Deviation (Clone Chronicles #2)(72)

“I think we should stay together.”

He shakes his head. “It’s safer for you to wait for me. I can be faster. And—”

“And you don’t want me there to see what happens if there is a guard,” I finish.

“It would be better if you stayed.”

I sigh. “All right.”

He guides me to the corner of the room. I crouch down but stay high enough I can still keep watch on Daniel’s cell. “Don’t leave this room,” Linc says.

“I won’t. Just hurry.”

He crouches in front of me and presses his lips to mine. The kiss is quick and a little rough. When he pulls away, my chest aches. “I will always come back for you,” he says in a thick voice.

Then he is gone.





Chapter Nineteen


Two minutes pass.

Three.

The bleeding has slowed to almost nothing. A thick clot has formed over the flap of skin. I toss the jacket aside and continue counting time. At four minutes, the nerves get to me and I lose count. I try not to hyperventilate as I start over. One. Two. A noise outside the door startles me. My head whips toward the metal handle. It turns and then stops as if whoever it is has changed their mind.

I open my mouth to call Linc’s name. Muted voices, one male, one female stop me. I strain to make out the words but the thickness of the door muffles them.

The girl raises her voice and snaps out some command. I don’t need to hear the words any longer to recognize the speaker. I’d know that condescending authority anywhere.

Taylor is outside the door. And from the sound of her biting directives, whoever she’s with is about to walk through it at any second.

I forget how to think.

Sound penetrates through a thick buzzing in my ears. Feet shuffling. More snapped commands. The handle to my room doesn’t move again.

The door to Daniel’s cell is shoved open. I glimpse an arm with the sleeves rolled up but then it’s brushed aside and Taylor strides into Daniel’s cell.

“Wake up.” Her muffled voice reaches me not through the thick glass but from the hall and Daniel’s open cell door.

Daniel stirs. Slowly at first, but Taylor isn’t patient. She walks over to him and shoves his shoulder. “I said wake up.”

Daniel rolls over and stares up at her from his cot. There is a fresh wound on his arm. A raised welt with a narrow cut in the center. Something black leaks from the edges. Acid rises in the back of my throat. Taylor glares down at Daniel. She says something too low for me to hear. He pushes up to his elbows, still half-asleep. Taylor puts a hand on her hip.

The arm is back, holding the door to Daniel’s cell open. I can’t see any more than that from my corner. I crawl closer to the glass for a better look.

The metal handle on my own door turns suddenly and the door is pushed open. “… Check in here,” a man says. He’s two steps inside when our eyes meet. I recognize him as the guard who spoke to us as we left the party.

He goes still, momentarily surprised at the sight of me.

“She’s in here!” he yells over his shoulder without taking his eyes off me.

I jump to my feet and position myself at the opposite end of the table, ready to scoot either left or right as soon as he moves.

The arm on the door to Daniel’s cell disappears. A second later, Alton appears behind Taylor’s guy. My confusion distracts me and I don’t see what’s happening until it’s too late. Not that it would’ve mattered. The first guard goes left and Alton goes right. They circle the table and close in. Alton’s grip is strongest. He squeezes hard as he leads me into the hall. Taylor’s already there. Her venomous smirk makes me wonder how I could ever even pretend to be like her.

“Nice work, Emile,” Taylor says. I twist in their grip, imagining my arms free to strangle Taylor with. “Hold her tight, boys. This one’s wily.”

“Tell them to let me go,” I snap.

“Interesting idea, but no. I knew you’d rush right back here when you saw that headline. What were you going to do? Free him yourself? Run away together?” Taylor laughs.

I glare at her. “You knew Daniel was here the whole time?”

“Well, not the whole time. Daddy brought me into the circle recently, remember?” Her expression clouds. “And to be honest, Ven, I didn’t want to believe him for a long time because of you. Or, well, the old you. I thought we were friends and—I would’ve sided with you, if you’d done the same for me. But you lied and covered up and you rejected me. So, here we are. I guess we both know exactly where we stand.”

“What do you mean your daddy brought you into the circle?” My stomach churns because I already know what it means. I knew it the second she called me by my real name. Somehow, her father knows what I am. “The circle of trust,” she says, making her voice deep and dramatic. “Or at least that’s what Daddy calls it. He knew I could get to you where no one else could. And he was right, as usual.” Her eyes narrow and her voice turns cold. “What are you doing down here, Ven? And where’s loverboy?”

“I was ….” I can’t come up with a single retort. I am too busy thinking of Linc. Where is he? It’s been too long. And Obadiah must be parked in the alley by now. Unless…

“You wanted to rescue Daniel, didn’t you?” Taylor presses. “When you saw the headline about police coming for him, you wanted to get him out.” My eyes narrow.