Chapter 42

Nora hadn't expected to get a cold piece of technology down her underwear of all places, but she supposed that was the only place Audrey could be sure they wouldn't check. She had worried about how to retrieve it, since she wouldn't know where Audrey could put it. Had Audrey meant to do it this way from the start? Nora hoped she hadn't gotten her friend in trouble.

She itched to take it up and check what was on it, but she had to wait. At least she could take it out of her underwear, since she was allowed to change first. She suspected that Audrey would be cleaning her costume as punishment for dirtying it. It really wasn't a huge smear though. She suspected the others would have similar stains of other things.

She also needed to think about what to say to Bryan. Should she say the truth, that his wife was alive a few months ago, but was probably suicidal? Could she lie though? He would definitely ask about it.

She could say she wasn't sure, but Audrey had been fairly certain about that. In a way, it made sense that they treated her worse than the others, if they knew she was actively trying to root out their secrets. But why did they insist on keeping her alive? Audrey had mentioned that people died all the time, why go through so much work to keep Rita alive? Were they petty enough to keep her alive just because she wanted to die? That was a stupid question. The Lady was definitely a psychopath, probably Morcefres as well. She wondered what his real name was. 

Depending on what was on that camera, they should have enough to go to the FBI with this. She just hoped she had attached the GPS tracker well enough. They really needed to find that base. She had placed a few other tags during the day as well, but she hadn't dared to do anything near where Audrey was, in case it was found, and they thought she had something to do with it.

On the bus, they finally got their phones back. Nora booted hers up and saw that she had a notification from a mechanic. Her car had needed extensive repairs, but the bill was paid, and she could pick it up at her convenience. No prize was given, but the word "extensive repairs" spoke volumes. How would she be able to repay Bryan for that? She hated to rely on other people, especially a man, but she didn't really have a choice. Her job was fairly well-paid, but she had used most of her savings trying to find Audrey. And even though she had succeeded, she hadn't expected what she found. She had suspected it probably wasn't a good fate, but Audrey had been like a different person! Even after she recovered her memories, there were times when Nora felt she didn't know this person at all. They had a lot to catch up on.

The terrified look on Audrey's face when she had placed the camera in her underwear told her exactly how much that had cost her. Nora hoped she wouldn't be punished too severely. And that the footage had been worth it.

It was a very long bus journey back to civilization. Nora did notice that two of their numbers were missing, one was the man they had heard in the night, but the other was the woman who had been the last in the pillory. Audrey was right about that too. She didn't point that out to anyone, that would probably get her kidnapped. How had Audrey survived living in constant fear for the last 5 years? Nora had barely survived it for a weekend!

On the way there, there had been a lot of information and they had all been excited about what they were about to do. Now they were just tired and wanted to get home. And Nora was nervous that her camera would be discovered, but she also couldn't show it. At least she managed to sleep for about two hours, until they hit a particularly large hole in the road. If you could call this a road. It wasn't paved, or marked in any way, but it was slightly firmer than the sparse grass areas around them.

Finally, as it was nearly dusk, they were there. Back where they had started. Nora saw that Bryan had been able to resist driving up here to meet her, but she suspected he was impatiently waiting around the block. She didn't want to appear like she was in a hurry, but she also didn't linger. She had considered trying to get a few of these people's numbers but didn't dare to ask whilst anyone from the burh could hear her. If any of them were going in the same direction as her, then maybe she could ask.

Unfortunately, most of them seemed to either be local, or have their cars right there in the parking lot. She was among the few who walked in that direction, and the other was one of the men she had flirted with. Asking him for his number would probably be seen as her trying to continue with that.

It wasn't hard to see Bryan's car, it was the only one there. It was late Sunday night, so most of the stores were closed, she didn't even need his flashing lights to find the right vehicle. She checked that he was alone in the car before getting in.

"How did it go? Did you learn anything?"

"I learned quite a lot. Much of it is way worse than I expected."

"Did you find your friend? And Rita?"

"I found Audrey almost at once. But she didn't remember me."

"What? How? Didn't you say you were best friends?"

"Yes, but apparently, she had lost her memories after a bump on the head, and they used that chance to make her think it was all real. I'll tell you all I can while we're driving. What did you do with my car, by the way?"

"I got it to a mechanic, and he at first wanted to scrap the whole thing. He said it was a miracle it had gone this far before stopping."

Nora sighed. "I know, but it's not like I can afford a new one just yet. And I don't use it much, only when going to remote places like this."

"I took the liberty of having it transported back to town, to prevent it from breaking down again on the way back. It's inside a parking garage, you can get it out at any time. Don't worry about the bill, I've already paid for a week."

"You didn't have to do that. I won't be able to repay you for quite some time…"

"There's no need for that. You just risked your life for information I desperately need. Just please tell me what you've learned. First of all, is my wife alive?"

That was one piece of information Nora didn't want to tell him. She doubted she could avoid it, but she wanted to start with something else.

"Like I said, I learned a lot. Audrey didn't talk to me during the day, both because she didn't remember me and because she wasn't allowed to. We were given very strict instructions on the bus about what we were allowed to do or not. Most importantly, we couldn't go into the crew areas, which were quite a lot of the burh, and the people who worked there wouldn't answer questions that weren't appropriate for their roles. Imagine like the strictest role play game. And some of them would be seen as slaves, or theows as they called them."

"Slaves?"

"Yes. That was the hardest part to see, though not wrong for the time period. Slavery was quite normal in England in Anglo-Saxon times. Either way, some of the theows didn't even talk." Nora continued to tell him most of what Audrey had told her, except for the one thing he probably wanted to hear.