Page 47 of Resolve
But then, why drop us in a cell unless he’s planning on holding us for some reason? Why not just kill us immediately after making our gifts inert?
It’s that thought that tells me our gifts will be coming back.
And Charles has plans for us.
I lift my phone from my pocket, checking for service. As expected, there is none. We’re either too remote for our phones to pick anything up, or it’s being blocked by something. That removes the option of calling Dane or others for their whereabouts.
It’s highly unlikely the tracking app will be able to pinpoint our location, let alone Dane’s, but I open it anyway to make sure. After Vera stuck Dane with something and I’d brought him to the infirmary, we’d decided it was best that he receive a tracker, too. And then we did the same with Kellan, Jack, and me.
A warning window pops up on the screen:
No service.
Jackson and Raegan stand when I return my attention to the cell, and Kellan runs his hand down her spine where he’d moved to her other side.
“Dane and the others who went after board members could be here,” I finally continue. “We can’t leave until we know where they are.”
Jack nods, his hands toying with something in his kangaroo pocket. His lock-picking kit, I suspect. He never goes anywhere without it. Which means we can leave here whenever we want, but will weget information faster by waiting for Charles or his agents to tip us off on the others as an attempt to scare or upset us?
“There’s a camera in the corner there”—he tilts his head toward the office-looking room outside of these bars—“and another on this side there.” Jack indicates the opposite side of the room, but on the same wall as us. Both are small and the same color as the concrete walls, blending in to hardly more than what would appear to be a mark or chip at first glance. It takes concentrated effort to identify them. Only one of them points into our cell while the other covers the rest of the room and the single door.
If the cameras obtain audio, we’ll have to be careful with our planning.
Kellan stiffens, then shifts himself between Raegan and the bars so he’s blocking her from sight. “Someone’s coming,” he growls.
I widen my stance in preparation, but there’s only so much I can do without my gift or a weapon in hand. The metal I’d molded to gauntlets or weapons wrapped around me had dropped back to their original form once the dart struck and didn’t come through with us.
I can hear the heavy clomp of boots behind the door draw closer and count at least two sets. Jackson passes Raegan a small throwing knife out of the corner of my eye. She relaxes her hand around it and holds it at her side just behind her leg to keep the blade hidden.
Good girl.
The heavy door swings open and bangs into the wall as two agents dressed in typical black GE gear stroll in.
“There she is,” the taller one with a brown military cut drawls, his thumbs tucked into his vest as he leers through the bars and stomps down the three steps to the room.
Heat burns in my chest when he sayssheand looks her way.Iclench and release a fist at my side, my body tense and at the ready. My mind turns a mile a minute, running through scenarios and trying to figure out what to say to swing this to our advantage.
“Where? I don’t see her,” the other one gripes, his beady eyes scanning the cell and likely only finding three men.
“You blind, Stephens? Behind the big one.”
“How the hell am I supposed to see anything behind him? I’m not tall like you.”
“Fuck, you idiot. Can’t you see her legs there? Never mind. Just go and grab her, will ya?”
Stephens mutters to himself, stalking over to the lock. I go there without thought, adding another barrier between them and her. The agent startles when he notices me there suddenly and yanks his pistol free to aim it at me.
My heart thrashes at the memory of Charles shooting me. At the pain I’d felt. The fear that I’d failed her. Failed everyone. My lungs seize as my body remembers being unable to breathe underwater.
“No!” Raegan cries out, wrenching me back to the present.
I take a deep breath. Exhale. Then raise my hands nonthreateningly. “I’m unarmed and giftless,” I remind him slowly, like speaking to a frightened animal. He seems like the weaker of the two, but that means he might act more rashly. I’d prefer not being shot again if I can help it. “I’m just wondering what you need her for and not the rest of us. Aren’t we all your prisoners?” I keep my voice a calming croon.
He doesn’t lower his gun, but the tremble of fear in his arms eases. It’s a small consolation that I won’t get shot from a twitching finger, but one I’ll take, nonetheless. “You are,” he affirms a bit harder than would be normal. Like he’s still convincing himself that he’s the onein control.
I nod, keeping my focus on him as much as instinct tells me to watch the other one. There was something off about his smile when he’d peered into the cell as if he could see through Kellan to Raegan. Something twisted. He won’t be so easily manipulated. Fortunately, he’s busy staring at his phone. This agent seems less self-confident; more likely to go overboard to prove himself to others. “Then why her? Or are you gathering all the women from the Guild for some reason?”
“No, just her,” he answers automatically, confirming that the others are here, too. Dane’s the only question left. I have a sinking feeling that he’s not here, though. We’ve escaped Charles too many times for him to trust putting Dane too close to us and risk us taking him back again.
