The Black Coats(68)

Thea frowned as she looked around the room for anything that could help them. If only they could move. She leaned her head back against the pipe, her curls drenched with sweat. “No. We are still being recruited.”

“For what?” asked Casey.

Thea focused her eyes on the ceiling. “For the Monarchs. They probably select the best of us to become them—but only after we’ve used our inheritance, because then they’ll have something to hold over us for the rest of our lives.”

There was a long silence that was broken by Mirabelle stifling a cry. “Thank God I didn’t kill Marc. Thank God, thank God.”

Thea looked at the doors. There were two doors on either side of the room, both made of reinforced steel and most likely bolted from the outside.

“We tried pressing against them,” sighed Casey. “Neither door budged. We already tried everything.”

Thea opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could, but it only reverberated off the thick walls. And besides, who would hear them? They were in an empty building outside of town. By now night had fallen. Team Banner was utterly alone. Thea bit her lip angrily. She had gotten her team into this, and now it was time to get them out of it. She had to think of something. “Can you guys try to get some boxes down?” Thea strained against the pipe.

“It’s just paper,” moaned Mirabelle.

“It doesn’t matter. We have to do something. Move!” Thea kicked her bound legs out toward a shelf, colliding with the shelving unit. She kicked at it until a box tumbled to the floor. Slowly, Thea used her legs to draw the box over to her, wincing as her muscles protested. “Mirabelle! Stop crying and get those boxes open.”

Her friend took a breath. “Okay.” Mirabelle and Casey struggled to their feet, arguing the whole time about who needed to do what.

Thea’s bound hands tore at the plastic sealant. The box opened. Paper, just as they had suspected. She kicked it away. “Next.”

They froze as a moan came from the corner of the room. Thea looked over as Louise rolled onto her back. A thin line of blood was crusted across her forehead, with another at the corner of her mouth. Her bloodied hands were bound tight, but her legs were free. Her eyes fluttered open. “Thea?”

Thea bent her head forward, encompassed in the sweet relief that her friend was okay and knowing that the memory of a man hitting her with a pipe would be seared into her mind forever. Louise gagged and then pushed herself to her knees.

“Take deep breaths. There you go.” Thea tried to make her words reassuring.

“My head.” A piece of Louise’s mousy brown hair fell over her eyes as she moaned. “It’s exploding.” She filled her lungs once more and opened her eyes. “I am seriously considering resigning from the Black Coats.”

Thea smiled gently. “That makes four of us.”

As Mirabelle and Casey continued to pull down boxes, Thea scoped out the room, looking for something useful. She blinked. Two boxes in the far corner weren’t the same size as the others. She leaned forward, the tape pressing hard against her chest. She squinted as she tried to make out the words on the box. Office World, a unique company for your growing needs. Underneath it were the words she was looking for. Office Supplies. “Mirabelle!” Thea nodded toward the box. “Third row up, two boxes over. Look.”

Mirabelle’s eyes widened. “Do you think maybe . . .”

They looked at each other. “Scissors,” they said in unison. Mirabelle and Casey began moving toward the shelf. Thea felt hope growing in her chest, when she heard voices outside the door.

“Shhhh! Stop! Sit back down where you were. Louise! Pretend you’re still out!”

Louise collapsed onto the floor in her original position. Thea stared at the door, wanting to look whoever came through straight in the face. She would not go quietly. The metal door swung open, bringing with it a blast of cool air. She gasped out loud when President McKinley strolled in, flanked by five men. A few were muscular, but three of them were just dangerous-looking—the kind of men Thea would avoid on the street, with wandering eyes and hands. McKinley clicked her tongue. “Ladies. Do you have everything you need?”

Thea leaned forward, praying that her duct tape would snap, feeling helpless and furious all at once, her eyes burning as she stared at McKinley. “You can’t kill all of us. Four teenage girls missing all at once would bring the FBI.”

McKinley sighed. “You know, Thea, you are right.” Then she smiled wickedly. “Fortunately for us, we have so many friends in the FBI that one phone call would clear that problem up completely. But it’s not Team Banner we’re punishing. It’s you. And if your teammates speak of what they saw here, we will kill them one by one!” She put her hands on Thea’s face and then tapped her fingers against her nose. “As we speak, a letter is being written in which you’ll tell your parents that you are running away to Seattle because you can’t handle being here, where Natalie died. And you know what happens to runaways. Poof! They disappear all the time.”

Thea looked at Casey, who dropped her eyes to the floor, her chest heaving. Her eyes flicked to Louise, who hadn’t moved. Thea looked hard at President McKinley. “How can you hurt me? Being a Black Coat is about saving women, protecting them.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” hissed McKinley, her face distorting in anger. “You led the son of a cop straight to our doors. Adam Porter was getting dangerously close before we stepped in with our Dallas branch. Your foolish actions threatened a society that has saved hundreds of lives, and for that . . .” She stood and rubbed a white cloth over a knife that she had pulled from her coat. The men stepped forward. “I’m willing to betray my conscience a little. In fact, you might say that I have a darker side than most. At times, Robin found me a little too harsh for the Monarchs and did her best to tie my hands, but now that Robin is six feet under and Julie is in charge, her standards are a little more, how shall we say . . . flexible. She knows that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty.” She leaned forward, her mouth close to Thea’s ear. “And that’s what I am. Julie’s dirty hands. Ever since we were Monarchs together.”