The Devil In Disguise (Bad Things #1)(46)

There were cells back there, lots of them. And guards with big guns. She didn’t know if those guns were loaded with tranqs or if they were sporting bullets—silver bullets, wooden bullets, or even your average shoot-to-kill human variety.

Madeline kept flashing her ID at people. Her movements were stiff and jerky, and Mina really wanted to give her another command, to reinforce her compulsion, but with eyes on them, she knew Julian wouldn’t risk freeing her mouth, not right then. They had to wait just a bit longer…

They needed to find Eli.

“Maximum security,” Julian snapped to the guard standing to the left—the guy clutching a really big gun. “Let’s stop screwing around and get her contained.”

The guy—a young fellow with pale blond hair—spun and quickly typed in a security code on the pad near a big, black door.

There was a beep, then a hiss, and that door opened.

“Excellent,” Julian said. “Now keep any other guards back until I have her secure. I don’t want to risk anyone falling under her control.”

Because Mina was looking straight at Madeline when he spoke those words, she saw the flare of the other woman’s lashes. Madeline’s eyes went bright with emotions.

Uh, oh. We are running out of time. Mina needed to give that woman a new command, STAT. They crossed through the doorway, and a few seconds later, the door sealed closed behind them with another beep and a hiss. Cautiously, they walked forward. It was almost like being back in Luke’s Chamber of Horrors again except that—

A low moan came from the right. Her gaze jerked that way. There were no cell bars, just glass. She could see right into that holding room and Eli was on the floor. A very bloody, battered Eli.

Julian shoved her away from him.

Madeline shook her head, opened her mouth to scream—

“You stay silent,” Mina ordered her.

Madeline’s lips clamped closed.

A guard was rushing toward them—a man who’d been sitting behind a bank of screens in the middle of that space. “What in the hell is happening?” he shouted, lifting his gun.

Julian just snatched the gun from him and tossed it away. Then he drove his fist straight into the guard’s face. The guy was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Mina ran toward the bank of screens. The screens showed different security feeds from the facility. She didn’t see guards rushing toward them, so that meant they were still safe.

“Disengage his cell door,” Julian ordered.

She looked up. He was in front of Eli’s holding area. “I don’t know how!”

His jaw locked. “I do.” Then he lifted his hand and drove his fist into the cell door.

Alarms immediately began blasting. Heavy, deafening alarms. Mina jerked in shock and—and a door to her left opened.

Laughter came from that room—laughter that reached her even over that terrible, shrieking alarm. And it was laughter that she knew.

“Hello, Mina,” Garrick greeted her. The jerk sounded…happy. Pleased. “I knew you’d make it this far. I was waiting for you.”

Madeline slapped her hands over her ears and sank to the floor.

Six black-clad agents ran from behind Garrick. They didn’t run to surround Mina, though. Instead, they went right for Julian. He swiped out at them with his claws, fighting them, punching. The guards lifted their guns.

“Stop!” Mina yelled as she surged toward Julian. “Don’t hurt him—”

Hard arms grabbed her. Garrick yanked her back against his body. “They can’t hear your voice. Not over that alarm. It was one of the safety precautions that I had in place. As soon as you entered this area, there was a thirty-second timer in place. It counted down…and then your time was up.”

She’d thought the alarm had sounded because Julian hit the cell, but…it had all been part of Garrick’s plan? She drove her elbow back into his ribs. He grunted at the impact, but didn’t let her go. So she head-butted him. She kicked back with her heels. She clawed at him and—

Bam. Bam.

The bullets blasted into Julian. He stopped fighting.

His body fell.

“No!” Mina screamed. She twisted in Garrick’s hold. “No!”

The agents came at her then. They swarmed her and she found herself being thrown into the cell right next to Eli’s. They tossed her onto the floor, throwing her down hard, then running out. She leapt to her feet and raced toward the door, but Garrick shut that glass door in her face and, staring at her, he engaged the lock.

“Let me out!” Mina screamed. She could see Julian, still slumped on the floor. Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead.

Garrick cupped his hand around his ear. “What is that? Come again?’ He smiled at her. “Sorry, my dear, but I can’t hear a word you’re saying. No one can.”

She slammed her fist into the glass, again and again—but the glass didn’t give.

Garrick laughed. “You can hear us—I’ve got the speaker feed going into the cell I prepared for you—but no one can hear your beautiful voice. And that means…you’re helpless.”

No, this couldn’t be happening.

She kept pounding on the glass.

“It won’t break,” Garrick assured her. “It won’t shatter. It is a special material the guys at NASA actually came up with to use in space but, hey, we recognized just how useful the material would be right here on earth. With people like…you.” A faint smile still curved his lips. “I told you, Mina, you wouldn’t get away again. I just had to use the right bait to pull you back in to me.” His gaze slid to Eli. The guy hadn’t moved from his position on the floor. A pool of congealed blood surrounded his prone form. “Though I don’t think that bait will last much longer. He put up more of a fight than we expected and he seems very weak now.”