by Anni Taylor
“If they catch me, they’ll be brutal,” she admitted. “Sage won’t protect me now. But if I’m quick enough, I’ll have killed myself before they can reach me.”
The young guy named Cormack was suddenly behind her. He encased her in his arms, his eyes wild. “I’ll not let you do that, Kara,” he said in a Scottish accent.
Near the half wall, the others had gathered in a tight bunch, making their own plans.
I glanced at Sethi. He was staring fixedly at the left-hand screen, a frown making a deep V shadow between his eyes.
He turned sharply to Kara. “What is that object on the floor of the cenote?”
I peered at the screen. All I caught were some old skeletons and the glimpse of a metallic curve before the view swept away to another section of the cenote floor.
Kara dropped her head to the side, her brow furrowing. “I don’t know. Probably the remains of a broken cage. They don’t last forever.”
“No,” insisted Sethi. “I could only see a small piece of it, but it looked to me like the shape of a mine. Maybe a World War Two issue.”
Kara grasped Cormack’s arm as though to push him away, but then she didn’t. “Mines? Yeah, there are three. No one knows they’re there except for my stepfather and the last leader of the Saviours, Brother Angelo. I used to listen in on my stepfather and Brother Angelo talking all the time when I was very young. Not hard when there are holes in the walls. They said the bombs had been down there too long to be any good. Since the nineteen eighties. The mines had already been lying around in a factory since the war. They were talking about buying new explosives.”
“What are the explosives for?” Sethi asked urgently.
“An insurance policy,” Kara answered. “In case the Saviours were ever exposed—so they could destroy everything. All the evidence of what they’ve done here.” She looked nervously at the middle screen, her attention captured by the sight of her mother and Jennifer surrounded by the Saviours. “I have to go.”
“Wait,” said Sethi. “Please. Where are the new explosives?”
“Locked up tighter than Fort Knox,” said Kara. “You can’t get near them. Only the mentors have clearance.”
Sethi threw back his head, exhaling hard. “How did they plan on detonating the mines?”
“There’s detonators in the cenote,” Kara replied. “You’d need full diving gear to even get to them. Once switched on, they’re wired to count down for twelve minutes and then emit a sound like a submarine.”
Sethi’s dark eyes widened in frustration. “They’re down there? Why in the name of—?”
“So that no one could get to them,” she said quickly. “The monastery is full of mass murderers, after all. Some of them like explosions. No explosives or guns are even allowed in the remembrance hall. Apart from the mentors—they are the only ones allowed to be armed in there.”
“Okay, so they’re influence mines,” said Sethi, collecting himself. “Back when I was in the naval division, part of the job was to find old mines and explode them. Many of them last a very long time.” He glanced back at the screens then raised his eyes to the ceiling. “Jennifer and Constance are immediately above us, right now. As are ninety percent or more of the Saviours. I have a crazy idea. The craziest. We go in and get them out of there. And then blow this whole thing up.”
“I like it.” Cormack straightened.
“It’s not possible,” said Kara. “You can’t even get into the remembrance hall without your handprint being scanned. Including me. I’m not trusted anymore.”
I gestured towards each of the dead Saviours in the room. “We have hands.”
I heard Evie’s breathing escalate beside me.
“Okay, yes, we have that.” Kara nodded coldly, not even flinching at the suggestion of hacking a dead man’s hand off. “But you can’t get to the detonators without diving equipment. You’ll drown.”
Sethi inhaled deeply. “Not necessarily. Do you know exactly where the detonators are located?”
She nodded, pointing at a set of large metal cabinets that were set against the wall. “There. Brother Clarence would have the key. He was the senior. The old man that you killed.”
Cormack sprinted over to the scaffolding and felt inside the dead man’s pockets until he found a set of keys. Within the next second, we had the cabinets open. Inside were sets of pumps and switches, all well maintained.
“The switches hoist the cage when it needs repair,” Kara told us. “They also work a pumping system for times when the cenote gets blocked. And here’s the map of the cenote.” She took out a laminated illustration of the entire cenote.
The cenote comprised a vertical shaft that led straight down from the surface, almost seventy feet deep into the earth, continuing down underneath the cellar. The cage was situated maybe twenty feet down from the top of the cenote, suspended on steel cables. The cenote shaft had horizontal arms that reached out to the sea. The top arm was marked with tiny letters.
Sethi studied the drawing, finally placing a finger on the top arm of the cenote. “That’s where the detonators are, right? It has the World War Two code for this type of influence mine.”
“Yes,” said Kara. “No one else here knows that except for my stepfather and me. Brother Angelo died about seven years ago. But it’s a suicide mission to attempt it. And the diving equipment is kept where the explosives are. I’m not going to be part of this. The Saviours will start torturing my mother and your girlfriend long before you even get to the first of the doors that lead there. And you still won’t get the equipment.”
“I am trained to hold my breath for a long time,” said Sethi. “I can do it.”
I glanced from the cenote illustration to Sethi. “The sponge diving, right? You learned to dive on the island where you grew up—Constance told me.”
He gave an abbreviated nod. “In Kalymnos.”
“You sure you want to go down there?” I asked him.
“Yes.” His eyes flashed with adrenalin.
“Even if you can, they’ll shoot you before you even reach the cenote,” Kara insisted. “And the outcome will be the same. My mother will face the worst of the Saviours. I won’t have her go through that.”
My chest tightened. “I have an idea. We’ll take them by surprise and buy ourselves some time. You and me, Sethi, we go in there as captured prisoners. Kara, in Saviours’ robes, pretends to be that blonde-haired guy, Lewis. She and he are about the same height. Sethi, you run and dive into the cenote and do your thing. Kara and I will cover you and get guns to Constance and Jennifer. We’ll take the grenades you and Jennifer brought in your backpacks to cause as much mayhem as possible.”
A cold sweat prickled the back of my neck. What I was proposing—going into a hall of hundreds of brutal killers—sent waves of raw terror coursing through my veins and breath pumping hard into my lungs. People like me had never even considered doing things like that.
Kara’s eyes grew round, and she gave me a nod.
“Let’s do this,” said Sethi.
Evie’s hand caught fast in mine. “I’m coming there, too.” Her voice sounded so definite, nothing like the Evie I knew.
I shook my head, catching my breath. “They’ll know straight away what’s happening if any of you come with us. It can only be Sethi and me. Everyone else should get out to the chapel and wait there for us.”
“Like fun I’m being shuffled out there,” said Cormack.
“Cormack, you can’t. The cameras will pick up everything the whole way. You stand out too much. You’re taller than everyone. And that bushy beard . . . We have to hurry.”
I grasped Evie’s face in my hands. “If I don’t come back, promise me you’ll get off this island. Get back to Willow and Lilly.”
“You promise me you’ll come back.” She kissed me, and her lips were cold.
76. I, INSIDE THE WALLS
CORMACK, RICHARD AND YOLANDA VOLUNTEERED TO lead the others to the chapel. Richard and Yolanda were t
he only ones who knew how to shoot. I found myself disturbed by the thought of what could happen to Cormack should he have to take on a Saviour by himself.
I took the three of them out there to show them the right path and make sure they understood they had to hide in the chapel until the mines exploded; otherwise they’d ruin the whole plan. And I told them where to hide along the tunnel in order to ambush any stray Saviours.
Back in the cellar, Sethi was busy hacking off Brother Lewis’s hand. Any second now, Gray, Sethi and I would have to go.
Santiago, stay with me.
But I watched Santiago drift away, almost swallowed up by the black tunnel, confused by what was happening. The terror of losing Santiago shot through me.
It was hard for me helping these people. Not because I didn’t want to. But because I’d acted alone for so many years. Even before I met Daddy James, it was how I’d been. Locked inside myself, with a brother who only had life inside my mind. Daddy James had my brain imaged before I even came here. I have the brain of a sociopath. Having a brain scan is essential before you’re allowed to be a Saviour. My brain scan results weren’t as severe as most of the others, but still, I was a sociopath.
Some people think you can change and get better. And some people think that a sociopath always murders. Neither is true. I can’t change my brain, and neither do I wish to. I like my brain how it is. Maybe that’s because of the egotistical side of sociopathy. But I don’t want to kill anyone. Except for Saviours.
Catching my hand in his, Cormack pulled me out of the light that streamed from the plate glass in the cellar door.
“What—?” At first, I thought a Saviour must be coming, my hand reaching instinctively for the knife in my pocket.
I could hear hesitation making his voice hitch when he said, “I don’t like you heading into a whole nest of Saviours. It’s too dangerous.”
“Yes, it’s dangerous.” I relaxed. No impending Saviours in the tunnels. But I didn’t understand why he sounded so scared. If you play with danger, then danger comes with the territory. And Cormack didn’t know that Daddy James had experts here teach me how to kill with a knife and gun and with my bare hands. I was a child when I first came to the monastery. I needed to learn how to protect myself.
“Kara, I didn’t understand before how you could be one of them. Now I know that you’re not.”
The way he said my name in his Scottish accent made it sound beautiful. I’d never thought of my name as beautiful. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know that you didn’t want to do what they’ve been making you do.”
“You don’t understand. They could only make me do any of this because of who I am. Any normal person would have gone some kind of crazy at the things that happen here.”
“Have you considered that you might not even know who you are? Brother Sage has forced all this on you, the bastard. I want to kill him for what he’s done to you.”
“If everything goes to plan, you’ll get your wish. At least, he’ll die.”
“No matter what happens next, I’ve got your back. Just wanted you to know that.”
“You’re kind of noisy for someone in a place filled with serial killers.” Despite everything, I had a smile in my voice. He was so . . . earnest. No one around me was earnest. Everyone was a liar. That went with the territory of being sociopathic. Even Mom had been lying about her past for the last decade.
“In case all of this goes to shite and we don’t make it off this island,” he said, “just know that a guy named Cormack liked a girl named Kara. Very much.”
He moved closer, his breath on my cheek. And kissed me.
Why was I so breathless when he broke away?
I’d never let a boy get this close.
Never.
Cormack had no idea what he was doing. He’d seen a face and projected all kinds of things onto the person behind that face. Just like the boys at school. Cormack was the first boy to see behind the face, but he still didn’t understand. He couldn’t. He was a neurotypical. A normal brain with normal thoughts.
I looked around in a panic.
Santiago. Where are you?
77. CONSTANCE
JAMES PAUSED IN HIS SPEECH TO his twisted, macabre congregation. I could tell he relished his role as leader of the Saviours, his lips curling up into a satisfied smile. “And we,” he continued, “broke free of our shackles in Plato’s cave. We saw beyond the shadows into what was real. Our eyes are open. We believe in the regime of aristocracy and the philosopher king here among our fold. We are rich and boundless and will continue our tradition of bringing those who belong with us to Saviours of Yeqon’s legacy.”
A cheer went up around the Saviours—a deep, resonating cheer that sent an ice-cold shudder down my back.
The terrible ceremony of the Saviours was done.
“We cannot delay longer,” James told his congregation. “Many of us have lives and businesses to attend to and must return to our physical homes. We will soon watch over the final challenges. First, we will need to deal with Constance and Jennifer.”
“I would be happy to have the honour of bringing Jennifer Bloom to her last breath,” said Sister Dawn, flicking her gaze to Jennifer. “Naturally, first we must find out all you know. We have ways of breaking all the small bones of the body first, and then the large. At some point, your mind will crack along with your body, and you’ll tell us everything. Everyone does.”
“No.” The word stuttered in my throat.
“Constance,” said the man who was my husband, “if we don’t get enough information from Jennifer, I’m afraid you will be next. You cannot blame me. With your drug habit, you would have surely died many years ago if not for me. You would have lost Kara, too. In bringing Kara here and taking your life, I’m only taking what is mine to take.”
I tried and failed to keep my voice even. “Kara is not your child. She’s Otto’s. No matter what, she’ll never be yours.”
Faces turned sharply as another Saviour entered the hall.
“No,” Jennifer breathed beside me.
The Saviour had Sethi and Gray captured, a gun pointed at their backs. Silently, the Saviour held up four backpacks—ours.
“Well done, Lewis,” called James.
The man named Lewis nodded in acknowledgement, his hood drawn too far over his forehead for his face to be seen.
Wilson Carlisle stepped across with a mocking look set into his pudgy face. “Gray Harlow, you should have stayed at home. Jail would have been a safer proposition than this.”
“I’m just glad my wife won’t have to suffer this alone,” said Gray.
Wilson’s face stretched into a bland smile. “We all die alone.” His attention turned to Sethi. “And who have you brought with you, Mr Harlow? We’re going to have to discover everything you two know and who else you’ve told.”
“That is Sethi Ambrosia,” said Sister Rose. “I was the one tasked with keeping tabs on Jennifer and her liaisons. He’s her on-again off-again lover.”
“There was no off. I have always loved Jenny.” Sethi stared at her coldly.
“Well, you certainly tricked me,” she retorted.
“Because you don’t know love.” He wasn’t looking at Sister Rose anymore but directly at Jennifer. His jaw drew tight. “Jenny didn’t want me to get too involved with her because she was afraid I would get hurt by the Saviours. But she always had my heart. And because of that, I cannot bear to watch her die.”
Amid the choked gasps of the Saviours, Sethi turned and sprinted the short distance to the lip of the cenote.
And ran straight out into thin air.
The Saviour named Lewis shot at Sethi twice and missed, the bullets striking Wilson and forcing the assembly back.
I whirled around to Jennifer, catching sight of her stricken face just before I heard the splash far below in the cenote.
The sweep of my gaze caught sight of an odd object on the floor.
A seve
red hand.
78. GRAY
SETHI’S LONG BODY DOVE INTO THE cenote.
The four mentors pulled out guns, shooting into the water. They were the only ones allowed to have guns in the hall.
Let them use as many of their bullets as possible.
“The man is a deep sea diver!” The loud, shrill voice of Sister Rose. “I’ve looked into his history before.”
Sage’s expression turned to an incredulous rage. “Can he get out to the ocean?”
“It’s impossible, but—” Sister Rose stared down into the water.
Whipping out my gun, I took point-blank aim at the Saviour who was holding onto Constance.
Kara shot the Saviour who held her mother.
The crowd of Saviours jerked their heads around, trying to find the source of the new blasts.
Breathing hard, I took out the grenades.
The pins—don’t forget the pins.
One chance. One chance to get this right.
Wait, wait, wait.
I threw each of them.
One to the left. One to the right.
Blood hammered in my head.
Everything was happening at once.
The Saviours scattering in chaotic patterns.
Wilson Carlisle lying bleeding on the ground.
Constance’s expression turning to open-eyed shock as she saw her daughter’s face.
Kara handing her mother and Jennifer a gun each.
Jennifer was the quickest to understand, not needing any explanation before raising the gun and firing off rounds.
“Run! Run!” My voice sounding far away to my ears.
Kara tugging her dazed mother along while turning back and shooting.
I tossed the next two grenades.
“You and Constance first.” Jennifer shot near where I threw the grenades.
It was enough. Just enough. The Saviours were running for cover.
Constance and I raced out ahead of Jennifer and Kara.
Any minute now, all our ammo would be gone, and hundreds of Saviours would be chasing us down through this monstrous place. And they had rooms full of guns.
