“No… please,” I said as tears filled my eyes and dripped down my cheeks like little rivers of betrayal. I tried to stop myself because, well, crying made it feel like I was agreeing with her, like he was already dead.
“Abigail, I…” She stopped speaking mid-sentence, her eyes going wide as she stared at the screen. “Guards!” she screamed, pointing at the screen as I whirled around.
The cable was still there… but Stephen wasn’t. Had he escaped? How was that even possible? It didn’t even matter. Someway, somehow, Stephen was free and that meant I didn’t have to kill him. Laughter spilled from my lips, filling the room as guards scrambled into the room on the screen.
“You forgot, Mom, James Bond always escapes,” I said, turning toward her and smiling.
“Whatever,” she said, dismissing me. “I’ve killed James Bond like fifty times.” She seized me by the wrist and her grip was surprisingly strong. “Roberto, take her back to her room. Stay with her until we’ve disposed of that agent. I don’t want her escaping again.”
“Understood,” Roberto growled, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me from the room.
The soft scrape of shoes on tile drifted toward me as Roberto led me to who knows where. I leaned in a little closer, my heart starting to pound as the footsteps grew louder.
The sound stopped, just shy of the corner, and I held my breath. My heart began to beat faster and faster in my chest, and I was almost worried I’d been heard or seen. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck as Roberto gripped my wrist harder.
“Who’s there?” Roberto called out, shoving me behind his massive body.
The sound of gunfire exploded in my ears, so loud that I was sure I’d gone deaf. In front of me, Roberto slumped forward, releasing me as he fell to his knees, gripping his stomach.
In front of him stood Stephen with a huge black gun pointed at me.
“Abby!” Stephen cried, dropping the gun and rushing toward me. I stared at Roberto as blood began to pool out of him. There was no way he was going to survive that, and to be honest, it made me a little sad. In the end, he had been nothing but nice to me.
“You shot him,” I murmured, staring up at Stephen, and I saw him for what he really was. He was a killer.
“I’m not the bad guy,” he said, trying to take my hand, but I pulled it away from him.
“Yes you are, Stephen. You just shot someone in cold blood. That makes you a bad guy,” I said, taking a step back from him. I mean, I’d known what he was ever since he’d gunned down the guard in the hallway earlier, but it hadn’t clicked until I’d watched him shoot Roberto.
“Abby…” his voice drifted off as he glanced around nervously. Then he shook his head. “Look, you need to come with me, right now. No matter what you think of me, I am trying to protect you. I will do that by any means necessary.”
I stared at him for what felt like ever before nodding minutely. “Okay,” I said. “In that case, Gabriella is just down that hallway. If we hurry, we can get her before she does something else crazy.”
“Abby, there’s no way we can get into that room. Now that I’ve found you, we need to escape.”
“No, Stephen. What we need to do is stop her. We’ll never be this close again,” I growled, taking a step down the hallway. “If you don’t do it, then give me your gun. I’ll sneak back in and take her out.”
Stephen grabbed me by the wrist. “No. That’s not going to happen. I won’t risk you, again.”
“There’s no other way!” I said, turning to face him. “She tried to make me kill you, Stephen. Tried to make me choose between you and New York.” I swallowed. “And I would have chosen New York…” I said. “I would have killed you.”
Something dark swam through his eyes as he stared at me. “Well, I’ll endeavor not to get betrayed by my team leader next time. Either way, I’m getting you out of here,” he said, before grabbing me by the wrist and trying to pull me down one of the corridors.
I didn’t let him. I dug my heels in and dropped my weight like a stubborn toddler. His eyes went wide and he stared at me. “Abby, we need to hurry—”
“Donovan was a traitor, sure, but he works for Gabriella… he killed,” I swallowed, tears filling my eyes and my voice shattered, “he killed my mom. She needs to pay for that”
Stephen looked at me like I’d just grown a second head. “Gabriella?”
“Yes,” I sobbed. “I need to stop her, Stephen. Don’t you understand?”
“Shh… It’s okay,” he said, reaching out and running his hand along my face. “I’m here now. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“Okay,” I replied and elbowed him in the stomach. His eyes went wide and he slumped forward, the gun slipping from his grip and hitting the ground with a clang. I scooped it up and took off running down the corridor toward Gabriella.
Stephen caught me barely ten feet later, tackling me to the ground. My forehead smacked against the metal floor with a wet smack and stars shot passed my eyes. Stephen stood, dragging me to my feet and throwing me over his shoulder.
He was holding a small black box in front of my face that was about the size of a pack of playing cards. “Abby, do you know what this is?”
I tried to respond, but I couldn’t because the room was still spinning. “This is a detonator to compact thermos-fusion bomb. It will take out this entire structure once I set it off. I’ve already planted the bomb. It’s what I was doing before Donovan betrayed me. The only thing we need to do now is escape so I can set it off remotely.”
“And how will that stop her plan, Stephen?” I asked. “What if she escapes?”
“We’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t,” he smirked at me and I think he was trying to be charming. “Besides, this is her base of operations. Sure she has others, but they aren’t as robust as this one. Destroying this base will definitely put her plans on hold.”
17
Stephen’s plan had seemed way, way better when I wasn’t crawling through a sewage duct. Which, let me just tell you, was totally gross. I was covered in brown and green slime that smelled so bad I’d nearly gagged when Stephen had opened the sewer access hatch.
“Don’t worry about it,” he’d said, and the words kept repeating themselves over and over in my mind, only his voice had gained a dopey quality about fifty repetitions ago because I was worried about it. I felt really stupid for trying to charge Gabriella guns blazing. That was aside from the blatantly obvious fact that I was not value added. With every movement I made through the sewer one fact was evident. Stephen could have stopped Gabriella without me.
I glanced ahead, the light from Stephen’s head lamp illuminating the tunnel as we trudged forward. My poor white scrubs were going to have to be burned. Of that, I was sure.
“See, it isn’t so bad,” Stephen called back over his shoulder, swinging his head toward me and blinding me with his headlamp. “The hatch is just a little farther.”
Stephen swung his head back toward the tunnel, his shoulders sagging a little. “I don’t know what you want me to do,” he murmured. His voice was so low that I barely heard him. It almost made me wonder if he expected a response or if it was one of those hypothetical statements.
“Get us out of here already,” I replied. I sucked in a breath, and felt my throat seize up. My stomach sloshed as the smell of rotting flesh filled my nose. “Ugh… I’m going to be sick.”
“Um… Abby, you should close your eyes,” Stephen said as he slowed his crawl.
“Why?” I asked. The longer this took, the longer I was going to be down here in ickville.
“Because up ahead is a dead body.” He pointed, but all I could see was the outline of his hand.
“Oh,” I replied and a chill filled my bones, echoing up my body in a series of tremors I couldn’t control. For a moment, I’d almost forgotten that we were in a secret base run by a madwoman who killed people. I was so focused on how useless I was, I’d been able to ignore the fact that people
died at her hands. Like… like really died.
“I’ll be okay,” I squeaked a moment later.
“Are you sure?” Stephen asked, glancing down the passage toward where I was sure the corpse was, and I saw a shudder ravage his body.
“Yeah,” I replied, biting my lip and shutting my eyes for a second. I could do this. I could crawl over a dead body.
“I can find another way,” he suggested, and I opened my eyes and quirked an eyebrow at him. Was Stephen scared?
“There’s no other way,” I said, moving up closer to him. “Let’s just get this over with. Besides, if there’s another way that doesn’t involve a sewer, and you made me crawl through it for fun. I will be very unhappy with you.”
Stephen didn’t say anything. Instead, he began moving forward mechanically, like a marionette on strings. He slogged through the glop, and I followed along so closely, I was nearly on top of him.
Something squelched beneath my hand, and the smell, like rotten eggs on a summer’s day, made me turn my head away. I covered my face with the crook of my arm, because that was the cleanest part of my scrubs, and fought not to gag.
Tears filled my eyes as I sucked in a slow breath through my mouth that tasted like old socks. When I’d recovered enough to move, Stephen was farther ahead in the tunnel. The light from his headlamp illuminated the corpse. Somehow the body had hit the lip of a huge pit, and instead of falling down below, it stuck there, one mangled arm wedged into a crack in the stone. Stephen pushed the body to the side, careful not to touch it much.
I was about to ask him why, but as I approached, I suddenly knew why. Chloe’s face was frozen in a look of desperate sadness, and as Stephen climbed over her, he paused and stared down. Her corpse was just at the edge of what looked like a large pit, which I guess made sense since we were traveling downward. This must be near where they directly disposed of garbage. The moment that thought hit me, tears welled in my eyes. She was more than just trash.
“I’m sorry,” Stephen whispered, and the sound of his words made my heart break for him. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Chloe… I should have known better.”
Her death replayed itself in my mind. The utter pointlessness of it made it even more horrible. She had been shot as an example, and her body had been dumped here, in a trash heap.
I glanced up at the ceiling and spotted a hatch a few meters past Stephen’s head. I shook my head, shutting my eyes so that I wouldn’t cry.
“Abby,” Stephen said, “Let’s go. Let’s make her pay for this… and for everyone else.”
“Okay,” I replied, pushing myself forward. As I climbed over Chloe’s body, I stared into her sightless, unseeing eyes. A tear dripped down my cheek and splattered on her once perfect face.
Stephen was standing a few feet ahead of me, one hand on a ladder that led up. “Come on,” he said, gesturing for me to move, his face set in a hard line. “This should lead up into the separation room. That’s where they decide what they are going to feed into the cogeneration plant. We’ll be able to escape through the emergency exits there.”
“Are you sure?” I asked as Stephen began climbing upward. That was good because the pad beneath the ladder was so narrow that both of us wouldn’t have been able to stand there together.
“Yes,” Stephen said as he reached the top and pressed one gooey hand against the inner mechanisms of the hatch. How had he scaled the ladder so fast? Was he part spider-monkey or something?
I shook my head and began climbing up the ladder. Its rungs were covered with that black sandpaper that was sometimes used to provide extra grip. That was good because my hands were so slick with sludge that each step made my heart palpitate.
I was nearly to the top when Stephen finally pushed the hatch open and warm yellow light spilled into the shaft. I blinked, the sudden change was nearly blinding, and went to cover my eyes. My foot slipped, and I fell backward. I reached out, trying to grab hold of the ladder, and my slimy fingers slid off like I was trying to grab a wet ice cube. A scream ripped from my throat as I careened backward.
A sudden jolt halted me in midair, my head snapped back and stars shot passed my eyes. Stephen was leaning toward me, one hand gripping the ladder, the other on the hem of my shirt. I dangled there, unable to react as strain made his arms cord and bulge.
“Abby, grab onto the ladder and pull yourself up.” His words slipped through his clenched teeth. “I can’t hold you much longer. I’m not Superman.”
Blood rushed to my head as I stared up at him from my inverted position, unsure of how to get myself out of the predicament. As I glanced away from Stephen’s straining biceps and toward the ladder, I really wished I’d stuck out those gymnastics lessons. I’d quit because, for some reason, whenever I did a flip I turned all cockeyed. After almost a year of being the gymnastics equivalent of the girl picked last for kickball, I’d given it up.
Now that I was hanging upside down with my shirt pressing painfully into my shoulders and cutting off the feeling in my limbs as blood hammered in my temples, I was regretting the decision.
“Just reach up and grab my wrist,” Stephen grunted, but his hand seemed so far away that I knew there was no way I could do any kind of vertical sit-up. Wonder Woman I was not. That was when an idea hit me.
“Stephen, I’m going to loop my legs around the ladder, then you can let go and I’ll just be hanging upside down…” Even before I finished the words, I’d thrust my legs through the ladder and wedged my toes up under the slats. I grabbed hold of my legs with my arms and started edging my way upward, pulling myself up inch by agonizing inch.
Stephen let go and a scream tore from my lips as my full weight fell back on my toes and hands. My muscles burned as he reached down, grabbing my wrist and hauling me up into a more normal position.
“Let’s not do this again,” he said when we were on the surface a moment later.
“Okay,” I replied, sucking in a breath of air and rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling. There was nothing here except rows of bright yellow lights that were set into the white ceiling. It made me feel like I was in one of those clean rooms from the movies.
Any moment, I expected a scientist in full hazmat gear to come strolling by and look at me through the enormous window that covered one side of the room. Then he’d scribble in his little notepad and tap at the glass to get my attention, whereupon a door would slide open to reveal a chocolate treat.
Stephen glanced down at me and smirked. “You should get up,” he said, offering me a hand so covered in grime that I really didn’t want him touching me with it.
“I’m good,” I said, getting to my feet without his help.
He grinned, perfect teeth flashing in the light. “You’re not such a pretty sight yourself,” he said, gesturing at me.
“You don’t think I’m pretty?” I asked, feeling my cheeks burn as I said the words. For whatever reason, my heart started going crazy in my chest, and it was hard to catch my breath.
“Um… that’s not what I meant,” he said, backing away from me several steps before turning and looking at the window. “I think you’re pretty,” he whispered a moment later, his voice strained and low.
I swallowed. Stephen thought I was pretty? No… he was just saying that because he was a secret agent. That’s the type of thing they said, right? I took a step toward him, and he whirled around, eyes like oceans of sapphire as he took hold of my hands and stared at me. Then he leaned forward pressed his lips against my forehead.
“I think you’re amazing, Abby,” he whispered, breath hot on my forehead as he spoke, and my knees turned to jelly. “Amazing.”
“Touching,” Donovan’s voice boomed through the room. “I mean, you’re as good as dead, Stephen, but it’s still touching.”
Stephen reacted so quickly that I almost lost my balance as he whirled around and shoved me behind him. I stared at Donovan as anger and fear fell over me in crashing waves. How dare he show up again? My eyes widened
a little as another thought struck me. If he was here, how far behind were hordes of armed guards?
“Donovan,” Stephen said, and his voice was hard and angry. His entire body was tensed into a coiled spring as Donovan stepped through the door, his face still smeared with blood.
Donovan looked past Stephen and grinned at me. “Normally this is where he’d say, ‘Abby, we’ll finish this later,’ but that isn’t happening because I’m going to kill him and shove him down there with the Praying Mantis.” He grinned at me, something dark glinting in his eyes, “That was a nice touch on my part, don’t you think?”
Stephen’s foot lashed out, cutting through the air so quickly that I almost didn’t follow the movement. It sailed by Donovan’s head as he stepped casually to the side and dropped down, sweeping Stephen’s other leg out from under him. Stephen hit the ground with a horrible smack, but somehow, managed to roll to his feet.
“You’ve never been able to beat me before, Stephen. What makes you think this time will be any different?” Donovan asked, smirking.
“I wasn’t trying to let you win before.” Stephen dropped into a low crouch as the two of them started to circle the room.
Donovan’s knee exploded forward, catching Stephen hard on the side of the head. He toppled to the ground like a broken mannequin, all sprawling limbs. He tried to roll, but Donovan’s boot came up, catching him square in the stomach. The wet sound of smashed meat filled my ears as Stephen flopped over on his side, gasping.
That’s when the gun came out. It was huge and ominous in Donovan’s hand as he pointed it casually at Stephen. It was the very same one he had used on my mother, and the sight of it made my head spin. I reached back, leaning against the window for support. Donovan had killed my mother… and now he was going to kill Stephen… and there was nothing I could do.
“Don’t try and resist. It will just be more difficult for the both of us,” Donovan said, gesturing for Stephen to stay put.
Slowly, as if he was a broken marionette, Stephen got to his feet and took a wobbly step forward. He brushed his mouth with the back of his hand, leaving a crimson smear along his cheek. “I was just testing you,” Stephen wheezed, drawing his hands up in front of himself like a drunken boxer, and wobbled forward.
Meet Abby Banks VOLUMES: 1-3 Page 14
