by Joy Jenkins
"Trust you?" she said. "How could I possibly trust you when everyone I know betrays me?!"
Understanding passed over Donovan's face. "What happened with your father?"
She looked away, unable to handle the intensity of his stare.
"Carter, what happened?" Donovan asked, more forcefully.
The truth rattled around Carter’s head, eating away at her. She sagged as the reality hit her again. It beat against her like waves crashing against a mountain, wearing it down. She shook her head as if already denying what she hadn't yet said.
"Carter..."
Donovan took one step closer. She finally met his gaze, vulnerable.
"He signed on for two more years," she whispered.
Donovan moved as if he was going to hug her but something held him back.
Carter dropped her head.
"I don't know what to do, Donovan," she said. His name came off her lips gently, carrying more of her emotions than she knew.
Donovan rested his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me.”
When she didn't, he tilted up her chin with his fingers. Their eyes locked.
"You’re going to get through this. You're going to take this one day at a time," he said, soothingly. "Because you are one of the strongest people I know." He almost smiled. "I have the bruises to prove it."
Their eyes held each other, emotions plainly written on their faces. In that instant something coursed between them.
Carter shifted towards him...and then the world went dark.
Chapter 48
A startled scream punctured the air. Questioning voices jumbled together. An unfamiliar metallic clang echoed through the hallways. Carter whipped her head around. Though the main gallery lights were dark, the small spotlights over photos remained on, giving weak illumination. Voices built with cries of confusion and fear ricocheting off the walls. When Carter looked back to Donovan, he was already gone. Carter hurried after him and nearly collided with him in the hall.
Link wasn’t there.
Donovan pulled out his phone but froze. “Carter, there’s no signal.”
Carter felt her stomach give a sickening lurch. Before she could say anything, a loud bang and a burst of light exploded near the gallery entrance. Pandemonium broke loose. Momentarily blinded by a flash bang, students crashed into each other as they tried to run away. Screams crowded the air. Silhouettes scattered, not knowing where to go. Donovan sprinted down the hall. Switching on her phone flashlight, Carter chased after him. Figures came out of nowhere, knocking into her. She staggered, running into another student. Terrified faces popped into view as she swiped her light all around her, searching.
Two more flash bangs erupted in different sections sending more terror into the building. Someone careened into Carter and she hit a wall, smacking the glass of a photo. Shaking herself, she straightened and swept her light around her but in the near darkness couldn’t find Donovan. Yelling his name, she shoved her way through the crazed mass.
Entering the main foyer, she saw the front entrance sealed off by a metal barrier, and dread drenched her. The main exit blocked, she spun around, trying to find Donovan or Link in the chaos of dark figures and ghostly faces. When she spotted a prone body, she sprinted, falling to her knees. She rolled the body over and horror twisted her gut. It was Curtis. Swallowing down the bile that rose to her throat, Carter checked his pulse. He still had one. She let out a shaky breath. Using her light, she surveyed him. In his chest, she found a tranquilizer dart.
Above the scared screams, Carter heard a pop of a gun. She swiveled her light around. Down a long corridor, she spotted another prone body and a flash of blonde hair. She took off running, her phone creating arcs of light along the floor, momentarily highlighting an unconscious Smith before moving on. Carter approached a boulder-like man picking up a blond boy. Mason struggled against his captor but the muscular man continued to drag him towards an unassuming doorway. Flooded with adrenaline, Carter dropped her phone and launched herself onto the kidnapper’s back. She wrapped her arm around his thick neck in a chokehold and hooked her feet around his stomach.
The man let go of Mason and stumbled back, smashing Carter into a wall. Her head smacked against the hard surface and she felt her grip loosen. In that instant, the man grabbed her by her neck and bent forward, throwing her off him. Carter tucked into a ball as she collided with the floor. A spasm of pain skidded through her spine. She rolled and pushed herself up, as a new stab of pain shot through her. She ignored it, her heart rate spiking.
The man whipped out a gun but Carter rushed forward; using both of her hands she snapped the wrist holding the weapon. The gun skittered across the ground. The man punched Carter in the side and she grimaced.
Carter spun, putting her back to the attacker and brought the man's forearm down hard against her shoulder. She heard the crack of bone as the elbow rammed upward. The man grunted in pain. Carter smashed her elbow into the man's face, breaking his nose, blood bursting from the extremity. He staggered and Carter jumped onto his back, wrapping him in a chokehold again.
With his one good arm, the man pulled out a knife and sliced Carter’s bicep. She cried out but managed to hold on, though her hold weakened. The man rammed her into the wall again and she winced.
“Mason…get…the gun…” she grunted.
Mason didn’t move, petrified. The man slammed Carter again but she sensed him tiring. She felt her strength waning and didn’t know if she could outlast him.
“Mason,” Carter panted. “You are…completely…useless.”
A sharp bam sounded and the man sank to his knees before falling back on Carter. Donovan raced forward, tranquilizer gun in hand and dragged the kidnapper off of Carter. She lay there, breathing hard. “Thanks.”
Somewhere further in the gallery, Carter heard a few pop-pop sounds but saw no flashes of blinding light. She pushed herself up, grimacing. Donovan knelt beside her, noticing the stain on her arm in the low light of the spotlighted photos.
"What happened?" he asked, reaching for her arm.
"Guy had a knife."
Donovan gently tugged her arm out of her jacket sleeve. Carter forced her face to remain stoic.
“It's deep, you’ll need stitches," he said. “For now all we can do is patch it up.”
Carter slid the rest of the blazer off and let it fall to the floor. She eyed the wound and the blood that already coated her shirt.
"Hold still.” In one easy move, Donovan tore her sleeve off and used it as a makeshift bandage. He removed his school tie and added it, knotting it securely.
“Link?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
Donovan clenched his jaw. Carter silently prayed Link was mixed with the horde of panicking students instead of in a kidnapper’s hands.
“Whoever they are, they don’t have him yet. But they’re looking,” Donovan said. Carter started to ask how he knew but he held up a comm set and earpiece. It seemed Donovan had already taken another man down and now listened to their communication. “They are releasing canisters of knockout gas.”
Grabbing the discarded tranquilizer gun, Carter slid it into the back of her pants then moved to the unconscious attacker. She rifled through his pockets, finding two gas masks, a comm set, lighter, cigarettes, gum, zip ties, a security key card, and two photos. One was of Mason, the other of Link.
“Why does he have a picture of that Evans kid?” Mason asked, leaning over Carter. She jerked her head up in time to see Mason’s eyes harden. “I knew it,” he growled. “I knew there was something familiar about him. All this time! Why that son of-” Mason spun around, swearing and slamming the side of his fist into the wall. “This is his fault!”
Carter jumped to her feet and grabbed the front of Mason’s shirt front, shaking him. “Hey! Link is innocent! You got that.”
Mason shoved Carter’s hand off of him. “I wasn’t talking about Link, I was talking about my father! That lying, cheating, a -“
“Mason!” Carter shouted.
“No!” Mason jabbed a finger at her. “You don’t get to cut me off! My father lied to me! Lied to my mom! To our entire family! That scumbag slept with some b-“
Carter slapped Mason and he staggered, clutching his cheek. “Shut up! We don’t have time for you to have an emotional breakdown. If you haven’t noticed, there are people who want Link and you! So pull yourself together! Got it?”
Despite the fury in Mason’s eyes, he nodded.
“Good, now let’s go find Link.”
Chapter 49
No,” Donovan said.
Carter spun around to face him. “What?”
“I’m taking you and Mason to a secure location beneath the gallery and then I’m going to find Link. Alone. ”
Carter glared up at him. “Like hell you are. You need backup and we don’t have time to get to a secure location. We need to find Link now. Wonder Boy will simply have to come with us.”
Mason let out an indignant ‘hey’ but Carter ignored him, staring Donovan down.
“This is not up for discussion,” Donovan said. “I’m getting Mason and you to a secure location.”
For a heartbeat, Carter thought about slapping him as well, hoping it would knock some sense into him. Instead, she took a steadying breath. “That’s great. How will I be able to protect Mason when there are only two gas masks and you need one?”
“I have another one and it doesn’t matter; the archive tunnels are on a separate ventilation system. You’ll be fine.”
“And you won’t,” Carter said sternly, crossing her arms. “Tell me this Donovan: what happens when you get Link? How are you planning to cover your back as you carry an unconscious boy to safety? Huh?”
Fire ignited in Donovan’s eyes. “Don’t be stupid about this, Carter.”
She shoved his chest, furious with him for being obtuse. “You’re the one being stupid. You’re planning to go into an unknown situation with zero backup and think you’ll be able to protect Link once you find him.”
Mason huffed. “And you said I didn’t have time to have an emotional breakdown.”
“Shut up Mason!” Carter snapped.
He raised his hands in mock surrender and leaned against the wall like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“He’s right,” Donovan said. “We don’t have time for this. I’m taking you and Mason-“
“With you to find Link.”
“Carter, Mason is a high profile risk and you are a civilian!”
Carter pointed at him. “Don’t you dare call me a civilian! I just took on a two hundred pound man. You’re not leaving either of us behind. Mason will be safer with the both of us.” She saw Donovan rearing for another counter argument but she cut him off. “Standard tactical protocol: a Marine never enters an unknown situation without backup. The longer you fight me on this the longer Link is in danger.”
Anger and indecision warred through Donovan but Carter knew she’d won when he unclenched his hands.
“Mason stays between us,” he said, regaining his control, though she sensed the anger he struggled to suppress. “Put on the masks. We use the tranquilizer guns as a last resort. Our only advantage here is that they won’t think anyone is against them. Follow my lead. You know basic hand signals?”
“That’s a stupid question.”
“Good. Mason, you don’t make a sound and do exactly as Carter instructs.”
Mason looked like he wanted to argue but Donovan narrowed his eyes threateningly and Mason reluctantly nodded. Carter handed Mason one of the masks and strapped the other one on. It was different from any mask she’d seen: sleek rubber that covered the lower half of her face with a filter in the center.
Carter checked her tranquilizer gun but paused. Only now that they’d stopped arguing did she hear it: the absence of screams and stampeding feet. Even the walls no longer rang with the echoes of chaos. A shiver raced down her spine and she thought only of Link, unconscious and alone.
"Are you ready?" Donovan asked.
In that moment, Carter felt the full weight of their reality hit her. This was not a training course and Link was not just some dummy waiting in a chair. He was one of the few friends she had and someone she could trust. Someone she would do anything to protect.
Out in the museum lay a minefield of variables they had no clue about. She met Donovan's gaze, noting his strong features and a fight brightening his eyes. In that instant, one thing struck her.
She realized her heart banged against her ribs for an entirely different reason.
There was no one else she wanted more by her side than him in that moment.
"I got your six," she said, cocking her gun.
In Donovan’s eyes, she found a look she couldn't quite decipher. Before she could question it, he nodded. Retrieving her phone, Carter took Mason’s arm and steered him in front of her, right behind Donovan. In a single file, they headed back into the main gallery. They moved in the center of the hallway, out of the spots of illumination from the photo lights. Adrenaline coursed through Carter. She squeezed the gun handle, fingers tingling. A white haze from the knockout gas lingered in the air, distorting the little bit of light, creating phantom shadows.
As they approached the foyer, Carter saw outlines of students passed out on the floor. They began to pick their way through the maze when Carter heard a steady tread. Donovan snapped his head back, listening. The heavy footsteps drew closer and Donovan waved back to a solitary wall. Carter grabbed the back of Mason’s blazer, hurrying him after Donovan. They slipped behind the wall and Carter pressed Mason into a crouch.
“I’m in the foyer,” a gravelly voice said. “Robinson isn't responding.” The voice was muffled by a mask but Carter heard every word and tensed. “I’m going to make sure he has the kid.”
“Roger that,” Carter heard through the earpiece.
Carter locked eyes with Donovan. When Robinson was found, whoever was behind this would know someone had taken him out. This man needed to be taken down. Thinking the same thing, Donovan nodded.
The footsteps neared and Donovan signaled for Carter. They would perform a pincer tactic: Carter sweeping around the front and Donovan the back. Taking a deep breath, Carter willed her nerves to calm but every part of her vibrated with anticipation. Every tap of the man’s boots wound her tighter. A faint shadow crossed the floor and Carter popped out of her hiding spot.
“Hey,” she said.
The man faltered and Carter chopped his throat with the side of her hand. He reached for her neck but Donovan appeared behind him, circling his arms around the man's throat. The man was taller than Donovan and seventy-five pounds heavier but Donovan didn't lose his hold.
The man clawed Donovan’s arm with two massive hands. Before Donovan's hold could be broken, Carter punched the man in the jaw, elbowed him in the stomach, and kicked the side of his knee, popping it out of its socket.
The man buckled, dropping him deeper into Donovan's chokehold. Frantically, he grappled with Donovan's arms, unconsciousness pulling the man under. Carter watched as his eyelids sagged and Donovan gently lowered him to the ground. Taking off his blazer, he wound it around the muzzle of the tranquilizer gun to muffle the sound and shot the man in the leg, assuring he’d stay down.
“Let’s move,” Donovan said.
Grabbing Mason, Carter pushed him back into line and they crossed the foyer avoiding arms and legs while sweeping their phone lights over the students, searching. Agonizing minute by agonizing minute they proceeded to check every student. Each time, Carter prayed it was Link and felt a new sickening dread when it wasn’t.
They made it to a secluded section of the gallery when Carter finally spotted a familiar mop of unruly brown hair. Her heart plummeted to the ground before being wrenched back up and lodged in her throat. Rushing forward, she flipped the boy over. Relief poured over her. Though unconscious, Link was okay. Carter saw her own emotions echoed in Donovan as he knelt by Link, checkin
g him for any signs of damage. But there was something else as well, an edge to his face she didn’t fully understand. Near them, Mason stared at Link with unabashed curiosity and disbelief. When Carter rose, Mason met her eyes. For the first time since knowing Mason, he looked uncertain. She shook his arm. “I need you to keep it together, okay?”
He yanked his arm free, reverting to his petulant state. “Yeah, got it.”
Donovan hoisted Link onto his shoulder.
“Follow or lead?” Carter asked.
“Follow. Take us back to the hallway where we found Mason. Don’t worry about noise, if you see someone, shoot.”
Carter urged Mason to follow in behind her. With Link safe in their care, Carter felt every sense heightened, fear that he could be taken even now putting her on alert. She gripped her gun handle, its metal imprinting her palm. Every breath she took sounded like cannon blasts in the stillness. Her heart spiked every time she detected distant footsteps. Through the earpiece, she heard men confirming their search pattern. Each time one of them spoke, Carter felt her breath freeze in her throat.
They crept back through the gallery, pausing briefly at each corner, before hurrying on. They made it to the hallway without a mishap but Carter felt her nerves fraying, fearing their luck would run out. Only once they all passed through a secure door and it clicked shut behind them, did Carter finally breathe easier.
Chapter 50
Strips of emergency lighting ran along the edge of the floor, illuminating the stairwell. Donovan ripped off his gas mask and Carter followed, gratefully filling her lungs. Link's arms bounced lifelessly against Donovan's back as they hurried down the stairs. Their footsteps resounded off the stone walls. None of them spoke as Donovan led them down a corridor lined with pyramids of crates. With every breath, Carter felt her heart return closer to a normal rate.
What didn't stop running were her thoughts, spinning off in every direction, sprinting through theories and speculations. She replayed the details of the altercation with the two men, trying to form answers.
