Chains of Freedom by Selina Rosen Read Free Book Online Page B

different."
     
    "Then consider it borrowing," RJ said in disbelief.
     
    "It's only borrowing if you ask," David pronounced self-righteously.
     
    RJ decided to ignore him.
     
    But David didn't want to be ignored."It's wrong. That's all. Anyone who steals from the Reliance is on our side, and we shouldn't take from them . . ."
     
    "If this is too big a moral dilemma for you, perhaps you would prefer to walk!" RJ screamed, fed up.
     
    "Shush, shh!" David slapped a hand over her mouth. He nodded his head. "All right, we'll do it your way, but I don't like it."
     
    "No one says you have to," she said with a shrug.
     
    They walked up and down the streets for what seemed like hours to David. By the time RJ found what she was looking for, the streets were already filled with people. She walked around the red Reliance farm-issue truck, kicking the tires and checking out the paint job, then she popped the hood and checked the engine.
     
    "Damn it, RJ! You're stealing the damned thing, not buying it," David whispered nervously.
     
    RJ slammed the hood. She gave David a wicked grin. "I like to know what I'm stealing." She took hold of the driver's door handle and gave it a heave. The door opened. She jumped in and opened the passenger door, setting the bag and rocket launcher on the seat as David crawled in. He closed the door and looked around in awe. He had never seen such a machine from the inside.
     
    RJ was under the dash, taking her time hotwiring the vehicle.
     
    "Could you please hurry up and do whatever it is you're doing?" David said anxiously. "We're going to get caught."
     
    "So?" RJ sneered. She had never hotwired a vehicle before, and while she understood the principle, she was having a little trouble putting it into practice. It was made more difficult by the fact that the new "owner" had attached several safeguards to stop people from doing just what she was trying to do. "If someone comes, I'll just kill them." She might have been ordering lunch by the tone of her voice.
     
    "I'd rather not have to kill someone over a car, if you don't mind, RJ. Did anyone ever tell you that you can't just kill every one that pisses you off?"
     
    "Yes." She had finally succeeded. She touched the two wires together and the engine roared. "I killed them." She laughed at her own joke.
     
    "Very funny, RJ. Now, could we just go?"
     
    "OK, OK, don't get your shorts in a knot." She got into the seat, closed the door, and they were on their way. As they pulled out, RJ saw the owner come running out of one of the buildings. She waved wildly at him and roared off.
     
     
     
    Whitey Baldor chased after them, screaming till he ran out of breath. He finally gave up. Hands on knees, he watched till they were out of sight. He recognized that pair. Two nights ago that woman had kneed him in the balls so hard that he still hurt. Then she'd knocked him cold. He'd been out for something close to three hours. Whitey laughed, shaking his head he turned back toward his apartment. He laughed again and looked back in the direction she had gone. "God-damned gutsy bitch."
     
     
     
    "I've always wondered how they could see out of these things," David ran his hand over the glass. "I still don't have any idea."
     
    "Keep your hands off it; you're smearing it up. It's one-way glass. Because of the way it's made, the driver can see out, but from outside you can't see in."
     
    "When I was a kid I used to think they drove through some form of magic. Later, when I stopped believing in magic, I thought they used something like a view screen," David said. "It's kind of a letdown to see it's something so simple."
     
    RJ nodded. It was funny what people would make up to explain things they didn't understand. The Reliance didn't tell them anything, so they had to make up their own answers. In a way it was ingenious, even if they were mostly wrong.
     
    "I still don't understand why they do it this way," David said. "I mean . . . what's the