Official Blog of Author Angela White: LAW Day #16 - An Interview with Samantha

Cynthia Quest Reporting

May 4^th, 2013

I may not care for the hardened woman now sitting down in my hot seat, but I do respect her. Not just anyone could have escaped from Cesar and his Slavers, and still be so coolly intelligent. It won’t stop me from asking those hard questions, though. Some things just have to be said.

“Hello, Samantha. Thank you for agreeing to this interview.”

Sam snorted. “Yeah, agreed.”

“Let me guess. It was on your schedule?”

Sam didn’t frown like she wanted to. “Something like that.”

Cynthia gave a sweetly sympathetic smile. “I’ll be quick so you can get back to your training.” The grin widened. “Why don’t we start there?”

Sam shrugged, trying not to appear as nervous as she felt. “It’s your five minutes.”

Realizing Adrian had allotted the woman the same time as the men, sent hot flames of jealousy into Cynthia’s gut. Adrian was treating Samantha like an Eagle. He’d chosen his next warrior.

Swallowing the bitterness, the shark got the interview started with a hard tone. “You’ve taken a lot of defensive classes since joining Safe Haven. Why? Are you thinking of following in Angela’s footsteps?”

Sam had planned on this question, and many others like it. She’d enjoyed the thought of more provocative answers, but in the end, her place (her future place) by Adrian, meant more.

“I want to be stronger, able to defend myself. As for becoming an Eagle, I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Cynthia let that lie slide. “Angela seems to be your only friend here so far. What’s wrong with the rest of the camp’s women?”

Samantha stiffened. “I’m not sure.” Her voice hardened. “They seem to have this habit of saying the wrong thing and pissing me off. Apparently, I do the same for them.”

The reporter scribbled hurriedly, copying word for word. “As of right now, you are considered the luckiest woman in camp, but I have to ask - Does it bother you that Neil had been committed to Becky until you showed up? And that Jeremy had a… girl in the shadows?”

Sam allowed herself to flinch, sure it would be mentioned. “A little.”

“Does he know that?”

Samantha snorted, but kept the nasty remark to herself. “I assume so.”

Feeling like she’d just discovered a gold mine, Cynthia leaned forward, voice lowering. “You haven’t told him it bothers you?”

“Why would I? We’re not dating.”

“Yet. You still have to pick one of them, right?”

Sam cringed, face flushing at the boldness she knew the reporter would use in her paper. Everyone would read that question and the three of them would never live it down. “No, I don’t.”

“Wise, I guess, but honestly, Samantha. Which one do you like more? One of them has to be more…special to you, than the other. I happen to know that Jeremy is a very sweet man.”

It was as close as Cynthia had ever come to publically acknowledging her relationship with Jeremy.

Now, the jealousy was licking up Sam’s spine, and she opened her mouth, not sure what was about to come out. “You know how you can like two flavor ice cream at the same time, even up to occasionally mixing them? That’s me.”

Cynthia’s face went red. Sam wasn’t sure if it was anger or embarrassment, but either was fine.

The reporter followed up with a shaky voice. “You mean you want to keep them both.”

Sam didn’t respond, just grinned a bit, and the reporter pushed harder. “I guess it feels pretty good to have two of Safe Haven’s highest-ranked Eagles drooling over you.”

Quickly tiring of the attempt to make her look bad to the camp, Sam had to hold her temper in check. “A hell of a lot better than being Cesar’s Slave.”

“What was it like to be held captive by the Slavers? Was it awful?”

Sam’s anger rose. “What do you think?”

Cynthia didn’t take the hint to back off. “Did they follow you here, do you think?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well what about your ex, Rick? Is he a spy?”

“How would I know that? It’s not like spies go around announcing it.”

“But surely you have an opinion…”

Samantha sighed, hating it that she had to play along. She also loved it that she could, that she was included. Lying was no stranger to Sam. She knew those streets well. “I think if he was, he would have been caught already.”

Realizing she wouldn’t get more on that topic, Cynthia moved on. “What did you do before the War?”

“I helped track storms for the EPA in Washington.”

Cynthia’s eyes narrowed, ready to catch the smallest sign. “You don’t have a regular job listed. What is it that you do for Adrian?”

“The same thing I did before, only without all the fancy gadgets. I make assumptions about the weather,” Sam stated, looking at her watch.

“So there’s nothing…instinctive? Just cold, hard data?”

Samantha’s eyes were hot as she stood up. “Everything is instinct, Cyn. Even you know that.”

Sam headed for the flap. “Your five minutes are up. Hope you didn’t get whatever it was that you wanted.”

Cynthia grinned at the open hostility. The blonde woman was one of the few in camp who actually spoke her mind and didn’t seem to care about the consequences. It would be very interesting to watch her try to fit with Adrian’s Eagles and all their lies.

Sam thought she could handle it right now - because she was still mostly on the outside, but Cynthia had spied enough to know that from the inside, Adrian’s Army was a much darker place. It was where the reporter dreamed of belonging.