He didn’t respond and I wondered if he still listened. Heck, he might have fallen sleep and I was the idiot for continuing to spill my guts into the dark. But once I’d started, I couldn’t seem to shut up.
“With you I didn’t feel like a freak. I felt…normal for the first time in my life.” I rolled onto my back and stared up at the black ceiling wondering how far down the corridor Deborah was located. Could she hear us? I hoped not.
“What happened?” he whispered.
So, he was still listening. “I…I fell for you, but I started questioning the way Aaron was running things. I couldn’t accept his beliefs, his rules any longer. He said I could leave, but if I left my mind would be erased.”
We were silent for a long moment. The only sound the soft buzz of the ventilation systems. My body was exhausted, my muscles ached. I curled into a ball, having no blanket to keep me warm. I’d apparently missed dinner and my stomach growled with the need for nourishment. Or maybe they didn’t bother to feed us.
I wasn’t sure if Lewis was still awake, but I kept talking, needing to think of something other than hunger and impending doom. “I tried to escape. I was caught. They erased my memory.”
I heard his breath hitch. “I betrayed you.”
Sudden tears stung my eyes. “No. You tried to save me.” How wrong I’d been about him, thinking he had taken Aaron’s side.
“I failed.”
“No.” I took in a trembling breath, forcing the tears not to fall. “I escaped and that’s all that matters.”
I had escaped, but Lewis hadn’t. Who knew what Aaron had done to him because of me. I hadn’t been there to find out, and Lewis wouldn’t remember. And who knew what my dad would do to him here, now.
“Is it back?” he whispered.
I knew what he was asking…my memory. “I think so. Most of it anyway.” I felt guilty for answering; guilty that my normal mind had returned, while he remained lost in the dark.
“Do you think mine will come back?”
No. “I don’t know.”
Could he hear the lie in my voice? The place was so still, I thought my heart would explode. I could barely take it. What was he thinking? How did he feel about me? My fingers curled into the cot as I resisted the urge to demand he say something, anything.
“Cameron,” he said, as if hearing my plea.
My breath hitched. “Yeah?”
“Were we… in love?”
I swallowed hard, tears stinging my eyes. “Yeah.”
“Tell me. Tell me something, anything about our past together.”
I sat up, confused. He wanted a memory, a memory that only we shared. Perhaps he wanted to know what he had missed, perhaps he wanted to feel less alone. Whatever his reasoning, I was desperate to give him what he wanted.
“Describe to me a memory.”
I could do one better. “Open your mind.”
I closed my eyes and thought back, flipped through the memories in my mind like index cards on a rolodex, until I found the perfect one.
“Are you open?” I whispered.
“Yeah.”
I released my hold and sent the memory flying across the cell.
Suddenly we were at Aaron’s compound in Maine once more. It was as if I hovered over the home, hovered over the memory.
Lewis shoved open the back door and we stumbled outside. “He won’t notice.” He paused and I fell into his chest. My legs were weak, my balance off. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the heels, or because I was so close to Lewis. Our laughter faded as a sense of solitude wrapped around us. Only us. His face was serious, his gaze warm under the glow of the backdoor light.
“You’re cold,” he said softly.
“I’m all right.” Even though I wasn’t, I was afraid if I told him I was cold, we’d return to the party.
He shrugged off his jacket and placed it around my shoulders, his warmth and scent clinging to the material. It was totally romantic and my heart swelled with the act. He pulled the edges of the jacket closed, at the same time tugging me closer to him. I knew if I looked up into his eyes, he’d kiss me. My heart hammered, warring with my rational mind.
I looked up.
For one moment we merely stared at each other. Finally, just as I was getting ready to bite the bullet and kiss him, he lowered his head. My eyes closed and I held my breath, waiting. His lips met mine. A soft kiss, a wonderful kiss. My toes curled in my shoes, my heart jumping madly against my ribs. I’d been kissed before, but never had it felt this…soft, warm, intense.
All too soon, he pulled back, then just as quickly, leaned forward and pressed his mouth to mine again…as if he just couldn’t help himself.
“It was our first kiss,” I whispered, letting the memory linger, before closing off my mind once more.
He didn’t respond, and after five minutes of silence, I stopped waiting for him to. I wondered what he was thinking, but was too afraid to ask.
Instead, I closed my eyes and forced the tears not to fall. I’d cried enough in the past year. The worst that could happen had happened. There was nothing more to cry about.
****
The lights burst to life.
“Wake up,” someone demanded.
I jumped, startled, confused. A woman stood outside my bars, two male security guards behind her, guns in hand. It was a quick and sickening reminder of where I was.
“Put this on.” The female guard shoved a folded gray jumpsuit and black shoes through the bars.
So, I was truly a prisoner now, uniform and all. I thought I’d remembered seeing her walking the compound when I’d worked here, but couldn’t be sure.
I stumbled toward her, my legs still slightly numb, and took my new fancy outfit through the bars. Lewis was sitting up, watching with a weariness that worried me. I knew they weren’t here merely to keep me abreast of the latest prison fashion trend. They were here to take me to my dad. Lewis’ worried look said it all.
I went into my small bathroom and changed, hating the fact that my hands trembled. My mind felt less muddled, but my body was still exhausted. Was it morning already? How long had I slept?
“Bring me your clothes,” the woman demanded.
“Only if you say please,” I said, pausing in the bathroom doorway.
She didn’t respond, merely glared at me.
The jump suit was soft and smooth against my skin. Although it wasn’t exactly fashionable, I was thankful to get out of the dirty and torn clothing I’d worn since trudging through the woods.
I sighed long and loud. “Fine, but I’m sure your mother would be very disappointed in your lack of manners.” I carried my clothes back to her.
She took them and handed them off to another guard. “Arms through the bars.”
Stacking my hands atop each other, I slid them through. She slapped handcuffs over my wrists, the metal cold and heavy against my skin.
“Step back.”
“Hey assholes,” Lewis taunted. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”
I glanced at Lewis; his face furious. With his shaved head and that scruff on his cheeks he looked dangerous. As dangerous as he looked, I knew he wouldn’t last much longer. Especially if they planned to slice into his brain.
I pulled my arms back and waited as she pressed her hand to a keypad, then opened the door. Finally, we were moving. This is the moment I’d been waiting for, a moment to act, or at least study my surroundings. I glanced at Lewis. He gripped the bars so tightly, his knuckles had turned white. I wanted to give him a smile for reassurance, but I couldn’t quite manage it.
I made my way into the corridor and paused, resisting the urge to reach out to him. He was close, so close. His fingers twitched around the bars, as if he too wanted to reach out. Someone nudged me in the back, sending me stumbling forward. So much for saying goodbye.
The corridor was long, the lights intensely harsh, and I was exhausted. I counted the steps I took, counted the cells (five in all), I even counted the lights above. It was at the second cell from the door that I noticed Deborah. She stood at the bars, pale, serious, looking much different from the last time I’d seen her arrogant, beautiful face.
Don’t tell them anything…
The words whispered through my head as I moved past her. Maybe I imagined them. I didn’t dare glance her way, worried if the message had been real they’d know we were communicating.
Don’t tell them…
Would I have a choice? I took in a deep, trembling breath. I was powerful, I reminded myself. More powerful than most mind readers or Dad wouldn’t have gone to the extreme to get me here. Maybe I could hold them off. If not, if they broke through and learned our secrets, I could only pray Nora would send warning to Savannah.
They shoved open a steel door and we stepped into an empty stairwell. I did my best to memorize every detail of the place. All brick, all cement floors; electric keypads at every door that used hand prints to open. No windows. Fluorescent lights. But nothing I noticed would really help me in the long run. I needed weapons. I needed an escape route. I needed friends who would help me in my time of need.
Surprisingly they didn’t take me outside of the building, but up another flight of steps. I couldn’t tell if we paused on the second or third floor and I wondered how far underground they’d been keeping me. At the top of the steps we paused outside another steel door. The female guard pressed her hand to the keypad. The door popped open and she made quick work of shoving me inside, almost as if she feared being in my presence.
I’d barely had time to regain my balance when I noticed my dad. He sat behind a metal table; the same tables I remembered sitting behind when I had questioned people. The same table I’d sat behind when I’d tortured other mind readers. Payback was certainly a bitch.
It was a nondescript room. No windows. One door. Only that metal table, two chairs, my dad and two guards standing behind him.
“Sit, please,” my dad said with a nod toward the empty chair across from him.
I sank onto the cold metal. To say I felt uneasy would be an understatement. He watched me with a combination of disappointment and resignation, as if he’d known all along I’d turn on him. “If you were unhappy, you could have come to me.”
Unhappy? I wanted to laugh. Instead, I didn’t respond. What was there to say?
“Hey Dad, you know how we torture people? Yeah, not feeling it anymore.”
He drummed his fingers against the tabletop. Was he nervous, or just bored? “Did you come here merely to spy?”
“No,” I stated firmly, which was the truth. “To spy would mean I give a shit.” I leaned closer to him. “And I don’t care about you, or this place.”
He didn’t say a word, merely watched me. I kept his gaze, feeling like we were playing a childish game of who would blink first.
“Then why did you leave?” he finally asked.
I knew my best bet would be to tell the truth. “Because I had to see Lewis.”
He laughed. “And you couldn’t have asked me to take you?”
“As if you would have.” I shoved away from the table and stood. The guards stiffened, but with a quick nod from my father, they stayed put like pathetic lapdogs.
I paced the room, knowing he thought I was nervous. In reality I was looking for something,
anything
that would give me a hint as to my location. “Nora said if I went with her, I’d know the truth.”
My dad crossed his arms over his chest, wrinkling the perfectly pressed blue shirt. A shirt ironed by his dutiful wife. A wife who didn’t love him. A wife who was working against him. And he’d know it, if he broke into my mind. Not only would I put those in Savannah in danger, but also those here who worked for us. I turned my back to him, but the room held nothing. It was even worse than my cell. Not even James Bond could break into this place.
“So you found him. Why not come back after?”
Frustrated, I spun around to face him. “Because you sent your goons after me!”
He leaned forward, pressing his palms to the metal table. “I sent
my goons
to find you and protect you.”
I released a wry laugh. Nice try. “They tried to kill us.”
“They were not trying to kill
you
.”
I understood the implication of his words. They weren’t trying to kill me, but they were trying to kill Lewis and Nora. It was a startling truth. He only wanted me alive to use me. I realized I had to get Lewis out of here as soon as possible, before it was too late.
“Just let us go. Let us go and we won’t bother you again.” Yeah, it was a stupid suggestion, but I had to try. Besides, by sounding pathetic, maybe he’d underestimate me.
He looked at me as if looking at a child who had just discovered the Easter Bunny wasn’t real. As if he actually felt sorry for me. “I can’t do that. Not when you know our compound.”
Okay, Nora had been right. He didn’t give a crap about any of us. Back to plan A. “So what will you do? Keep me here forever? Kill me as a traitor?”
“What happens to you will be your decision.” He settled back, crossing his arms over his chest. “We need to know details about Aaron’s compound.”
“Why?”
“Because we need to be able to protect ourselves from an attack.”
“Are you serious?” I laughed like a lunatic; I couldn’t help myself. They were all so ridiculous with their egos and fears, like little bullies on a playground. “Seriously, let’s get real. Since I’ve been here, I’ve seen no one attack you.”
His face was flushed with impatience. “Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. You have no idea what they’ve done to us in the past.”
And here we were again… us versus them, the eternal showdown that would never end. I moved toward the table, my handcuffs clinking together. “No, I don’t. But I know what you’ve done. I know you betrayed your friends.”
His jaw clenched and a sick part of me thrilled over the fact that I could get to him. He might have killed his friends, but I’d just stuck a knife in his back.
“That’s right, daddy dear, I know they died because of you.” I shook my head, clicking my tongue. “What does it feel like to betray your best friends?”
His gaze slid to the guards. “Let him in.”