Erased

by Jennifer Rush

  “Look at me,” Cas said, nudging my chin with his thumb. “Who am I?”

  “Cas.” My teeth chattered together.

  “What day is it?”

  “Saturday.”

  “She almost drowned, you idiot,” Nick said. “She didn’t get hit by a bus.”

  “Yeah, which means her brain was starving for oxygen, which means brain damage, dickhead.”

  “I’m okay,” I said again, still shivering.

  The boys stared at each other.

  “We can’t tell Dani what happened,” Cas said.

  Nick tugged on his T-shirt. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  I looked up at them hovering over me. “Why?”

  “Because she’d kill us,” Cas answered, running a towel over his head. His blond hair stuck up straight. “Kill us dead. And then kill us again.” He ducked down and ruffled my hair. “There isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her little bird,” he said.

  We stopped moving. I opened my eyes to blinding sunlight and shoved myself to an upright position. Something tightened against me. A seat belt. Country music played softly through the car speakers.

  Dani was behind the wheel.

  “Hey,” she said.

  I tensed. “Where are we?”

  “You’re safe.”

  “Where’s my dad? And the boys?”

  “They’re safe, too.”

  My head throbbed just above my left eye, and I reached for the spot, not thinking, and winced when I felt a lump. Old blood came away on my fingers. My stomach rolled, and I had to bite down on my lower lip to stop from barfing.

  Concussion, for sure. My dad had given me a concussion.

  “Where are we going?” I tried again.

  “To a secure location.” Dani hit the blinker and turned down a side street.

  “Why did you betray us?” I asked because I needed to distract her while I made a plan.

  I had no weapons. I was injured. I had no idea where we were. Or where the boys were.

  First I needed information. Then I’d act.

  “I didn’t betray you,” she said, her voice laced with sadness. “I did what I had to do to get you out of there.”

  She turned left. Warehouses and factories lined the street. Gravel from the snowplows crunched beneath our tires.

  “Get me out of where?”

  “The Branch.” She pulled into a parking lot behind a three-story brick building that said WatchCase on the side in old, fading letters. Windows ran from east to west, some panes of glass smashed or missing.

  She stepped out of the vehicle, taking the car keys with her. I scanned the interior, looking for anything I could use as a weapon, but the car was clean.

  I fumbled with the door latch and nearly fell out of the vehicle when I managed to open it. Dani was there in an instant, holding me up by the arm.

  “Are you all right?” Concern was pressed into the creases of her mouth.

  I weighed the possible answers. I could lie and say I was fine, but if I was honest and told her I was in pain, she’d think of me as vulnerable. I could catch her off guard later when the time was right.

  With a frown, I fingered the knot on my forehead again. “I don’t feel so well.”

  “I’ll get you something when we’re inside.” She tightened her hold on me as I hunched over. “We’re almost there.”

  She led me around the building to a set of double doors stuck in an alcove. Mint-green paint peeled and curled at the edges. It was unlocked, and we strolled right inside.

  “What is this place?” I asked.

  “It’s a laboratory. I used to work here.”

  It didn’t look like any laboratory I’d ever seen. The hallways were dirt-crusted, the ceilings decorated with cobwebs. Graffiti marked the walls in a rainbow of colors. The place was entirely empty, and the wind whistled through holes in the windows.

  “Here,” Dani said, steering me toward an office with a door marked ACCOUNTS PAYABLE.

  At the door, she tapped a finger against a tiny silver panel, and a screen slid out of the wall. She pressed her entire hand to the glowing green glass, and it scanned her print.

  When she passed the verification, the door opened with a hiss, and a man—a fully uniformed agent—stepped out.

  “Afternoon, Ms. O’Brien,” he said, holding the door for us.

  I backpedaled. “This is a Branch location?”

  Dani looked at me. “It’s safe. Come on.”

  “No. I’m not going inside there with you. I might never come out.”

  “Cal,” Dani said to the agent. “Some assistance.”

  Cal grabbed my wrist and hauled me inside. Dani shut the false panel and locked it.

  The hallway was lit every three feet with white orb lights screwed into the brick wall. But the lights stopped at an elevator bank. The doors stood open, waiting.

  I stiffened.

  “It’ll be all right, bird. I swear it.” Dani looked over at me, her expression open, readable. I believed she wouldn’t hurt me, at least not physically, but the farther underground I was, the harder it’d be to escape. The hallway here was narrow, and there was no other exit that I could see. The agent had a rifle slung over his back, and a handgun strapped to his hip. He was big enough to bar the doorway with only his body.

  “Come on.” Dani coaxed me inside.

  There was only one button on the control panel, and Dani hit it with her index finger. So the laboratory was only down one level, which meant it probably wasn’t too far underground. Maybe there was some kind of return air vent I could access. Or a supply route. They couldn’t possibly haul in laboratory equipment through that door.

  The elevator doors slid closed, and the car lurched downward.

  “What’s going to happen to the boys?” I asked.

  Dani leveled her shoulders as the elevator came to a stop. “I honestly don’t know. Not yet, anyway.”

  The doors opened with a ding, and a bustling laboratory came into view.

  I stepped out behind Dani.

  There were long work counters near the front, with beakers and microscopes and vials in trays. In the far corner, behind a wall of glass, there were several treadmills with monitors surrounding each one.

  A row of computers took up the back of the space, and each station was manned by someone wearing a white lab coat.

  It was too clean, too sterile, and gooseflesh rose on my arms.

  Dani wound through the place, and everyone we passed stopped to say hello. They called her Ms. O’Brien, like she was someone important.

  We passed several desks, where lab technicians were scribbling notes and reading reports and generally looking busy.

  A thin, freckled man met us halfway through the lab, his arms burdened with files. “Ms. O’Brien,” he said. “You’re early.”

  He wasn’t much older than us. Twenty-three, maybe. He tripped over a circuit pad, stumbled forward, kneed the edge of a desk, and gritted his teeth.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, and he finally looked at me.

  “Oh. It’s you.” He nodded once, twice, swallowed. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” He shuffled the files to his other arm and held out his hand. “I’m Brian Lipinski.”

  I stared at him. I was a prisoner here. I wasn’t about to make nice with anyone inside.

  “Umm… okay.” He pulled his hand back. “No handshakes. That’s cool.”

  Dani snapped her fingers. “Brian.”

  “Oh. Yes? OB is in the back room waiting for you.”

  OB. I knew that name from somewhere.

  Dani muttered a thank-you and motioned me through a door, down another hallway, and into a small office.

  I froze when I saw Uncle Will.

  Why was he here? There were no other agents in the room, so it wasn’t as if he was being held against his will.

  Wait.

  All my alarm bells went off.

  OB.

  The name had been mentioned i
n one of Dani’s files. Something about OB requesting a shift in the time line.

  OB. O’Brien.

  As in Will O’Brien.

  “Oh my God.” I staggered back and slammed into the door, fumbling for the knob, and finding none. I turned around, patted at the crack in the door, but nothing happened.

  “You didn’t give her a sedative yet?” Uncle Will asked.

  “No. I wanted to talk to her first.”

  “Without the sedative, how did you think she would react to seeing me here? You think you can talk to her when she’s like this?”

  A hand clamped down on my shoulder. I grabbed the wrist, whirled, stomped down with the heel of my boot, pinning Uncle Will’s ankle beneath me. I twisted his arm around and up at an unnatural angle. Pain contorted his face.

  “Anna,” he said. “We just want to talk.”

  My heart drummed a steady beat in my head. Sweat beaded at the nape of my neck. I tried to control my breathing, like Sam had taught me.

  I let Will go, and he eased back.

  “Have a seat,” he said as he shook out his arm.

  I looked at the overstuffed leather chair. This was more an office than it was a medical room. Dark wood bookcases lined the wall to my left. There was a desk in the rear, which Uncle Will had been sitting at when we arrived, and four leather chairs in the center of the room.

  “No, thanks.” I clasped my hands behind my back, wishing there was a gun there, hidden beneath my shirt. I didn’t like how vulnerable I felt without a weapon.

  “Very well.” Uncle Will crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t a large man, but not small, either. Maybe six foot and an even build. I was confident I could take him but not confident I could take him and Dani. At least not yet.

  I needed to know my surroundings better, and their weaknesses.

  “So, where should we start?” Uncle Will asked.

  “Start with telling me what the hell is going on. Do you work for the Branch?”

  Dani sat on the edge of the desk and stretched her legs out in front of her. “You might as well tell her, Uncle Will.”

  Will gave Dani a look that I couldn’t see. When he turned again, to me, his expression was impassive. “I don’t work for the Branch. I created it.”

  I let my arms drop to my sides. “You what?”

  “Which makes us princesses of the castle,” Dani said, but she almost sounded sad, more like she thought it a curse than anything else.

  My ears rung with the words. How could my own family have created this nightmare? How could Riley and Connor not be the worst of it?

  “But your men have shot at me. I’ve almost died multiple times.”

  Will held up his hand. “Your life was never in danger. I made sure my men knew that. And if I hear otherwise, those agents will be dealt with accordingly.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t be a part of this place. I care about the boys. And I want to be left alone.”

  Will shook his head. “I can’t allow that. I’m sorry.”

  “I made a deal,” Dani said. She rose to her feet and came over to me. Her eyes were watery. I held my breath as I waited to hear what deal she’d made. “Everything I do, everything I’ve always done, is for you.” She pressed her lips together, inhaled through her nose, her shoulders rising an inch, like she was bracing herself for my reaction. “You and me, our freedom, in exchange for the boys.”

  Dread scuttled down my spine and a hollow pit opened in my gut. “No.” I shook my head. “No.”

  She tilted her head aside. “I’ve already made the deal, bird.”

  My teeth ground together and I tightened my hands into fists. “We still have the files Sam took years ago, with the kill sheets and the lab logs and—”

  Will cut me off. “I know, which is why you’re here.”

  “What do you—” Realization swept in. They were going to use me as a bargaining chip against Sam, to make him give up the files.

  And he might just do it.

  But there was no way Will was going to let the boys and me go. Our freedom wasn’t a price he was willing to pay in exchange for the files.

  I turned to Dani. “I’ll never forgive you for this. I won’t.” My hands tightened into fists. “I will hunt you down until you are dead, and you’ll stay dead this time.”

  The door burst open behind me. An agent marched in, a rifle slung over his back. Behind him was a second man, a face I knew. Greg.

  “Greg,” I said, hesitating. “It’s Anna. Are you…” I wanted to say, Are you in there? But that seemed a silly thing to say.

  “Don’t bother,” Dani said. “He’s been activated, and he’ll stay that way until he’s fulfilled his mission.”

  I licked my lips. “Which is?”

  “To kill Sam, Nick, and Cas,” Will answered as he opened an unmarked door in the far wall. “Call me when they arrive,” he said.

  Greg and the other agent hooked their arms beneath mine and hauled me off my feet. I kicked, flailed. “No! Greg! Please listen to me.”

  “This will all be over soon,” Dani promised. She sniffed, wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “By this time tomorrow, you won’t remember a thing. It’ll be like we’ve never even been separated.”

  The two men carried me out the door. I kicked the agent on my left, then Greg on my right, but I couldn’t get enough momentum to do any damage.

  We went down a hallway where I was eventually tossed into a tiny room. The door was shut and a lock slid into place. I pounded on it for as long as I could, until I was exhausted and my hands were numb.

  I slumped on the bed shoved into the corner and cried until I fell asleep.

  26

  I WAS NUDGED AWAKE SOME TIME later. Still groggy, eyes heavy, I had a hard time seeing who it was at first. I sat up. Scrubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked again.

  Riley.

  “Morning,” he said. “We have a job for you.” He waved his fingers, and two new agents came into the room.

  “What kind of job?” I asked.

  No one answered me.

  I was dragged from my room. Riley led us down the hallway. I was too exhausted to fight. I hadn’t eaten in what felt like forever. And judging by the thickness of my tongue, the dryness of my mouth, I was bordering on dehydration.

  After several more twists and turns, Riley finally stopped at a steel door, unlocked it with a key card, and let it swing open. The room was gray brick, the floor the same. There was one metal folding chair in the center.

  The agents dragged me inside, and it wasn’t until I was past the door that I realized the room wasn’t empty.

  Sam was chained to the ceiling at the far end, his arms held above his head, shackles tight around his wrists. When he saw me, the chains rattled as every muscle in his body tensed. He was shirtless, barefoot, in nothing but black pants.

  Bruises peppered his torso, his arms, his face. A gash on his cheek was crusted over with blood.

  They were going to torture him in front of me, weren’t they? Get me to give up the files. Or maybe the flash drive.

  I was worried it would work, too. I was worried I wouldn’t put up a fight at all and Sam would know how much of a coward I was.

  The agents pushed me into the metal folding chair. My hands were cuffed behind the back, my legs tied to the chair’s legs. The whole time, I didn’t take my eyes off Sam and he didn’t take his eyes off me.

  We could get through this. Couldn’t we?

  I’m sorry, I mouthed.

  This was my fault.

  Because I’d doubted him.

  Because I’d believed all the wrong things and all the wrong people.

  I tried to prepare myself for whatever was about to happen. Tried telling myself Sam was strong, that he could get through a lot of pain, that he wouldn’t want me to give in so easily.

  I can do this, I thought.

  And that’s when the first blow came.

  It was a straight shot of a tightened fist
aimed expertly at my jaw.

  My chair teetered back on its legs. My teeth slammed together and the pain throbbed down to the roots, through my bones.

  It wasn’t Sam they were torturing. It was me.

  Another blow to the ribs. Another to the stomach. Something cracked. Chains rattled. I couldn’t see straight. Blood filled my mouth.

  A boot to the head. My chair tipped over sideways, and my swollen cheek pressed against the ice-cold concrete floor.

  “Stop!” Sam said. His chains rattled again. “Please.”

  “I need the location of the files,” Riley said. “Every single copy. Any preplanned media spread, I want details on those, too.”

  Sam didn’t say anything at first. My chair was righted. I blinked back the tears in my eyes and managed to see Sam’s face through the grimy haze.

  Don’t do it, I thought.

  An arm snaked around my neck. A blade was pressed into my throat.

  “Come on, Sam,” Riley said, “or she bleeds out in front of you.”

  I didn’t think they’d do it. Did Sam know by now that my uncle was the one who ran the Branch? Riley wouldn’t kill me, would he?

  The blade cut into my skin, slowly, carefully.

  I cried out. A trail of blood ran down my neck.

  “Okay.” Sam struggled against his cuffs. His teeth were clenched so tight, I worried they’d break. “I’ll give you whatever you want.”

  “Good,” Riley said behind me. “Good.”

  And then I was dragged from the room.

  I passed out not long after I left Sam and woke sometime later with a cold rag on my face. I shrunk away until I saw Dani. “Hey,” she said. “You’re okay. I’m just cleaning you up.”

  I was back in my little cell, lying flat on my bed. “I’m sorry,” Dani said.

  “Don’t touch me.” I slapped her hand away.

  She frowned. “It wasn’t my idea, torturing you like that. Riley is… well… you know how Riley is.”

  Everything hurt. My head was pounding. My teeth felt crooked, as if they’d been smashed together with that kick to the face. There was something wet sliding down my nose. Dani wiped it away, and the rag came back covered in blood.

  “Nothing is broken,” she said. “I had you checked.”