See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(54)

“Let me help you understand your position, Izzy. You will submit to me. I am a patient man. I have no scruples about doing anything necessary to get what I want. I have no grand sense of morality. So you can push and you can taunt all you want. Your blustering won’t save you in the end," he said, releasing me.

He walked to another part of the jet, leaving me alone with my musings. I looked out of the window with my blood boiling. I was angry at him, I was angry at myself and I wanted nothing more than to be free so that I could inflict some sort of damage. I thought about every step I had taken that led me to this point. The only thing I knew for certain was that if I ever got the chance, I would kill Xavier or die trying.

We landed about an hour later, coming into a city I knew all too well. I was back in Chicago. I looked as the city I once loved passed by the windows. I glanced back toward where Xavier was sitting to find him looking directly at me. He wore a knowing smirk, as if to laugh at some joke I was not in on. I tore my eyes away from him. I refused to ask what it was about. In fact, I had decided not talking might be the best thing for me.

All I had to show for my back talk was a sore throat and lump on my head. Oh, and let’s not forget the bruise forming on my breastbone where Xavier had tried to make the seat and I one entity. Ugh, I was so over this. I just wanted to know what the evil mastermind had planned. Then I could get in touch with Kennan.

Well, if he were lurking in the dreaming at any rate. I sure hoped he was there, because this plan was total crap otherwise. Not that any of my former plans had turned out so well. But this one seemed solid. And, well, it was the only one I had.

Xavier stood and approached me. He unlocked the cuffs and I rolled my wrists trying to release some of the soreness. He looked down at me expectantly. I just sat there, waiting for my next command. I could play the affable captive if I needed to. Look at me, I am a model prisoner. Hey, I wondered if there was some sort of early parole for Seers who did the bidding of the Corporation without giving a fuss. I started to ask Xavier and then thought better of it. I did not think my body could take any more abuse this day.

“Would you get out of your seat already?" Xavier asked, exacerbated.

I nodded and did what he asked. I had so many clever retorts, but I feared he would not appreciate them the way Kennan and Ian did. God, I really missed Kennan. I felt myself in really grave danger of caving and opening myself up to Kennan before I found out anything of use. I knew that I couldn’t, but not having him with me made me feel like I had phantom limb syndrome. I kept starting to ask him something and then I would remember I was alone.

We deplaned and headed toward yet another black limo. We took the car straight into the city. I wondered why I was not being blindfolded. Just as the thought passed through my mind, a black rag was tied around my head. I tried to fight it off only to have Xavier "tsk" me again.

“Now, now Izzy. I thought we were finally getting along. If you start fighting again, we will have to put you back in shackles. You don’t want to mar that pretty skin of yours do you?" he asked, running his fingers over my wrist.

It took everything in me not to physically cringe away from his touch. Something that should have been soft and seductive was turned into something twisted and frightening. I sat as still as I could and held my breath. I knew that if he saw how bothered I was at his touch, he would just use that against me. "Show no weakness." It was the motto that Ian had drilled into me for the past four weeks. So instead I put my bravado back in place and nodded toward Xavier.

He stopped touching me immediately. So he had done it just to throw me. I supposed there would be many more tests just like this one. I hoped none of them included confined spaces. I don’t think I could fake my way out of that. I sat there with my blindfold on and wondered where we were heading. Each part of the city had always felt different to me. It all pulsed with a life of its own, and I wondered if I would still be able to feel it, even blindfolded.

We stopped, and I was pulled from the car by what I assumed was a Lurch. Being blindfolded, I could not tell if it was one, two, or three. I just knew it wasn’t Igor. He was not tall enough to fit the bill. I was dragged into a building, and I immediately knew where I was. I was in the building I had delivered a package to almost two months ago. Time flies when you are on the run. I waited with the goon squad at what I was hoping was not an elevator. But my hopes were soon dashed when the telltale ding announced the death box’s arrival.

I took one last deep breath as discreetly as I could, fearing my little secret would be discovered. Hell, the blindfold was about to send me into conniptions as it was. I just tried to keep it together. It could not be that far up in the building. I waited as the seconds ticked by. After what seemed like an eternity later, we arrived on our floor. I was escorted off of the elevator and the blindfold was removed.





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TWENTY THREE





I stood in what looked like a doctor’s office, or perhaps a lab. Only instead of doctors, there were ridiculously tall men. Instead of patients, there were women of various ages. I looked to my left and saw a bay of windows. Inside, there rested five Seers hooked up to the same machines my mother had once occupied. I looked away as the tears threatened to spill over and I took in the rest of my surroundings. To the right there was a corridor with a sign that indicated dormitories were located in that direction.