Dissident
by Cecilia London
Bellator Saga #1
Publication Date: 17 March 2015
She once was important. Now she’s considered dangerous.
In a new America where almost no one can be trusted, Caroline lies unconscious in a government hospital as others decide her fate. She is a political dissident, wanted for questioning by a brutal regime that has come to power in a shockingly easy way. As she recovers from her injuries, all she has are her memories. And once she wakes up, they may not matter anymore.
Dissident is a blend of romantic suspense, contemporary romance, political thriller, and speculative fiction. Told mostly in flashback, it details the budding romantic relationship between our heroine, Caroline, and Jack, the silver fox playboy who tries to win her heart.
Part One of a Six Part Series. Each part is a full length novel between 60,000-120,000 words and ends in a cliffhanger. For readers 18+. This saga contains adult situations, including non-gratuitous violence, explicit (consensual) sex, psychological and physical trauma, and an oftentimes dark and gritty plot (particularly in part two).
EXCERPT:
Prologue
They had been dragging themselves through the woods for hours, with
him holding the flashlight and leading the way, and her faltering through the
ice and snow trying to keep his pace. They moved slowly, their injuries
hindering their flight. The forest was thick and foreboding and the biting
winter wind whistled through the branches in the trees, cutting them to the
core. They listened for the sound of flowing water in the hope that the
Allegheny River was no longer frozen over and they could follow it up to New
York.
They knew their odds were long but held out faith that despite the
blustering wind and bitter cold, they could somehow find a way to Buffalo. The
Canadian border. Their last, best chance at safety.
The flashlight began to flicker and the man knew that the batteries
would only last them so much longer. It had been snowing earlier in the night,
but the clouds had been carried away by the wind and the flashlight was
supplemented by the glow of the winter moon.
He turned the flashlight off and his wife tumbled into him.
“Jack, why did you do that?” It was hard for her to stay upright
without her momentum to keep her going, and even harder to follow him without
the artificial light.
“The flashlight’s getting low and the moon is relatively bright. We
should conserve the batteries. Do you need to rest?” he asked, knowing the
answer was yes.
“No,” she lied. “Let’s keep going.”
He put the flashlight in his coat pocket, feeling it bump up against
the gun he had concealed there. He put his arm around her waist and hoisted her
up.
“Let’s go,” he said, as he kept his arm around her to steady her as
she walked.
Their pace continued to slow until they were hardly moving at all.
He could see her grimacing with every step, could hear her labored breathing,
and he knew that she was much more seriously injured than she was letting on.
Although he himself was in pain he did his best to keep them both going. His
ankle was sprained and the weight of two people upon it was almost too much for
him to bear. But they couldn’t stop.
He saw a clearing up ahead and knew they were nearing a road. But
that wasn’t what they wanted. Roads meant people and people meant danger.
Almost no one could be trusted. The soldiers who had run their car off the road
were biding their time, waiting, until the moment was right to come after them
again.
The two of them weren’t about to make themselves easy prey by
following a path trod by others. Their footsteps were not hard to trace because
of the snow, but it was better than being out in the open. No, the river was
their best bet, their least dangerous path north.
He turned sharply and started to steer them both away from the road,
as close to a westerly direction as he could manage. He was a suburban Philly
boy and could only depend on his poor instincts to guide him.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“We need to find the river, Caroline. There’s a road up ahead and we
have to avoid it.”
The woods grew hilly and she began to struggle. He was practically
carrying her as they made their way up an incline and he knew he wouldn’t be
able to support her much longer.
Suddenly she broke free of him and lurched into a nearby tree, sinking
to the ground.
She pulled off her earmuffs and loosened her scarf with difficulty,
her back to the tree. He could tell she was in tremendous pain and knelt down
in the snow beside her.
“Sweetheart, we have to keep going,” he said.
Her face was windswept and her eyes were red. She was sweating in spite of the cold and he
could practically hear her heart beating out of her chest.
“Jack, I can’t do this. I’m too tired. I can’t breathe.”
“Yes, you can. We can keep going. I’ll help.”
“You can’t help. You can barely walk while you’re lugging me along.”
She began to cry.
He wiped away some of her tears with his gloved hand. “We’ll stop
for a minute, all right? Then we’ll start again.”
She closed her eyes and tried to breathe. The tears coursed silently
down her face. He let her rest, hoping that she would then tell him they could
move on even though they really had no time to waste. She opened her eyes a few
moments later and looked at him. His breath caught in his throat. Her brown
eyes, which had once been so warm, confident, and loving, were now laced with a
fear he’d never seen before.
“You have to go,” she said. “Now.”
“We
have to go,” he corrected her.
“No. You.”
“No.” He looked at her incredulously. “We.”
“You have to go, Jack. It’s the only way.”
His mind started racing. He couldn’t wrap his head around what she
was suggesting.
“No. I’m not leaving you here.”
She closed her eyes again. The wetness on her face was beginning to
freeze in place. Her voice broke.
“Tell my girls how much I love them.” She stifled a sob. “Tell them
I’m sorry.”
Her children. Their children. Who were hopefully already in Canada.
“This is absurd, Caroline. I’m not leaving you here alone. Are you
insane? We’re wasting time.”
“You can move ten times faster without me. You know I’m right.”
Hot, angry tears pricked his eyes. “I’m not leaving you, sweetheart.
There has to be another way.”
“This is the only way and you know it.” She took her left glove off
and traced his lips with her bare fingers. “My darling. My Monty. I love you
so.”
He kissed her fingers and wrapped them in his, trying to warm them.
“I’m not leaving you,” he repeated.
Her voice was weak, but firm. “This is bigger than us. You have to
go. Get to Canada. Share that information. Stop Santos. Don’t let all our
sacrifices be for nothing.”
“I love you.” He took off his gloves and began to caress her face
with his bare hands. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Listen to me. You are going to go. You are going to get to Canada.
You are going to get this flash drive to people who can do something with it.
Please, Jack. Please do this for me.”
He was adamant. “I am not leaving you here!”
“You are. You need to go. They will find us soon and they’ll find us
even sooner if we’re moving together.” She tried to straighten up, using the
tree for support. “If you don’t leave, I swear to God I will never forgive you.
I mean it. There is no point in both of us getting captured or worse. Please.
Do this for me.”
He kissed her forehead, still cradling her face in his hands, and
the tears in his eyes spilled over. “Don’t make me do this. I can’t. I won’t
leave you.”
“Go,” she whispered. “Go before they catch up with us.”
She removed the glove from her right hand and began to slip her
wedding rings off her left ring finger. Her large diamond and sapphire
engagement ring glistened in the moonlight. She’d thought it was gaudy when
he’d first given it to her, and the media had loved speculating about how much
it must have cost. But she’d grown accustomed to it. Aside from its sentimental
value, it was now almost worthless in the fragile American economy.
She fumbled through the simple task, her hands numbed by the cold.
She placed the rings in Jack’s hand and wiped the tears from his face. He
searched her eyes for an explanation.
“They’re no good to me out here,” she said. “Take them. They belong
to you. I don’t want those bastards to have them.” She closed her eyes and
began to nod off.
Jack grabbed her chin, desperate to keep her awake. “Stay with me,
Caroline. We can do this.”
“Go now.” Her voice was fading. “Be safe. Be strong.”
Jack brought his lips to hers and kissed her hard, wanting it to
last, wanting to breathe life into her, to give her the strength to keep going.
He gripped her rings tightly in his fist. The prongs from the engagement ring
were prodding into his ice cold palm, but he was oblivious to the pain they
caused. He didn’t want to break the connection between them. Caroline brought
her hands up to his stocking cap, drew it off, and ran her fingers through his
hair. He pulled back, his lips close to hers.
They heard a rustling in the distance and Jack turned his head, not
sure of what he would find. He half hoped that a deer would come gliding
through the trees but he knew that would be too good to be true. Their luck had
run out too many times. Caroline squeezed his hand, the one with the rings in
it.
“Go, Jack. They’re coming. Go.”
He pressed his lips to hers again, a long, frantic kiss. She pushed
him away and reached into her coat pocket, pulling out her Glock and an extra
magazine. “Take these. You might need them.”
Jack dropped the rings into one of the interior pockets of his coat,
and heard them clink against the box containing the flash drive he was hiding.
He put the gun and magazine in his outer coat pocket and leaned down to kiss
her cheek. She very clumsily put his stocking cap back on his head and stroked
his face, wiping away the wetness there.
“I will always be with you,” she whispered, so softly he could
barely hear her.
He took in a sharp, painful breath and put his gloves back on. The
night air was freezing. “I will come back for you, Caroline. Understand? I
promise I will come back. I’m not giving up. I will find someone we can trust
and I will come back.”
She smiled and closed her eyes.
He heard the rustling getting closer. There was almost no way that
noise was an animal. And he knew he had only one choice.
He ran.
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