The Gender Game 2 by Bella Forrest (audio ebook reader .TXT) 📕

here and there to help enforce the feeling of home. It was clearly designed to be lived in long term.

Yet things were messy in both rooms, clothes strewn about. There was no indication of who had stayed there. There were no computers on the desk. I flipped up a picture, featuring a woman and two children—one girl and one boy. The frame was intact, but the glass was broken. It had been knocked over.

“This is kind of spooky,” I murmured, giving voice to my thoughts.

Viggo made a grunt of agreement. “It looks like they left in a hurry,” he said after a moment.

“So, do you think they abandoned the facility?”

He shrugged. “Maybe they went back to Matrus for Queen Rina’s funeral.”

“Hm. But to leave it completely empty like this?”

He stared down the hallway, his face pensive. “I don’t know,” he replied.

“What if they are Patrian, and they abandoned the facility after the bombing? Too much risk for exposure?”

Viggo considered this and nodded. “It’s possible. It’s a risky gambit though.”

“What better place to hide than in someone’s backyard,” I said blithely.

He looked at me from the corner of his eye, the corner of his lip upturned. “We have no evidence either way.”

“Maybe there will be something on a lower level?”

Viggo met my eyes, and I could see the doubt there. “Maybe,” he said.

I led the way back to the hallway after casting one long glance at the bathroom. The thought of a shower was a compelling enough reason to work quickly. I promised myself that I would return soon, and then moved down the hall to the next door.

We moved cautiously to the next floor.

“This design is smart,” Viggo remarked.

I shot him a look. “How do you mean?”

“Well, each set of stairs is a natural choke point and you have to pass through each level to get down them. If someone enters, they have to follow this path no matter what. It gives the people a better chance of defense. If you can seal them in, or set up a defense in time, you can essentially stop them before they do too much damage.”

I contemplated the design while he opened the door. It sounded smart, but to me, it felt like a trap. With no way to quickly move up and down through the levels, any catastrophe happening in the middle would spell death for the inhabitants.

The door opened silently, and immediately, the rich smell of wet dirt filled our nostrils. We exchanged looks, and then I slipped through the door, my gun pointed at the floor.

This room took up the entire length and width of the room above, but had an open floor space. It was brimming with life in the form of trees and plants. I realized a second afterward that all the plants were food, and the trees were producing fruit.

We were probably thirty or forty feet down, which meant it was some sort of hydroponic greenhouse. There were likely ultraviolet lights that acted as sunlight. I had worked on a hydroponic farm once—but the yields from the harvest were nothing like this. The plant life here was flourishing.

“This is amazing. Violet, have you ever seen a farm like this?”

I nodded, my eyes taking in the variety of plant life. “I visited one as part of my re-education program, but it wasn’t this successful.”

Viggo turned his head to look at me, a questioning look on his face. “What do you think makes it so successful?”

I shook my head. “No idea. I’m not a botanist. I just picked the stuff.”

“So does that mean this place might not be a Matrian facility?”

Biting my lip, I shook my head. “If not a Matrian one, then who do you think it belongs to?”

Viggo considered the question and then shrugged. “It seems most likely that it is Matrian, but it is entirely possible it’s Patrian. We should keep our eyes peeled for any evidence either way.”

I nodded in wordless agreement. Reaching up, I plucked a huge shiny red apple from the tree. When we got produce from Patrus, it was normally the worst parts of the crop. When I’d lived there, I had been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the produce they had.

My stomach growled suddenly and loudly, reminding me that for the past four days, I had eaten nothing but protein gel. Opening my mouth, I bit into the apple, letting the taste and juice explode on my tongue. I moaned in pleasure as I blithely chewed the sweet flesh.

Viggo gaped at me. “Violet, we have no idea if that is safe to eat,” he hissed.

I shrugged at him, and took another bite. Viggo sighed, and continued to look around, while I ate my apple.

I ate it down to the core, and when it was finished, I found a composting bin, and dropped the core in, letting out a soft burp.

Viggo gave a surprised chuckle and I looked at him. “What?”

He shook his head.

“No Patrian woman would ever burp in front of a man? Why, is it punishable by death?”

“No, it’s just considered rude and unclassy.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s gas. Everyone has it.”

Viggo chuckled and nodded. “I like that you don’t feel the need to hide who you are,” he said.

I paused, his words sending a little thrill of pleasure through me. I felt a blush forming on my cheeks.

He held my gaze for a second, his jade eyes bright in spite of the dark shadows that had formed underneath.

I suppressed the urge to go to him, but I wanted to. Now wasn’t the time or the place, but my thoughts kept circling around what was between us. I couldn’t begin to process it, not with the lack of sleep I was trying to function on. I broke the silence and closed the compost bin.

“This level is clear,” I said, sweeping an errant strand of hair from my eyes and tucking it behind my ear.

Viggo exhaled loudly, and then crossed over to the next door. “You ready?” he