Page 18 of Stay Scared

The man beside the chair clamps one gloved hand around the metal frame and keeps it there. The one at the entrance holds his position, shoulders filling the space in front of the door. The man directly ahead of me freezes before his next step can land.

No one asks what I meant. They simply wait.

One more tap would make three men built to overpower me obey.

The room is quiet enough that I hear my sleeve drag softly against the padding. I could make them step back. I could make them open this room and end whatever they planned next.

My fingertips stay where they are.

The man ahead speaks quietly. “One more tap ends this.”

I don’t give it to him.

The hand gripping the chair stays locked around the frame. The man guarding the door holds his weight exactly where it is, and the one in front of me keeps the same distance between us.

They have me inside a locked room built for restraint, close enough that any one of them could reach me before I reached the door, and all three are waiting on the smallest movement of my hand.

My palm stays against the wall another second before I lower it.

Only then do they move.

A sharp tone sounds from the body camera, and the dead indicator flashes red once. The man ahead steps closer. A thin line of white light appears around the eyes of his black mask, and he looks down at the camera.

He examines the device without touching me. “Who interrupted the reset?”

The man at the door turns toward the corridor. Beside the chair, leather creaks beneath another gloved hand.

The glowing mask presses a recessed control on the camera housing. Nothing happens.

“This device is no longer on our network.”

The man beside the chair straightens hard enough to rattle the frame.

“How long has it been off-network?”

“Since the service corridor.”

The man near the entrance turns sharply toward the sealed panel. “Who the hell sent her through there?”

“I didn’t route her there,” the man beside the chair says.

The glowing mask turns toward him. “Neither did I.”

All three look toward the sealed door.

The man nearest it shifts until his body occupies the space between the panel and the rest of us. The glowing mask touches his earpiece.

“Control, lock down the maintenance route. No one enters or leaves it until I clear it.”

Static answers him.

He removes the earpiece.

“You haven’t used the signal.”

“I came close.”

“You chose not to finish it.”