Among the Enemy

Chapter Eighteen

The serving girl scowled at Matthias and shook her head — just once, forbiddingly.

"Keep it moving," she said in a harsh tone that didn't disguise the familiar voice.

Matthias wanted to scream out, Nina! What are you doing here? and Please, can you help me get back to Percy and Alia? But he said nothing, only picked up his tray and walked away. He aimed for a table on the far side of the room, where he could sit alone with his back toward the wall.

Where he could watch Nina.

Nina had escaped from Population Police prison with him and Percy and Alia months ago. She'd started at Niedler School when they did but had been called away in early October. Mr. Hendricks needed her help, she'd told them, sounding a little self-important What was she doing working for the Population Police now? Had Matthias and his friends come to the wrong conclusion about her loyalties— had she been on the Population Police's side all along?

Matthias remembered he was wearing a Population Police uniform himself. What if she'd met a fate similar to his, where she'd had to pretend to be on the Population Police's side to protect somebody else?

Then Matthias remembered something Mrs. Talbot had said in the car, in the dark on the way to the cabin: "I believe it's your generation that will win the cause," she'd said, and she hadn't meant the same "cause" that Tiddy talked about, of making sure the numbers of people alive matched up with the amount of food available. She'd been talking about being free, about getting a government that didn't kill its people, didn't consider third children illegal. And she'd mentioned kids joining the Population Police to fight it from the inside….

Matthias wished fervently that he hadn't dozed off dur^ ing Mrs. Talbot's story.

As Matthias watched, Nina scooped up cup after cup of fruit. She seemed to be talking to some of the Population Police officers who came through the line. Maybe even flirting.

Would she do that if she were an undercover agent? Matthias wondered.

Wondering about Nina made Matthias's head ache. He spooned soup up to his mouth and bit off hunks of his rolls, but he barely tasted any of it.

Then, just as he was scraping the bottom of his soup bowl, Nina walked out from behind the serving counter. She carried a dishrag in her hand and began casually wiping the tables where people had already finished eating. Matthias's heart started pounding. Should he move over toward one of the tables where she was working?

She came to him instead.

'Act like you don't know me," she whispered, pushing the dishcloth around on a section of table near him. "Don't even look at me."

Matthias peered down into his soup bowl and said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nina pretending to scrub and scrub at some nonexistent stain on the table. She had her back toward the rest of the cafeteria, so no one else could see her talking.

"Go into the front bathroom at seven o'clock tonight. Lock the door."

"Front bathroom? Where's that?" Matthias couldn't help asking. But he had his head bent over, pretending to drink milk from a straw, so he didn't think anyone would notice.

"It's the one closest to the front door," Nina said. "It has silver wallpaper."

And then she moved on to another table.