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“The choice is yours, of course—no pressure. You can say no to this or any and all of the conditions, I can press the button, and we can end it all now. I said. Do. You. Fucking. Agree?”
“Yes.” I spoke a little louder this time.
“Good. And in case you’re thinking of signing it and then backing out in the future by claiming you were coerced, again, that’s entirely your choice. Just know that we purchased extras of these collars, as another insurance policy, and at any time, we might choose to go pay Topaz or Phoenix a visit and see how they like this new form of jewelry. We clear?”
I hadn’t been able to stop the tears from cascading down my cheeks throughout the entire ordeal, but at the mention of my brother and sister, I completely lost what little grasp I had on my dignity and calm, and began openly sobbing.
“Jesus Christ. Fucking gross. She’s peed herself.” The cloaked figure behind me spoke this time, the disgust palpable in his voice, even through the distorter.
Everything from there on in was a blur. An ear-splittingly loud klaxon sounded from above and I instinctively grabbed for my ears trying to block out the sound. Then I remembered the collar and nearly shat myself along with the pee that, as Metal Voice Number Two rightly pointed out, had unexpectedly sprung from me at the mention of any possible harm coming to my siblings.
Moments after the alarm, chaos ensued as the building’s sprinkler system activated and we were suddenly in the middle of an indoor deluge.
“Code Black! Code Black! Now!” shouted the first metal voice. There was a sudden flurry of activity where they all seemed to whir around me. I was pushed, pulled, and shoved in different directions, and the hood pulled back over my head. As I stood there getting wetter and colder by the second, I braced myself for their next move, having absolutely no idea what that might be.
Minutes—I think— passed and it occurred to me that above the din of the cascading water, all I could hear was the faint sound of raised voices, male and female, coming from, I guessed, the hall. They certainly weren’t in the office with me, which, given that the room was soundproof, led me to think that the door must have been open.
“Hello? Hello...? Is there anyone there?” Only the rush of the sprinklers came back in return. “Hello...? Hello...?” Still nothing.
I couldn’t stand there forever, so I cautiously reached up to remove the hood. In the panic, it hadn’t been secured this time. Blinking furiously as the water fell into my eyes, I looked around the room hastily, instantly confirming my suspicion that I was alone.
I dropped the hood to the floor then reached up to my neck, confirming another suspicion. Motherfucker!
The collar was gone. I didn’t know what was the more appropriate emotion—anger or relief-—but what I did know was that I needed to get out of there before those sadistic assholes returned with another plan to off me.
Outside the room, the commotion continued, and as I slipped out to my freedom, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I ran down the stairs to the floor below. Chaos was an understatement. People were dashing back and forth trying to work out what to do and where to go. A few—I guessed—fire wardens were barking instructions which some people were following, while others flagrantly ignored them in favor of adding drama to the already-dramatic scene.
If I hadn’t just emerged from the most terrifying experience of my life, I might have been inclined to find the whole thing funny. After all, everyone had been dressed in their finest evening wear and groomed to within an inch of their lives, and now everybody looked like drowned rats, at best.
I looked around furtively, checking for signs of Bear, Xavier or any of the other guys I knew to be part of their heinous crew. Not seeing any faces I recognized—though everyone’s bedraggled state did make it harder to identify anyone—I took my chances and darted out into the quad.
I’d never been happier to be outside in the fresh air, but at the same time, so stressed out. The quad was as busy and chaotic as the inside of the building had been, but with a couple of fire crews added into the mix. From what I could see or smell, there was no actual fire, but I guessed the firefighters had to attend when the alarm and sprinklers were activated, especially in a building of that kind of historical significance.
I for one had never been happier for what I assumed to be a false alarm—even the presence of the fire crew was reassuring, as was the throng of wet and bedraggled people milling around. The more witnesses present, the less likely my assailants were to pull any more of their crazy stunts. Or at least that was my assumption.
I doubted very much that they wanted to be publicly identified as doing anything they shouldn’t be, and they couldn’t very well walk around in masks and cloaks and not attract attention. Not only that, but the large, constantly moving crowd made it harder for me to be seen, and easier for me to slip away unnoticed.
Chapter 29
Bear
As we filed into Xavier’s room—everyone except me—sodden and stripping off various items of clothing, I steeled myself for the fight I knew was coming. I was surprised Xavier had even managed to wait for the door to close behind him before starting to vent his rage.
“What the fuck was that? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that it was a case of a rude coincidence that the fucking sprinkler happened to go off just as it was all coming to a head in that room with that stupid bi—”
“You know what they say about assuming. You wouldn’t want to make an ass of yourself by jumping to a whole bunch of groundless conclusions, would you? So why don’t you just come right out and ask me what you want to know?”
I set my jaw hard. Actually, I set my whole body hard, knowing I had one hell of a fight on my hands. Maybe not physically—though it could easily go that way too, depending on Xavier’s mood-—but definitely in terms of the significance of what was about to go down. I had this figured for a make or break kind of deal.
“Okay, Bear”—he squared off, his whole body also set for a fight—“did you or did you not go against what we all discussed and agreed, disobey my direct orders, and put the entire organization and every member in it in jeopardy, for what you consider to be a hot piece of ass?”
“I sure did. And you know what? I’d fucking do it again in a fraction of a heartbeat.” Drew knew Xavier so well that he preempted his friend’s lunge toward me, and jumped to restrain him from behind before he was anywhere near connecting his blow.
However, that didn’t stop the pure fury blazing in Xavier’s steel-blue eyes. He was madder than I’d ever seen him, and he wanted blood—mine, to be exact.
“I’ll consider that your resignation from Cygnus, but don’t for a moment think that’s the end of this. I will ruin you, and her, if it takes my every fucking breath. In fact, even if it kills me, and I have to come back from the grave to fuck you up. You’re a dead man walking, Bryce Hamilton, there’s a target on your fucking back.”
Drew was still holding him, and Xavier was still raging against being restrained. He jerked and pulled in Drew’s arms, which prompted Drew to pull his arms higher and tighter in some kind of inescapable ju-jitsu lock hold.
