down missing Founding Elders. One of the old guys, Brother Ephraim, had gone missing. So far no one knew what had happened to him, only that DJ had barely made it back to the compound earlier that evening. He’d left the compound a few days before in Eden’s pickup truck, but had returned in a bigger delivery truck before collapsing. He’d been shot at least twice.
At least that was the gossip. The prayer meeting was for DJ’s recovery, although Graham was right. Nobody liked DJ, Hayley included. He was handsome enough—on the outside, anyway. At least six feet tall with bright blond hair and deep dimples when he smiled. But his smile always seemed . . . off. There was something oily about the man that gave Hayley the creeps. He had pretty, dark eyes, but they watched everyone with a detachment that felt like he was sizing a person up, trying to figure out what he or she could do for him.
Graham sighed. “Password protected. I was hoping they’d be too dumb for that.”
So had she. “Now what?”
“Now we try to guess. Or . . .” He lifted the large calendar that covered most of the healer’s desk, then grinned. “Or we hope that the healer’s memory is going and she has to write passwords down.” He pointed to the Post-it Note on the underside of the calendar and snorted softly. “Password is ‘Eden89.’ I could have guessed that.”
The community had been founded in 1989, so that made sense.
“And . . . I’m in,” he pronounced. A few keystrokes later and he’d opened a browser window. “This would have been so much easier if they hadn’t taken our damn phones. You can’t text. You’re gonna have to go old-school and e-mail him.”
He tapped a few more keys and Hayley found herself looking at her own Gmail account. There were dozens of unopened e-mails, ninety percent of which were from Cameron.
She gaped. “How did you . . . Graham Gibbs, you hacked me.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “I didn’t read your love messages. I just wanted to see if I could break in. Yours was my first hack. You really shouldn’t use Cam’s name as part of your password. You made it way too easy. What do you want to say to your baby daddy?”