Martha was growing more uncomfortable by the moment. “I am going to get into a whole heap of trouble for having you in here, we should go.” She insisted.
Corinne did not want to move. She did not want to walk away from the woman who had sacrificed everything in an attempt to protect her. She wanted to find a way to protect her in return. Firmly Daniel grasped her shoulders and turned her to face him.
“We have to go now.” He said sternly. The anguish in Corinne's expression made his own eyes fill with tears, but he knew if they revealed the truth it would start a firestorm of controversy that in the end would only expose Corinne.
“She is where she needs to be.” He said as comfortingly as he could. Bethany was broken. There was no way to heal her from what the years of isolation had done to her. He swore inwardly that he would at least do everything in his power to have her moved from the criminally insane section of the facility.
Perhaps with some fresh air and some freedom she would be able to savor a few years of pleasure. As he took one last peek at her, rocking her invisible infants, he doubted it. She had been harmed in a way that was irreparable. He led Corinne back to the car after thanking Martha for her kindness and assuring her that Corinne was fine, just a little under the weather.
Once inside the car Corinne began to weep. She felt deep within her a betrayal of the most primal kind. To be ripped from the arms of her mother was unnatural. To be lied to all of her life about her past just added to the torture. It killed her to think that for all of the years she had been growing up, her mother had been desperately begging for her return.
Now, she would likely never be sane enough to even know that her children were okay, that they had survived, and were free.
That thought reminded her of what her mother had said about Aaron. This reminded her of the phone call. She swiped at her eyes as Daniel rubbed her back soothingly and pulled her phone out of her purse. She dialed Aaron's cell phone, only to get his voice mail. It was unlike him not to answer, no matter where he was.
“We need to go get Lisa.” She said with urgency as she dialed Aaron's cell again. “Hurry!” She demanded as Daniel started the car and without question steered it back toward Corinne's apartment.
61
Conner was led from the black sedan into a mansion. He knew it well. It belonged to Mr. Reynolds, one of his largest American investors. He was high up in the government, however no government official would ever admit to having any idea who he was. He was one of the ghosts that ran the country with his wealth and power.
He was led to a massive office in the home and tossed down on the lush carpet.
The two men, who had practically thrown him to the floor, left the office quickly and closed two large wooden doors behind them.
The high backed leather chair behind the desk was facing the wall when he was thrown to the floor. By the time he got to his feet, it had spun around, and the woman who sat in it stared across the desk at him, her eyes so sharp they were like weapons as they sliced into him.
“Mrs. Reynolds.” Conner said with shock. Some men might have been relieved to face a female adversary, but Conner knew that Mr. Reynolds had his wife do his dirty work for him. She enjoyed it more than he did.
“Conner.” She said flatly as she flipped a paper over on her desk and examined the words written on it. “So, you took our money.” She raised her eyebrows. “A lot of our money. Then you lost the projects.” She tilted her head slightly to the side. “Why?'
Conner stumbled over his words as he took a slight step forward. Mrs. Reynolds held up one finger to stop him from getting any closer. “I have not lost them, I already have Aaron back.” He insisted.
She laughed at that. “Oh yes, I know.” She slapped a photograph down on the desk that showed Conner and his two men dragging Aaron to his car.
“You do realize that my husband will be ruined if this gets out?” She ventured as she glared at Conner.
“Yes, of course, and I would not let that happen.” He rushed his words. He was too nervous to even attempt manipulating her energy.
“You already have, you idiot!” She hissed and slapped her hand on the thick wooden desk. She sighed as she sat back in her chair and shook her head. “Go back to the facility. Clean it up.” She paused and set her eyes directly to his. “Clean up everything.”
He knew that meant destroy everything, including Aaron.
“But Corinne and Lisa-” He started to say.
“They will be taken care of.” She said with a small smile as she folded her hands on top of the desk. “Unlike you, the rest of the people we pay, actually do as they are told.”
Conner was about to plead his case when the two men who had led him in, returned.
“Let me make it clear to you.” Mrs. Reynolds said sharply. Her next words were punctuated by alternating blows from the two men who held Conner.
“If you do not clean up your mess, I will, and you with it.”
She smiled faintly at the grunts of pain Conner emitted with each blow. “Understand?” She asked cheerfully.
Conner nodded as he gasped for air.
“Good.” She said with a bright smile. She left the office and the men who had brought Conner to the mansion carried him back to the black sedan. He was driven back to the facility and dumped off in front of the doors, as bruised and broken, as Aaron was after their conversation.
Conner lay there on the concrete for some time. He had lost all control. There was nothing he could do to stop people with so much power, from destroying what he had worked so hard to create. He did not even have the energy to be angry any more. A calm washed over him, as all at once, he was certain of what he had to do.
62
Lisa was fine when they arrived at Corinne's apartment but she had not been able to reach Aaron either.
“Do you think he is hurt?” She asked Corinne anxiously. It was the first time Corinne had seen her display genuine unmeasured emotion.
Corinne could not shake what Bethany had said to her.
“Maybe we should pay Conner a visit.” Corinne said bravely, even though the last thing she wanted to do was go near that facility.
Daniel dreaded the idea too, but he could think of no other reason that Aaron would not be answering the phone. “Can you feel him?” He asked Corinne, who was a little surprised at how familiar Daniel was becoming with her abilities.
“No.” Corinne said with a frown, she had not been able to sense him for some time. “We should hurry.”
63
Conner was muttering to himself as he attached one wire to another. “Clean it up huh?” He smirked as he continued to work on his newest project. “I'll show them how I clean things up.” He laughed to himself as he carefully aligned another wire.
In his small room Aaron was slowly coming to. He had been barely conscious for hours. He knew if he did not do something to get himself out of the room, Conner would never let him go again. He pushed at the door of the room as hard as he could. Conner was not a stupid man. He knew that any room Aaron was restrained within had to be reinforced with the strongest steel.
No matter how hard Aaron shoved against the door, it did not give. Exhausted by the effort he slumped down on his cot and glanced around for any other possible escape. There was no window. No grate. Even the ceiling had no air ducts to crawl through. Conner had planned his prison cell very well.
Now all Aaron could do was wait, and hope that Lisa and Corinne did not come looking for him.
64
When Daniel, Lisa, and Corinne left the apartment building they did not notice the slim man in a fancy black suit following at a casual distance behind them. When they climbed into Daniel's car, they did not notice him start his engine and pull out a few cars behind them.
Daniel drove as quickly as he could to the research facility, while everyone in the car hoped that they were not too late. As soon as he parked, Corinne began to feel Aaron's pain. It was intense, but his emotions were mor
e potent. He felt full of rage and trapped with no way out. She was convinced he was inside.
“How are we going to get in?” Daniel asked, as the building was still guarded with a technologically advanced alarm system. Corinne was about to answer when she was flooded with Conner's emotions. They were scatted, jumpy, and desperate. A brief image flashed in her mind of the project he was working on.
“Oh no!” She cried out as she rushed toward the building. “He's building a bomb!” She exclaimed as she tugged at the front doors of the building. She had no way of knowing whether the image she had seen was a memory or if it was something that was happening in the moment. “Aaron!” She shouted through the doors, though she knew there was no chance that he would hear her.
Lisa rushed up behind her and pounded on the glass, but there was no one inside. Perhaps Conner had sent them home.
Corinne took a calming breath as Daniel engulfed her with his arms and tried to restrain her from shattering the glass. She reached out for Conner's energy, hoping that she might be able to manipulate it. Instead she saw a digital timer, counting down from three minutes.
“Aaron!” She screamed out and thrust Daniel off of her so roughly that he nearly fell backwards. “No, no!” She screamed as she slammed her fists again the reinforced glass. She could not be given her brother back, only to have him taken away again.
Daniel drew his gun and commanded Lisa and Corinne to stand back. He knew the glass was bulletproof so he aimed for the small keypad that allowed employees to come and go. He fired a bullet into it, and the alarm began to ring immediately as it sparked and sizzled. Daniel shoved his shoulder against the doors, and they gave way beneath the force. The three rushed inside and Corinne had to choose whether to try to find Conner and the bomb or Aaron, she knew she had less than three minutes to find either.
“Where are you?!” She shouted into the empty halls and reached out for Aaron. He could not hear her calling, but she could feel his emotions growing stronger the lower she went in the elevator. Lisa's eyes were filled with tears as she wondered how they would ever find him in time.
Corinne rushed off the elevator and ran down the empty hallway that was line with cell doors.
“Aaron!” She shrieked, Lisa screaming his name right behind her.
Aaron heard a faint shout and stood up quickly from his cot.
“Corinne?” He shouted back through the door. He began pounding on the door of his cell as loud and as hard as he could.
Corinne, Daniel, and Lisa heard the thumping and raced toward the door it was coming from. Daniel tugged at the door but it would not move. Lisa tried using the keypad to unlock it but the code had changed.
Corinne was certain there was less than two minutes remaining on the timer, she had been trying to keep count in her mind. If Aaron was not strong enough to break down the door, how would they ever get him out?
“Who are you?” A soft voice asked from behind them. A young girl, probably just in her teens, was standing in the doorway that led to another part of the facility. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and her deep green eyes were gazing with tentative curiosity at the panicked adults.
“We are here to help.” Corinne said in a dazed tone. The little girl looked so familiar.
“Do you want me to open it?” The young girl asked shyly.
“Can you?” Lisa asked desperately.
The girl walked up to the keypad and punched a few numbers into it. The door immediately swung open. Aaron rushed out, but skidded to a stop when he saw the girl.
“Who are you?” He asked in astonishment.
The thin girl bit into her bottom lip and lowered her eyes. “Corinne.”
The three others were shocked into silence. Then suddenly an image of the timer flashed into Corinne's mind, counting down from thirty seconds. That was barely enough time for an elevator ride. She grabbed the girl by the hand.
“Are there others here?” She asked hurriedly.
“No.” The young Corinne said fearfully. “They left me.”
Aaron swept the girl up into his arms and they ran for the stairs. Quickly they climbed them until they were at the lobby level. As they raced through the lobby, laughter filled the space around them from all directions. Corinne could not decipher whether the sound was coming from the PA system, or the recesses of her mind.
The laughter was drowned out by the sound of shattering glass and the roar of an explosion.
The building collapsed beneath the force of the bomb, billowing smoke poured from its shattered windows and swirled up into the sky creating a dark vortex of flames and smoke.
Corinne lifted her head weakly from the cement she had landed on. Her body felt as if it had been shattered by the impact. Through the smoke, she tried to find Daniel. She brushed her hands across the ground until she bumped into the warm softness of another hand. It was Daniel, who was gasping for breath. He had a metal shard sunk deep into his side.
“Don't move.” Corinne pleaded as she tentatively touched the wound and tried to think of how to help. “Aaron?” She called out as her eyes burned and teared up from the smoke that clouded around them. “Lisa?” She asked desperately.
Lisa stumbled into view. She had some scrapes and bruises but was able to walk fairly well. She crouched down beside Daniel and stared at his wound. There was no sign of Aaron or the young girl he had been carrying.
“We have to take the shard out.” Lisa said, coughing as she spoke. “I cannot heal him with it in there.” She struggled to breathe through the thick smoke.
Daniel grasped Corinne's hand as his gasps grew fainter. He looked up into her eyes, his pale blue spheres bloodshot from smoke and tears. “I love you.” He whispered before his eyes fell shut.
“Daniel!” Corinne pleaded as his hand grew limp in hers. She reached out and eased the metal shard out of his side. Lisa was about to place her hands on him, when Aaron's voice carried through the smoke.
“Don't do it Lisa.” He commanded. He had the young girl in his arms still. He had fallen on top of her when they were flung by the force of the explosion, and she had been knocked out. She was breathing okay and he could feel her pulse, but she had not woken up yet.
“Corinne, if she heals him, it could kill her.” Aaron said tearfully as Daniel continued to lose blood. Corinne knew that he only had moments to live. She could not ask Lisa to sacrifice herself to save Daniel, but she also could not lose Daniel.
She pressed her hands against his wounds and wept as she wished she had a different skill. Lisa watched for a long moment. She knew that Aaron was right. After healing the little boy so recently, she would be risking her life by healing Daniel. She sunk down to her knees beside him and stretched out her hands. She placed them over Corinne's and drew her hands away. Corinne clutched them close to her chest, and she did not notice that they were covered in blood.
“Lisa, please!” Aaron begged as he set the young girl down to the ground and reached for the woman he had treated like his little sister for as long as he could remember.
“No Aaron.” She said sharply, for once rebelling against his command. “He and Corinne gave me a chance to know what real life is, if that is all the time I get, it was worth it.” She said as she laid her hands against the wound in Daniel's chest.
“It was worth it.” She repeated as she felt the vitality seeping from her body. Daniel's wound closed, leaving behind what appeared to be a flesh wound rather than the gaping hole it had once been. Lisa collapsed beside Daniel's body as sirens filled the air. Soon firemen and medics were swarming around all of them and whisking them away from the smoke and flames.
“Is there any one left inside there?” One of the firemen asked Corinne. She thought of Conner, and her lip curled into a sneer.
“No.” She said firmly. There was nothing salvageable inside of Conner, whether or not he had survived the blast.
65
At the hospital Corinne was treated for moderate injuries. They did
not feel moderate to her. The pain was intense, and she was surprised she had not shattered any bones. Aaron had only a few scrapes that he refused to let any one touch. Daniel was recovering well, although the doctors could not figure out how he had lost so much blood from such a small wound.
The young girl they had rescued was awake, but she had broken her arm when Aaron had fallen on to the cement with her. Lisa was struggling. She was being monitored closely by doctors but she had many internal injuries.
Corinne knew that was because she had healed Daniel. She could not be more grateful, but when she saw the pain in Aaron's eyes she felt incredibly guilty. As Aaron, Daniel, and Corinne gathered around Lisa's hospital bed they knew that they could only offer their support. It was not a time to discuss the events of the past few days, or to question where little Corinne had come from. It was a time to be grateful for Lisa's sacrifice, and hope that it would not cost Lisa her life.
Daniel had gotten word from his fellow police officers that Conner had not been killed in the blast. He had been thrown from the building, and though he was injured and suffered severe burns, he survived. He had not shared that information with the others yet; he wanted to wait until after Lisa had recovered.
Daniel wished the man had succeeded at blowing himself to bits, but at least now he might have a chance to get his hands on him.
When Lisa's eyes began to flutter, the three gathered close around grew silent and hopeful. Lisa looked from one face, then to another, until she finally settled her gaze on Aaron.
“What is everyone staring at?” She managed to rasp out in a weak voice.
Aaron grinned at her words. There was the Lisa he knew. He grasped her hand loosely in his and spoke soothingly.
“You are going to be fine, Lisa.” He promised. Lisa smiled faintly in return, but her expression brightened into a full smile when her she caught sight of someone stepping through the door.
Corinne (Book One of The Red Diamond Saga) Page 16
