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The call ends and we sit in silence. We might have a lead. But there’s also the chance I might have put us all a little deeper into the hole we're already in.
Luis nudges my shoulder. “Hey, you did good, pretty girl.”
“Do you think she's really on our side?”
“I think you made a calculated decision that might pay off in a big way. If anything else, we know he's in Raleigh.” Lukas says.
“Yeah, and if that Tony guy calls us, he could really help,” Micah chimes in. “Bennet said he can hack anything.”
Luis nods his agreement. “Worst-case scenario, Adley gets confirmation that you're definitely with us, which he already suspects.”
Exhaustion takes over as I hold in a deep breath, trying to cleanse myself of the negative thoughts and focusing on the positive—we know where he is, and we won't be far away. That should at least give us a start.
Luis helps me lay across the seats with my head in his lap, stroking the fuzz of the shaved part of my hair. “Sleep, pretty girl. It'll make the trip go by faster.”
My eyes close as I drift into my dream filled sleep, my last thoughts a prayer, sent into the empty void.
Please be okay, Bennet. I need you.
Bennet
Bright fluorescent lights blind me when I try to open my eyes. A splitting pain throbs in my head and my mouth feels like a desert, rough and dry. The surface beneath my bruised body is hard, smooth, and cold to the touch. There's an acrid smell of ammonia that stings my nostrils.
Hoping to lessen the intensity of the harsh lights, I turn my head to the side and try cracking one eye open at a time. The lights are like knives in my brain, but my vision clears and I take stock of my surroundings.
I'm lying on a cold concrete floor in a small, sterile room. There is a metal bed frame against one white cinderblock wall, a barely there mattress with threadbare coverings. There's a locker or thin cabinet with a door at the end of the bed. Past my feet, there is a heavy door with a small reinforced window. Behind me is a metal toilet with a sink.
My first thought is that I'm in a prison, but I can't think of how I got here.
The forced visit with my father, being held at gunpoint…. The injection. My hand raises to my neck, running my fingers over where the needle pierced my skin.
Fuck.
Six. The guys. I couldn't warn them.
Jackson. Maybe he saw something or at least noticed I didn't make it back to my vehicle. Hopefully, they are far away from Barnaby Falls and heading to somewhere safe. Even if I never see her again, I need to know they made it out.
I take a few minutes to sit up and even longer to try to stand. My body aches all over and my head is pounding furiously from whatever they drugged me with. Then again, it could be a concussion. Based on the pains all over my body, it doesn't seem like they treated my unconscious body with care.
I knew my father was a crazed monster, but this was not something I expected. My mind races, going over every piece of the puzzle that he put together with that file. The sick experiments they ran on Six from the time she was a small child, treating her like some kind of lab animal.
Fuming, I make it to the small toilet/sink combo and turn the water on. Letting it fill my hands, I drink heavily and splash the cold water over my face.
My watch is still on my wrist, and I'm still wearing my suit and shoes. Whoever brought me here clearly dumped my body in the room and left, not even bothering to put me on the bed.
I walk around the room, getting my bearings and stretching out my tight muscles. The door is locked, unsurprising. Looking through the small window, I see a hallway, but there doesn't seem to be anyone out there. The bed, which is bolted to the floor, barely has any covers. The ones that are here are rumpled from use. The locker is unlocked, so I open it and see a few articles of white clothing and a couple of extra rolls of toilet paper.
The clothing is in two stacks. It looks like two shirts and two pairs of pants. They look like scrubs, but thinner fabric. When I pull out one of the shirts, I notice how small it is. The pants are small too. Clearly, they aren't meant for me.
Looking back at the bed, I'm thinking this entire room wasn't meant for me. Despite how empty and sterile it is, it seems someone else lives here, or did at one time. I find it strangely comforting.
A loud buzzing sounds before the door handle turns and a guard comes in. He gestures to me with his rifle, wordlessly herding me into the hallway. There's another armed guard waiting for us, and he follows behind me as the first guy takes the lead.
They take me down a labyrinth of hallways that I do my best to remember, making a mental map of the layout as we go. I'm not sure how effective it is, given my condition, but I fight to stay sharp.
The guards lead me through a wide hallway with frosted glass rooms lining either side. As we pass by, doors slide open on one of the rooms and I can see monitors and a long metal table before they close behind a man wearing a white coat.
The lab. I'm in Raleigh.
