Chapter 22
Sometime later, my eyes fluttered open and I gasped for breath as if coming out from under water. My vision cleared and I could see I was in a chair in a stark white room with a steel door to my left and a mirror on one wall. I felt eyes watching me from behind the glass.
A voice came over a speaker. “Welcome, Miss Carmichael—or should I say, Greyson? I trust you’re feeling better.” He didn’t wait for me to answer. “Your friend William has been telling us all about you. He seems to have grown very fond of you during your brief time together.”
I sat back, willing my lungs to expand, and let my hands ball into fists. My heart pounded with fear and fury. “If he was so fond of me, he wouldn’t be telling you all about me,” I scowled. How could this man know who I was?
“Oh, don’t judge him too harshly. He really didn’t have much choice in the matter. Nor will you.” The voice sounded familiar, but I still didn’t know why. I knew I should recognize it, but the memory escaped me.
“You think your cause is worth torturing innocent people?” My mouth was dry as sand and my voice shook.
“There will be no need to torture you, I’m sure. You’ll give us exactly what we want.”
“Is Will okay? If you hurt him, I’ll…” My fists clenched tight as I leaned forward and glared hard into the two-way mirror, shocked at my own fierceness, but totally ready to climb through the stupid glass to get to the monster on the other side.
“You’ll what? You’ll kill me? I don’t think so. It’s not in your nature. No, you are all about preserving life, isn’t that so?” His voice had taken on a cool tone that made me second guess my next response, but I blurted it anyway, too far gone to care.
“To protect my family, I would gladly give up my principles.”
“You know, that’s exactly what your father said—just before I had him killed.”
Time stopped. Blood rushed to my head, drowning out the world and narrowing my focus to a single point. I saw my father on his knees, his hands tied behind his back and his eyes filled with terror. A stately man stood over him, dark hair slicked back and eyes blazing as he demanded answers. The familiar voice clicked into place. My father’s resistance had infuriated the man until finally, he gave the order. A second man who stood off to the side stepped forward, laid his hands on my father’s chest and I watched from my hiding place as the life was drawn from his body. His face contorted in pain as he gasped for breath and blood spilled from his nose, eyes, and ears. Only shock and fear kept me from crying out. Now, an animal scream escaped my lips and a rush of tears followed.
“Why don’t you just tell me what you want from me?” I cried. I fought to gain control, every cell in my body calling for vengeance.
“All in good time,” he said, satisfaction lacing his tone. “We have a few more questions for William, and I believe that he’ll be much more cooperative now that he knows you’re here. He’s shown a remarkable amount of resistance so far. I suggest you get what rest you can while you’re waiting. It might be a very long night for you. I need to attend to other business, but I’m sure Agent Graves will see to your needs when he’s finished questioning William.” The speaker clicked off and the voice disappeared.
“Wait…!” What were they going to do to Will? Or to me when they were done with him? My pulse pounded in my head, adding to an already throbbing headache. Numbness took over as I pushed my emotions down. Whoever this man was, he had been responsible for my father’s death. He’d obviously been hunting me for years, and now he had me. How long would it be before he got to Zeph too? Determination welled up from somewhere deep inside me. I couldn’t let him get his hands on my brother.
I surveyed the empty room. There was nothing except for me and the chair beneath me, which was bolted to the floor. My pack was gone. I reached to my throat. They hadn’t taken my locket, and my eye-shields were still in my pocket. A jolt of hope sparked inside me, shoving away the questions that jumped to mind about why they had allowed me to keep any personal possessions. Maybe they didn’t think a teenage girl could be a threat with only a locket and a pair of eye-shields. Underestimating me would be their downfall, I considered, my rage still seething under the surface.
I paced the floor for what seemed an eternity, my mind reeling with possibilities. I had to assume I was in the same building as Will, but I couldn’t be absolutely sure. I couldn’t worry about him. One step at a time—first things first—escape and survive. I pondered my arsenal of weapons. I knew whoever it was behind that mirror had to be watching me, or at least having me monitored. An idea swam to the front of my mind. My plan would have to be executed with speed, precision, and a whole lot of luck, but I knew I couldn’t stay here waiting for Agent Graves to come back. I’d seen the look in the man’s eyes when he’d taken me, and I had no doubt he was capable of torturing me.
I sat in the chair and closed my eyes, reaching out to see what energy I could sense. If there was someone on the other side of the glass, I couldn’t feel them. I reached further, focusing my breathing and my thoughts on Will…until…there…yes…he was there…not far off, but…weak…and scared. My heart thumped louder. I pushed all of my energy in his direction, hoping he would gather strength or at least a small nudge of encouragement that he wasn’t alone. I sensed his pain, but couldn’t assess how bad he was from this distance. There wasn’t much time.
I pulled myself together, opened my eyes and unlatched the locket from around my neck. Rising, I turned my back to the mirror and activated the electromagnetic pulse mechanism on the locket. If I was lucky, the cameras and the lock on the door would be disabled. The lights pulsed on and off…once…twice…and then total darkness. I was in luck; the EMP had even cut the alarm. I slipped on the eye-shields Sam had given me and engaged the night vision feature. Then I ran to the door and grabbed the handle. The lock held fast. It was an old building—I should have known better. I only had a few minutes before power would return or someone would be barreling down on me. Sweat broke out on my neck.
I aimed the tiny laser on the side of my eye-shield at the door knob and rotated the switch. A laser beam sent bright sparks flying on the metal door as I cut a swath around the doorknob. I was glad Sam had made me practice with the sensitive laser, which could create a small concentrated stream of energy to cut through almost any material, start a fire or, when set on high, create a significant blast. I kicked the doorknob hard, sending it through to the other side as the door swung open.
“Yes!” I almost squealed. No time to celebrate my escape. Victory was a long way off. I checked both directions, finding the corridor surprisingly empty. A flash of doubt crept in. They were making this way too easy. Why? Visions of being cut down trying to escape flashed in my mind.
I pushed away the doubts, willing to have hope that divine intervention was at work. I tuned into Will while I got my bearings. He was down the hall to my right. I could tell by the echoing silence and the absence of fresh air that I was in a lower level underground. The stairs to my left would lead up and out. I was almost home free. Self-preservation should have made me run as far and as fast as I could, but I knew I couldn’t leave Will behind in the hands of the monster that had killed my father. I shook off the gruesome images that rose to my mind. I couldn’t let that happen to Will.
I groaned and changed directions, knowing that my chances of escape had just taken a severe hit. I snuck down the long corridor with my night vision lighting the way. It seemed as if I was moving through a hazy red fog. I touched each door as I passed, disappointed when I couldn’t feel him inside. I was running out of time. Just then the overhead lighting burst on, blinding me. I tore off the glasses and stuffed them in my pocket, cursing the pain in my sensitive eyes.
Then I heard voices. I stopped outside of a room at the end of the hall and put my ear to the door to listen, noting the stairs, the elevator, or a door leading to the garage as possible escape routes at this end of the corridor.
A
voice ground out, “Either you answer the question or the next stop I make is going to be down the hall for a visit to your girlfriend. She’s a little young for me and not my type, but I’ll make an exception if you don’t tell us where the brother is.”
So they were after Zeph. My blood chilled in my veins. Will’s response came low and breathy. “Stay away from her…I’ll tell you…just stay away…” his voice faded. My stomach took another hard plummet.
I cleared my mind and focused my attention into the room. There was only one person with Will. He was not the same man who had questioned me. It had to be Agent Graves. Whoever the boss was, he apparently still didn’t do his own torturing.
My temper flared. How was I going to get in there? And what would I do against a huge man like that once I did? I couldn’t set the man on fire, no matter how badly I wanted to get Will and me out of this mess.
My only other offensive weapon was a sonic blast that would knock him out, but I had to get him to come out of the room. It wouldn’t help me to have Will incapacitated as well. I kicked off my boot and pulled the cotton out that I’d stuffed in the toe to make them fit. I wadded the pieces of cotton, slipped my boot back on and tied it, and after knocking on the door, ran to the stairwell to hide.
A few seconds later, the door opened. I waited to hear it close, waited for the rushed footsteps coming my way, and then I jammed the cotton in my ears and pushed the button for the sonic blast, waiting for a few seconds before opening the stairwell door and seeing the burly thug sprawled out on the floor.
Thank you, Sam! So far, my plan was working. I raced to the door and threw it open, only to be stunned by Will’s appearance. Cuffed to a chair and bleeding from his nose and mouth, he had a nasty gash over a swollen eye.
“Will!” I ran to his side.
“Lily?” he blinked up at me, confused. Just then an alarm sounded. I didn’t have time to explain, and trying to find the keys to the cuffs would take too long.
“Hold still.” My hands shook as I dug the eye-shields out of my pocket and cut the cuffs off with the laser.
“Ow!” Will gasped in pain as a thin red burn appeared on his flesh and he jumped.
“Sorry…trying to hurry…got it.” The cryocuffs fell to the floor in a puddle of blue liquid. “Let’s go.”
I helped him struggle to his feet. He put one arm around me and the other held his ribs, a sharp inhale sliding through his teeth as I held tight.
“You have to leave me…” he said with a labored breath as we limped toward the stairs leading upward.
“As if…” I didn’t finish the sentence. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs from above drove us back into the corridor and towards the elevator. With the power back on, we could head for the roof. But the flashing down arrow button made it clear that there was only one way out. “This way…” I dragged Will toward the exit that said GARAGE, and we burst through the door.
Will struggled along beside me, his weight leaning heavily on my shoulder. I could hear a commotion behind us. An iron gate blocked the exit in front of us. The few vehicles parked in the garage were far apart, offering little protection and no place to hide. I darted a frantic look around the dimly lit underground parking facility. If the Industry caught us now, there would be no second chance for escape.