Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(126)

First I was on my feet. Then I was at the door pounding it with my fists. There was no point; it was soundproof. I knew they couldn’t hear me yell, but Belle could. Her earpiece would have picked it up.

“Belle, fight them! Use the syringe!”

She didn’t. She couldn’t. First, from the sound of their voices, it was clear there were more than two of them. If she attacked, she’d give us all away, and we’d never see the other side of these cells—until it was our turn to be “interrogated.” But I was well aware of how liberally the Princes interpreted that word. And I knew all too well the horrors the Surgeon was capable of.

“Belle, it’s okay!” I cried, and the other two girls agreed with me. “Save yourself!”

“Quiet,” she said suddenly. “You think I can’t take this?”

Her words were followed promptly by a slap to the face. I heard the impact crisp and clear over the comm.

“This one’s got a mouth. The little uppity French bitch,” the agent said. I was sure she’d made them think she was talking to them. She wasn’t.

I kicked the door in frustration as I heard Belle’s tray skid across the floor.

“Take her!”

Belle waited for the agents to leave and the door of the interrogation room to slam behind her. I could hear her earpiece moving, muffling between her fingers, then inside her palm.

“Welcome.” A deep, chilling voice. One I remembered.

It was the last I heard before Belle crushed the earpiece.





30



“WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING,” Chae Rin said frantically for the twentieth time in thirty minutes. “She could still be in there!”

“You guys don’t know. Maybe he’s doing something different with Belle. Maybe he won’t . . .” Lake stopped.

I could tell she was shaking. I almost wish I hadn’t told them what the Surgeon was capable of. And if I remembered Brendan correctly, it wasn’t just torture. Head games. Hours of emotional manipulation. Belle was mentally strong, but even she had her buttons. And buttons were easier to press when your prisoner’s defenses were being battered by intense pain.

“Howard. Howard!” Chae Rin called again. “Eveline! Are you there?”

After a few minutes: “I’m sorry. It’s me, Eveline.” She lowered her voice. “I had to find an empty room. I . . . I heard everything. I know about Belle.” The tremor in her voice as she said the name made that too clear. “I just couldn’t respond.”

“You guys have been gone for, like, years! Where were you?” I yelled.

“Getting ready to deploy,” she said. “Howard’s already down in the hangar. They need reinforcements in Oslo. Thing are getting worse.”

“The APD?” Lake sounded too afraid to ask.

“They’ve started evacuations of the city.”

I crouched down by the door. “We need to get out as soon as possible. We need to free Belle.”

“You won’t get another chance until they come for you. Just make sure that after you get out of the Hole, you follow her directions exactly.”

“Whose directions?” I asked. “Eveline?” I tapped my ear because the sound was shorting out. “Eveline?”

She was gone. There wasn’t anything more I could do but wait, each minute stretching into infinity until my door creaked open again. Quickly, I grabbed the syringe, tucked inside a clean napkin, and held it in my fist.

“Mellie.”

The skin of my lips cracked and thinned as I pressed them together. One of Dot’s assistants entered my room with a security agent in tow. I slid back until I was against the wall, but she didn’t seem to care. Without greeting me, she pulled her hand out of the pocket of her long white lab coat and began opening the silver briefcase she carried.

“I thought the R & D department was under investigation after the stunt you pulled, and yet here you are.” I smirked. “Guess you passed the loyalty test.”

“Yes, I did,” she answered coolly, her bob tilted to the left with her head as she began fiddling around in the case. “Unlike Dot and Pete. But then, I’ve always been loyal.”

Dot and Pete. Those two had run from the Sect. But had they run because they were guilty? Or because they were scared?

Mellie used a pad to clean the area around my neck. And not for the first time.

“You were the one who injected me with that mind-control crap.”

She laughed a little at my limited technical vocabulary, but it didn’t deter me. I peered up at the bodyguard by the door, who stared down at the both of us through his thick shades.

“Tell me the truth,” I said. “Did Dot tell you to do all that?”

“Dot’s a brilliant mind in her field,” Mellie replied. “She also needs help remembering what day it is. You really think that’s the kind of player you want on board for a conspiracy?”

“But you are, right?” I flinched at her touch, the wetness of the alcohol pad picking up the chill from the room. “They had nothing to do with it, did they?” A wave of relief washed over me, but it was short-lived. Mellie pulled out the inoculation gun from the briefcase. I eyed the pen-like device as Mellie checked its contents, then turned my attention to the agent standing at the door. “So who do you take your orders from?”