“Who said we'll be going through the front door?” Tobin grins, but it looks forced. Why would he want to force a smile when the look on his face is naturally grim, ruining whatever good mood anyone is ever in?
~~~
We remain in the tower, talking up a plan and making sure we stick with it. Tobin leads us to the top, where I gaze out at the view of the town.
There's a gate separating this town from the empty field, and I know it's there for a purpose. No one would want to cross the safety border. There is nothing to search for in the empty field. It's cold and isolated.
The sky darkens and we're out the door in a minute. Jarrod is at the front, leading our small group of people toward the police station.
My heart pounds as I think of Fox. Is he still holding on? I'm afraid of the answer.
A hand on my shoulder forces me out of my unpleasant thoughts. I bring my head back to look at the person standing there. Rian.
“You never told us if Denham was seen dead,” he whispers.
“Because I don't know.” I whisper back. If Tobin hears Denham's been killed, what will he do? Does he know who Denham is?
Rian doesn't say anything more. He lets go of my shoulder and keeps walking. If we do make it inside the building, how will we find Fox?
Laurey and Addison volunteer to stay behind again. They say they want to wait in the spot Fox told us to wait if he disappears for a while. He hasn't arrived yet, but I think everyone thinks he will. I myself don't know what to think.
We told Laurey and Addison that if we don't make it, then they have to leave the town. Leave and go back to Jack Welds to tell him everything.
The unfamiliar man that came to help find Fox remains outside, right along with Jarrod. They'll help us on the outside, but I don't know how yet. And if something happens to us, they'll report straight to Caleb. Tobin says he'll send both of them a signal.
Sabine's been assigned to check the roof of the tall building. She gives us a quick smile, and I swear it almost looks like she thinks she won't see us again. “I'll get up there and check if there's a way in,” she says, reviewing the plan so far. “If there is, Tobin will get himself up. I'll throw assistance your way.”
By assistance, she means a device. They're more like gloves. The first time Sabine showed them to me, I hadn't the slightest idea of their purpose. But all I have to do is put them on, and hopefully they stick to the building's wall to help me climb.
“See you in a bit,” Sabine says, slipping the black gloves on. She disappears behind the police building.
We wait, slinking into the shadows.
“How long will it take?” I ask.
Tobin looks at me briefly, but turns the other way. “Not long. Sabine has had a lot of practice.”
Which is the opposite of the experience I have. By the time I'll reach the top of the building, the sun will have already risen. Twice.
I tilt my head back to look at the roof. It's going to be a long fall if I slip. But I don't want to think about it. My hands are already shaking.
Something falls from the sky and hits my shoulder. I gasp and jump back, realizing the object is not a threat. They're Sabine's black gloves. And her head is peeking at us from the top of the building.
“That didn't even take that long,” I say in a whisper, bending down to swipe the gloves off the ground.
Tobin snatches them from me and moves to place his hands on the wall. I wasn't able to see Sabine's form and speed as she climbed the wall, but Tobin's is visible, so here's my chance to see how he climbs.
His hands are quick to grab a ledge of the building. He leaps, and grabs another above him.
I clench my hands as he increases the distance between the ground and himself. How do the gloves help? Do they glue themselves to the wall? I haven't gotten a chance to try them out yet, but I will soon.
Rian looks at me. “Do you want to go next or should I?”
I glance back up at Tobin. He's already halfway to the top. His foot kicks the ledge underneath and he jumps. One of his arms swings to the right and his fingers clamp down on another ledge.
Then I realize something.
I will not be able to do that. I am not agile, powerful, or graceful at all. These two have had a lot of practice. I'll fall, and that will be the end of me.
Tobin reaches the top of the building and disappears from view. The gloves drop down again and I pick them up, wondering how Rian or I will be able to do this.
“Maybe one of us should stay back?” Rian suggests.
I don't know if he means I should or he should. Is he afraid to climb, or does he know I want to give up?
I shake my head and look down at the gloves in my hand. “I'm sorry.”
I don't know why I'm apologizing now, or what it's for. Maybe it's for everything. For everything everyone has gone through because of me.
“Hey!” I hear Tobin's voice hiss from above us.
I look up and see him gesturing with his hand.
“Go already!” he calls.
I hand the gloves to Rian.
“You go first,” I tell him. “I'll go after you.”
He nods and slips the gloves on. His first jump is the same one Tobin made.
“Just be careful,” I tell him.
“You too.”
When he grabs the ledge of one of the windows of the building, he does not let go. He only releases one arm and slaps his right hand to the next section of a wall just above him.
His left hand releases the ledge and—I hold my breath, waiting for him to lose against gravity. But he doesn't. His right hand is still attached to the flat part of the wall and he's still hanging on.
“Whoa,” I hear myself say. Rian turns his head to me as much he can and laughs.
“Yeah, I know.”
We've wasted too much time already. Tobin calls to us again. “You take longer than you need and we're leaving without you!”
Then I hear Sabine's voice, but she has other things in mind.
“No, we won't,” she calls back in a whisper. “I'll wait for you.”
Rian speeds up, but it takes him twice as long to reach the top of the building. I'm imaging myself taking so much longer than that.
But witnessing Rian hanging from the wall without a ledge gives me comfort. The gloves are the ones that attach themselves to the wall, no matter if it's flat or jagged. It means I'm safe. The gloves will hold my weight for me. Supposedly.
Rian drops the gloves back down to me once he gets to the top. Reluctantly, I pick them up and slip them on. The others are waiting, I tell myself. Weakness isn't going to help me. I have to get myself together.
I'm too short to be able to reach the ledge the three have used. So I use the low pipe attached to the wall instead.
I place my foot on it and haul myself up until I'm able to slide my fingers over the first outside sill of the window.
Okay, you can do this.
But even my words can't comfort me because I know deep down—no, wait. I take that back. Not deep down, but right on the surface of my mind. I am too much of wimp to do any of this.
Shut up and move.
I gulp in as much oxygen as I can and look up at the next window sill. I see all three heads peek down at me from the roof. I ignore them, knowing I can only go my pace.
My right foot scrambles to grab on to a nook in the wall. I can only fit the tip of my foot in it, but that's enough for me.
Slowly, the fingers on my right hand release the ledge, and I wait, hoping the gloves will hold me.
I am not straining to hold on. It almost feels like something's holding me up. What kind of device is this? Where did these people get it? The gloves are the ones that keep me connected to the wall.
“You coming already?” I hear Tobin call.
Doesn't he know I'm new to this? I'm sure if he didn't know something, he would take his time to try to get accustomed to it. But I kn
ow there's no time to get used to anything now. Now's the time to move as I fast as I can, no matter how bad I'll do it. Fox is waiting for us.
I reach up and slap my hand on the bricks above me. Something vibrates in the gloves, giving me the feeling that I'm being held up right now. I let go with my other hand and almost laugh. I'm hanging here, my feet only a few inches off the ground.
Just don't look down.
It's what everyone tells themselves.
I reach for another ledge until that is all I think to do. I move my foot, raise my arm, then let the gloves stick to the wall. It always works. I get to the top, heart hammering in my chest.
I drag myself up onto the roof, letting out a large sigh when I realize I'm still alive.
“All right, let's go.”
I don't get a chance to catch my breath, because we're already moving. We start moving toward a vent in the building's roof. Actually, as we get closer, I realize it's not a vent but a door. We can enter the building through the roof.
“This way,” Tobin says, pointing toward the door.
I don't want to think about what will happen when we find out it's locked. Maybe Tobin has something in mind.
But where can Fox be? What if he's being questioned by Kent? What if he got sent to a cell far from here?
Tobin pulls something out of his pocket. This is now part of the plan we have not discussed. My palms start to sweat as I think of what's waiting for us through the door. “So how important is this Fox guy to you?” Tobin asks. I watch as he fiddles with the latch on the horizontal door, but I don't answer. Tobin stops what he's doing, looks up at me and grins authentically for the first time since I remember meeting him. “I doubt he's that important.”
I only shake my head and look away, leaving Tobin to do whatever it is he's supposed to be doing. Picking a lock? What is there that the hideout doesn't have?
The door clicks softly, and in a swift motion, Tobin produces something out of this back pocket, slapping it to the trap door. After another click sounds, Tobin pries the door open. How many gadgets did he bring?
Sabine does not look surprised. Neither does Rian. I am the only one staring.
“Hold on a second,” Tobin says, searching through the pockets of the large sweatshirt I just notice he's wearing. He pulls a device out. A dim light shines from its end. Tobin directs it through the open trap door.
Is there anything there? A threat perhaps?
“It's safe,” Tobin says, slipping the object back into his pocket. “”At least according to the device.”
He grabs on to the edge of the opening, about to jump down. But I stop him with a question.
“How do you know?”
He looks at me and pats his pocket. “The device reads that there are no guards anywhere in the room. At least not right now.”
I fiddle with my hands as I watch both Sabine and Tobin disappear through the door.
Rian and I share glances. The truth is, we've never done any sort of thing like this before. Not in this lifetime. According to Jack Welds' records, I was a soldier in my past life. My abilities are long gone, and I really feel like I never had them before. Being frozen for thirty years has done this to me.
I jump through the door first, and Rian goes after me. He manages to shut the door closed behind him.
Darkness envelopes us, until Tobin pulls out the same device with the light on its end. The dim light surrounds us, but disappears once again after Tobin puts it away. “No one's here yet,” he says. So he'll only use the object to check for enemies, not light the way.
I blink several times, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Tobin and Sabine are used to the darkness because of the things they do. But I'm still an amateur. The only thing I can do is stay close to the group.
“Let's go,” Tobin whispers.
I pat the air around me, trying to see if I can locate anyone. My hands land on something, and I hear Rian laugh.
“Sorry,” I mutter, not knowing if Rian is actually the person I touched.
“You're fine. I can't see anything either.”
Long fingers wrap around my hand. I hear Rian's voice again. “That you, Vivian?”
“Yes.”
He pulls me along while I take small but quick steps, hoping I won't trip over anything.
“You'll get used to the dark soon enough,” Tobin's voice whispers. The same screen of the scanning device appears in the blackness. I look away from the bright light so I'm not blinded.
Where are we anyway? The attic, if there is such a thing here? The room feels empty, and with every step we take, I can hear our footsteps echoing through the dark.
“Another door's right here in front of us,” Tobin says. “I suggest you stop so you don't crash into anything.”
I stop walking just as soon as Rian stops. His tall figure starts to appear in front of me. Tobin's and Sabine's are doing so as well.
Click.
Light floods into the room, and I realize that Tobin is standing next to an open door, hand on the doorknob.
So he's right. There is a door. His device must have scanned it.
“No one's here either, but the reader just picked up something directly below us.”
That's where the security must be.
Everyone moves through the open doorway, and Tobin shuts the door behind us. There are two hallways ahead. One leads left, the other right. I don't know which way to take, but after scanning the room with his device, Tobin chooses left.
We speedwalk through the dim light of the hallway in silence. The strange thing is that I have no idea where the light is coming from. The ceiling? The floor?
“The reader is picking up a guard ahead of us,” Tobin huffs out.
How is he expecting to get past the guards and cameras? Does he have something else conveniently stored in his sweatshirt pocket?
He stops where he is, and we copy. A door stands in front of us, and I can practically hear the footsteps of the guard as he nears us from the other side.
“There's only one person,” Tobin says. He glances at Sabine. “You're ready for this?”
Sabine nods and holds up a disk-shaped object I hadn't seen her take out. That's the weapon they're going to use to get through these guards?
The door in front of us clicks, but before I can even blink, it's bashed open and a dozen bodies stream in, rifles in hand.
Their voices fill my ears with the words, “Hands up in the air! Now!”
I choke and slap a hand over my mouth as I realize we don't stand a chance against them. And as I stare at them longer, I realize they're wearing the exact same suits Fox, Rian, Laurey, and Addison came here with. Kent stole the suits and made replicas out of them.
Rian swears, his hands immediately flying up into the air.
Tobin stuffs his device into his sweatshirt pocket, but Sabine holds her ground, the disk still in her hand.
The guards give her no chances. A trigger is pulled and a boom echoes throughout the room. Sabine gasps, the disk slipping from her fingers.
She places a hand on her arm, where I see a dart has impaled through her flesh. A black color spreads around the strange object. I'm not sure if it's blood, or the substance she's been injected with.
But as soon as she collapses to the floor, Tobin yells out her name. His voice startles the guards. Another boom rings out, and Tobin falls, clutching his shoulder.
I want to scream, but all I can get out is a choked sob. Kent knew we were coming. We were under surveillance all this time. He had all of this under control. Kent should have found the hideout by now.
I tried helping these people. But no, whomever I try to help only gets put in danger.
“Stay put and don't move!” The order is yelled out by one of the guards. The dozen of them move toward me, rifles raised.
I remain still. I am not armed, and there's absolutely nothing I can do but wonder what I have just done.<
br />
CHAPTER 25
V I V I A N
Kent is standing right in front of me.
He's gazing down at me with those dark eyes of his while I am in a chair, free hands clasped in my lap. My face is filled with dried up tears.
Kent won't tell me where Fox is. He won't tell me where Rian is. He won't tell me where Tobin is. And he won't tell me where Sabine is.
I did not ask about the others who remained outside, because I do not want to put them in any more danger, if Kent hasn't gotten to them yet.
He relaxes his face and sits down in the chair opposite me. We're back in that cold, gray basement where I first met Kent.
I was shot in the arm with one of the black darts, and I woke up here. There's that black stain on my arm too. So the dart didn't kill Tobin or Sabine, because I'm still alive. But maybe something else killed them after I blacked out.
Kent rubs his chin. “When you see Denham, tell him I'm still continuing the search.”
When I see Denham. Those words tell me something.
Denham's dead, and Kent knows. He wants to kill me, and wherever dead people go, I'll go there too. Denham will be there, and I'm going to have to take the message to him.
Then what? I live my life and wonder if I can ever get back to Earth?
“I'm going to send you on another mission, Miss Vivian,” Kent says. “I've been meaning to, but you've just been so busy lately with helping us find those criminals. I've found some help, so I'm afraid I don't need you anymore for that. Mr. Tobin and Ms. Sabine will surely help me. Oh, and didn't I find a Mr. Jarrod?”
I clench my teeth, knowing I'm going to have to listen to this and not actually know if he found the hideout or not. He says he didn't, but I don't know if I believe him.
He smiles. “It's going to be so easy to find them now that I've got so many cooperative people.” He claps his hands together. “Anyway, on to our little mission.” He leans forward and brings his voice down to a whisper.
“I need you to,” he starts, “send a message to Jack Welds and his little crew.”
I don't even care to know how he knows about Jack Welds. They probably have some kind of past and they're still struggling to get over it.
“Forget it,” I spit, my voice hoarse. “Send someone else.”
Kent leans back in his chair and laughs into the air. “What a wonderful answer, Ms. Vivian. But you have no choice over this.”