Nine

by Rachelle Dekker

  They walked around the half circle, passing lettered doors counting down from F. When A came into view they hurried, pushing their hostage forward. Beside the door, like all the others, was another data station.

  “Unlock it,” Seeley said to the imprisoned man.

  “I don’t have access to this prisoner,” the man said.

  “Unlock it,” Seeley pressed.

  “I don’t—”

  “Do you want to end up like your friends back there? Enter the access code or I’ll shoot you and decrypt it from your tablet. Either way, I’m getting into this room.”

  The agent paused, and Seeley cocked his pistol.

  “Okay,” the man said and stepped forward to punch in a ten-digit numerical code. The screen flipped to blue, and a mechanical voice asked for fingerprint verification, which the agent provided, then the screen turned green. The door clicked, and without waiting Zoe entered.

  The stone room was completely bare except for a body that lay on the ground, on its side, facing the back wall. Zoe rushed forward, dropping to her knees when she reached the body.

  “Lucy,” she said softly, reaching out to touch the girl’s shoulder. She was freezing, and Zoe feared the worst. She lifted her finger to the major artery in the girl’s neck and felt the pulse, soft and slow but there. “Help me,” she said over her shoulder, and then she carefully turned the girl so she was facing up toward her.

  Lucy’s familiar face was pale, eyes shut, cheeks bruised, eyelids red. She looked the same but different. Broken and battered.

  “Lucy,” Zoe said softly, shaking the girl slightly. “Lucy, can you hear me?”

  Lucy didn’t respond. McCoy stood over Zoe’s shoulder.

  “She’s alive,” Zoe said.

  “Step back,” McCoy said, then crouched to scoop Lucy’s small frame into his arms. As he did, the alarm he’d punched into his watch started to sing. They were out of time.

  Both of them moved back toward the door and stepped out into the hallway. Seeley shut the door to Vault A and turned back to his apprehended colleague. The man raised his hands and opened his mouth to plead for his life, but Seeley had already raised his weapon. He crashed the hilt of it down hard across the man’s skull, knocking him out cold. He crashed to the ground.

  Muffled voices echoed up the hallway from the way they’d come. It wouldn’t be long before they were spotted.

  Seeley continued down the bend, gun raised. He glanced back to signal that it was clear. McCoy, still carefully clutching Lucy, and Zoe followed around the bend and into another thick-stoned walkway. After another couple of yards, the hallway jutted out into different pathways. It felt like an endless maze of tunnels and pathways that had been laid under the foundation of the campus. Zoe prayed that Seeley knew it as well as he claimed.

  Seeley glanced in both directions, sizing up their options, and Zoe felt her stomach drop as her heart leaped. The volume of voices grew, and she could hear thundering boots slapping the stone floor as their pursuers gained on them.

  “Seeley?” McCoy questioned.

  Seeley moved left without responding, and they followed him. Down the long, narrower hallway, the light faded as they moved. They reached the end and found nothing but wall.

  Seeley cursed, and it echoed against the stone. He passed Zoe and rushed back the way they’d come, motioning for them to stay put.

  McCoy softly placed Lucy on the ground. “Try to wake her,” he said, then started inspecting the wall.

  Zoe moved to Lucy, propped her up so her back rested against the wall, and began trying to revive her. “Lucy, Lucy,” she said, shaking her, tapping the girl’s cheeks. “Lucy, you have to wake up.”

  The girl just shook with no response, her head drooped, chin touching her collarbone.

  “Lucy.”

  Seeley returned, heaving. “We have sixty seconds.”

  “I found a grate here,” McCoy said, and Seeley was at his side. “It’s bolted pretty good,” McCoy continued.

  Both men crouched on their knees, examining the grate, all of them aware that it was their only escape.

  Zoe turned back to Lucy, her timid approach to rousing the girl fading. She shook her hard, slapped her face with more intensity. “Lucy,” she said, “wake up.”

  McCoy and Seeley had started banging on the bolt with the hilts of their weapons, the sound echoing like cracks of thunder throughout their stone cage. It would draw attention quickly.

  A moment later a red dot flashed on the wall near Lucy’s head, and Zoe yanked the girl down to the floor just as a bullet bounced off the stone. More followed.

  Zoe dragged Lucy until they were pressed against the back wall with nowhere to go. McCoy and Seeley were both standing, weapons raised, firing back as the team of pursuers approached.

  Three came into focus, weapons firing, Seeley and McCoy facing off. Seeley struck one through the shoulder, and the man was forced to let his weapon fall, then Seeley sank another bullet into the man’s leg. He crumpled in pain while McCoy took on another, hitting his attacker’s neck between his helmet and armored vest. The man shrieked and fell to his knees.

  Two opposed one now, bullets flying as they dodged shots sent their way. Seeley’s pistol clicked empty. He tossed it, hunkered down, and under McCoy’s cover rammed forward with all his strength, colliding with the last attacker’s gut. The two fell to the floor. Seeley pinned him down, yanked his weapon back, ducked the man’s swing, and then rammed the agent with the back of his own weapon. The man cursed and rolled to his side as Seeley sprang up and aimed in one fluid motion, then placed two bullets into the man’s side.

  More excruciating cries echoed, then the man went still. McCoy moved back to the grate and began knocking it with his weapon’s hilt again. Over and over, ramming with all his strength.

  Seeley was stacking the bodies of the three agents to provide a short molehill for cover. More approaching boots and echoing voices filled the hall.

  McCoy jumped up and cocked his weapon. He turned to Seeley. “You have more brute strength. We have to get that grate open or we’re all dead.”

  Seeley nodded, and the two switched places. McCoy knelt, taking fire as Seeley set to the grate. Zoe could hear him pounding at it like a battering ram.

  “We won’t be able to carry her,” Seeley yelled through the gunfire. “Wake her up!” All the while slamming at another bolt.

  “I’m trying!” Zoe screamed. “Lucy, Lucy, wake up!”

  She needed to do something more intense. Her heart raced up into her throat, and her mind stumbled over terrible ideas. She needed something painful enough to shock Lucy awake. And she didn’t have time to second-guess herself. Without another moment to talk herself out of it, she reached over to Seeley’s belt where she had seen him tuck a small blade, swiped it clear of its sheath, and drove it into Lucy’s thigh.

  The girl’s eyes snapped open, and she cried out.

  Seeley saw the knife, then looked up at Zoe, surprised. She yanked the knife out, and blood began to soak the clothing around the cut as Lucy groaned, still coming to. Zoe used the knife to cut off the sleeve of Lucy’s shirt and patched the cut as best she could.

  Just as she was finishing, Lucy’s arm shot out, grabbed the knife Zoe had laid to the side, and pointed it at Zoe’s chest.

  She gasped, stunned. Lucy’s eyes held hers for a second, and then the blade’s tip pierced Zoe’s skin. Pain rippled down her chest. Lucy’s eyes were dark and cold.

  Seeley reached out, placed his hand on Lucy’s, and gained her attention. “Stop, Lucy,” he said, but the girl turned to place her free hand on his grip. “Lucy,” he said again, but the expression in her eyes was emotionless. “Number Nine,” Seeley said, and this caused her to pause. “We have to get out of here or we will all die. Help me.”

  She flashed her eyes back to Zoe, then pushed her away and moved with Seeley. Zoe gulped her sudden panic, yanked back the collar of her shirt, and saw a thin line of blood trailing down towar
d her breasts.

  “We are out of time, people,” McCoy yelled, still trying to keep their pursuers at bay.

  “We need to break this open,” Seeley said to Lucy, and without hesitation Lucy reached down, wrapped her fingers through the grate’s holes, and ripped the steel cage open. The screeching of metal echoed through the tunnel.

  Above them, maybe a couple of floors up, Zoe could hear a siren.

  Seeley noticed too. “They put the place on lockdown. We need to move now.” He turned back to Lucy. “All known exits will be blocked. We have to get out through the old water tunnels. You should know the way.”

  Lucy nodded, and Seeley motioned to Zoe. “She can be trusted. Get her out of here. That’s an order, Number Nine.”

  Again she nodded and took the lead, dropping to a crouch and crawling into the shaft.

  “McCoy,” Zoe called, and the man glanced back.

  “Go!” he shouted and returned his gaze forward. But the momentary distraction was enough for a bullet to smack into the side of his chest. He gasped and stumbled.

  “McCoy!” Zoe screamed, taking a step toward her hurt friend. Strong arms scooped her up and yanked her back.

  “We have to go now!” Seeley yelled. He pulled her back to the open grate, stuffing her inside.

  “We can’t leave—”

  “We will all die if we don’t,” he cut in.

  She couldn’t think about it as she repositioned herself to her hands and knees and started crawling after Lucy, who was already a couple feet ahead. Even through her fear Zoe could feel tears collecting for McCoy. He’d saved her life.

  “Lucy will get you out,” Seeley said. “I’ll follow when the coast is clear.”

  Then Seeley disappeared, and without any other options Zoe scrabbled as quickly as she could to catch up to the girl. They were back in the ventilation system, similar to the one she and McCoy had used.

  The noise around them faded to silence as the girls put their entrance point behind them and maneuvered through the web of small shafts, Zoe hoping Lucy knew where she was going, until light peeked through another grate at the end of the tunnel. Zoe glanced back a couple of times, but Seeley never came into view. So she stayed close to Lucy.

  They reached the end, and Lucy twisted around, rammed the grate with her heels, and dropped out to whatever lay below. Zoe did the same and found they were in a water tunnel. Let there be a God, she thought, and let this be the same tunnel we used to get in.

  Lucy walked toward the exit, water splashing up around her ankles, and Zoe followed until she saw the place in the large round grate where McCoy had originally cut an entrance. Lucy had led them exactly where she’d been ordered to.

  “I know the way from here,” Zoe said, stepping through the breach. Lucy followed.

  Outside, the blaring siren was even clearer. Zoe thought for a moment they should avoid the cameras stationed around the outer walls, but the agents already knew they had escaped, so maybe it didn’t matter? Maybe it mattered more that they get free from this place as fast as possible. She glanced back one final time, hoping to see Seeley drop from the open shaft and join them, but he didn’t. And she knew they had to move.

  She turned to give Lucy direction and saw that the girl had leaned herself up against the interior wall. Her face was pale, her shoulders slumping, and Zoe saw that blood had soaked her pant leg. She was losing too much blood. Had Zoe hit a major artery? She needed to get Lucy back to the Jeep.

  She placed herself beside Lucy, grabbing one of her arms and draping it across her own neck. “Come on,” Zoe said, and the girls moved out of the waterway. They couldn’t move as fast as Zoe would have liked, but within a couple of minutes they were tucked back inside the tree line and covered by the thick overgrowth.

  Blue tape marked the path as Zoe held Lucy up and guided her across the terrain. They still had a ways to go when Lucy lost consciousness. Zoe lifted the girl up and over her shoulder, digging deep for enough strength to carry the girl the rest of the way. Her legs went from aching to burning to nearly numb. She paused only when completely necessary and carefully managed the rocky ground toward their freedom.

  When the Jeep came into view, Zoe nearly cried. She opened the back door and awkwardly yanked Lucy’s limp figure inside, across the leather seats. Then she dug out the first aid kit she’d seen from underneath the driver’s seat, cut off Lucy’s right pant leg, and cleaned the wound. It wasn’t large, but it was deep.

  Once the cut was cleaned and bandaged, Zoe waited. Keeping eyes on Lucy, checking her temperature, forcing water through her lips, checking her bandages. All the while praying that at any moment Seeley would crest the hill with McCoy and they could all leave happily, together.

  But after an hour of tortured patience, they were still alone. Seeley would want her to leave, she told herself as she climbed into the driver’s seat and flipped the ignition over. She had no other choice. If they stayed here, someone would find them.

  She shifted the Jeep into drive and carefully maneuvered out from the cover of forest. She had no idea what they were going to do next, but she knew she needed to go somewhere no one would come looking for them. Somewhere off the map.

  She knew only one place like that, and it made her sick to think of returning. But to protect Lucy she would do anything. Even return to Haven Valley.

  THIRTY-TWO

  HUNKERED BEHIND THE piled dead bodies, Seeley took out three more agents, trying to give the girls as much time as possible to get away. He knew there was no way he was following them. There had never been a chance they would all make it out alive. He’d known that from the start. All that mattered was that Zoe and Lucy survived.

  They could start over, go somewhere new, be different people. Zoe would take care of them.

  He’d made his peace. Had McCoy? he wondered as he glanced down at the young man’s still body. He’d given his life for something he believed in. Was there a more dignified way to die? Seeley thought he’d be better for having known McCoy. He wished he’d had the chance to tell him that.

  The hall filled with a dozen agents, and Seeley ran out of ammunition. He tossed his weapons to the side and slowly stood, hands raised, expecting to be shot on sight. But he wasn’t. He was taken into custody as a group scurried into the small ventilation shaft after the girls.

  They led him out of the secure level, back up onto the main prison floor, and tossed him into a cell. He could only imagine what was coming next, but he was sure it would be painful and drawn out. He sat in the room, which was void except for the standard stone bench, for a span of time he couldn’t measure. It gave him time to contemplate all that had happened.

  He hoped the girls had gotten away. He hoped McCoy’s sacrifice had been for something. He wondered if assisting had given him any goodness. He knew he’d never see the light of day again, but maybe he’d earned something back. Something he’d given away long ago. Cami would never know the truth, but if she did, would she be proud?

  The door creaked open, and four uniformed agents armed to the teeth entered, Director Hammon accompanying them. Seeley didn’t stand as they filled the room, and a moment of silence held them all as each waited to see what the other might do first.

  Hammon tucked his hands into the front pockets of his suit pants and sighed. “I didn’t see this coming, Tom. I don’t surprise easy.”

  Seeley held Hammon’s gaze and said nothing.

  “We shouldn’t be sitting here,” Hammon said. “So why are we?”

  Again Seeley kept his mouth shut.

  Again Hammon sighed. Another beat of silence surrounded the space.

  “We know where the data chip is that Olivia hid. Number Nine gave up the location hours before you tried to break her out. You were too late.”

  “What did you do to her?” Seeley said, recalling the way Lucy had responded to her number but not her name.

  “I fixed her,” Hammon said.

  “You destroyed her.”

 
; “I returned her to the state she was created for. I removed the false identity given to her by Olivia. You should be congratulating me.”

  “Did you come here just to share the good news?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Honestly, I would like nothing more than to put a bullet between your eyes, but I still need you.”

  Seeley gave the director a curious stare.

  “Number Nine escaped.”

  Seeley didn’t even try to hide his pleasure.

  “I need you to bring her back,” Hammon said.

  “Why? You have the information you need. Burn it and this will all be over.”

  “You’re an incredible agent, Tom, but ignorant when it comes to the politics behind the curtain. Nothing that could turn a profit is ever over. Number Nine’s journey with Miss Johnson has piqued interest with the powers that be, and now a powerful asset they paid for is loose. Not to mention a walking catalogue of all the things that happened here. Number Nine must be recovered.”

  “And Zoe?” Seeley asked.

  “I suspect she’s the reason you are sitting in this room, no?” Hammon questioned.

  Seeley didn’t respond.

  “Love is an unfortunate characteristic of humanity that can’t be erased, even from the darkest of souls. That’s something my father used to say. And it is the greatest complication I’ve encountered in our line of work.”

  Love was a strong word, Seeley thought. He did care for Zoe; he had risked his career and life to help her and Lucy escape. But to be accused of loving her? Would he have risked so much for less than love? The idea dug into his brain and planted a small seed.

  “I doubt she’ll still be alive when you find Number Nine, but if she is, she will need to be disposed of. She is a very loose end.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Number Nine is not the same girl she was when you left.”

  Seeley thought about the way Lucy had nearly plunged a knife through Zoe’s chest and the implications of that. He’d watched Lucy lead Zoe away. She’d followed his orders to get Zoe out to safety. Whose orders was she following now?