Chapter 8

After leaving Mantessa to enjoy her revenge and sending Jenna back to the room Evan headed toward the sub-floors. Hopefully, he could catch Augustine alone. He couldn’t risk any of the other judges hearing them talking, or worse, a trustee.

His mind raced through ideas newly inspired by his time with Mantessa and Viperella. He did not have any definitive idea yet, but he had growing confidence that he would soon. He wanted to hedge his bets and securing Augustine’s vote would go a long way toward that end. Augustine would support him if he could offer her something that she wanted. What that something was he did not know yet. He set that pesky detail aside deciding to worry about it later. He had to find Augustine first.

The elevator dinged, and he stepped into the hall which was thankfully empty. Following Object Jenna’s directions, he turned left until he reached the end of the hall and a door. On the door it said dormitories just as she had said. He opened the door and stepped inside.

He was in a reception area with four additional doors on the opposite side of the room each labeled one through four. Those must be the judge dormitories. “What are you doing down here?” oh, shit. He turned toward the sound and a, petite red-haired, woman in her early twenties stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She wore the grey overalls of the trustees. A Trustee were slaves but in practice acted more like employee’s trading complicity for an easier life at the Foundation. They helped the Prime Dom run the Foundation and were essential to its operations.

“I was just exploring the facility and got a little lost.”

“I know what you were doing. You’re a contestant and you just conveniently got lost and ended up right outside where the judges are sequestered. You’re not the first to try something like this over the years.”

Dammit, this girl was too smart for her own good. He palmed his pocket remembering the rag still damp with paralytic from earlier. He really did not want to knock her out and be left with a limp body to deal with. He would have to hide her somewhere and someone would miss her.

“I’m going to have to inform the Prime Dom that you were down here. You will likely be disqualified.” She turned and headed for a small corner desk where her communicator was.

Well, this wasn’t what he wanted but he had to improvise now. If the Prime Dom got involved, it was all over. He came up fast on the girl and gave her a bear hug from behind. He lifted the girl off her feet and slammed her face down on the floor. Before she could mouth a word of protest, he had her arms twisted behind her back and a knee in her spine. He had the paralytic ready, but he needed to know something first. “Which room belongs to member Augustine.”

“Fuck you!”

He grabbed a clump of scarlet hair and tore it back hard. He kept the pressure up until she relented. “They aren’t in any of these rooms,” she finally blurted out through pained gasps.

“Lying bitch.” He pulled her hair, harder this time.

“No please, I’m not lying. They were supposed to be staying here but at the last minute the prime Dom had them moved to better facilities.”

“Where are they now?”