“These six,” Blackwood says, gesturing at the dead, “didn’t come as easily as the others. They killed two of my men, so I repaid them in kind.”
We tried very hard to teach the Ciphers how to fight if they were cornered. I was so afraid it wouldn’t be enough. Their bodies would be weak, their talents so new and unwieldy. Lucas and his band of renegades were some of the newest. They were some of the angriest and most able to fight back. I have no doubt they did their best to give the others a chance at freedom. Like everything I try to do, it just wasn’t enough.
Blackwood continues coldly. The camera moves back up to the terrified faces. I can see Casey’s friend Caroline clinging to a young girl next to her, and Cole’s brother standing tall despite his fear. “These others,” Blackwood says, “are still alive, as you can see. They’ll stay that way for now, but not forever. You have forty-eight hours to turn yourself over to me or every single one of these people will die.”
“No, you can’t!” I cry out.
The camera turns back to him. “The only thing I ever believed out of Braden’s mouth was that you were too soft to ever really hurt anyone. He said it to try and dissuade me from coming after you, but it turns out he gave me the exact key to bringing you in.”
Milo’s growl behind me has dangerous written all over it, but I say nothing. Anything I do at this point will make it worse.
“Turn yourself in,” Blackwood continues, “with a full admission of your guilt in this little escapade, or they will all be dead.”
Eight-one lives.
The camera jostles roughly as Blackwood sets it back down on the table. It’s facing a set of doors I haven’t seen before. Terror that there is something even worse that this monster plans to force on me rivets my eyes to them. The handles turn slowly at first. When they burst open, I am rocked again by the sight of two men hauling Mr. Walters into the room. Blackwood grabs his arm and stares into the camera with a darkly gleeful expression.
“Just in case you don’t think I’ll follow through on my threat, I have a little demonstration for you.” His vicious smile widens as he glances down at Mr. Walters. “Anything you want to confess to your little project before it’s too late, old man?”
The sorrow in Mr. Walters’ eyes strikes me as odd. He isn’t scared, just sad. He doesn’t resist, either. I know he is looking straight into my soul as he says, “Libby, I’m so sorry. I tried to warn you.”
“But you couldn’t,” Blackwood sneers. His blade presses up against his neck.
A moment of fear finally darkens Mr. Walters’ features, but it’s not fear of dying. He looks straight into the camera, and says, “Libby, remember twenty questions.”
Blackwood pauses at the odd statement, but his ruthlessness won’t let him ponder it. “Forty-eight hours, Libby. And then this …” His knife slides across Mr. Walters’ flesh, spilling crimson down his neck. “… will happen to the rest of them. Forty-eight hours.”
He lets his victim drop to the floor and the screen goes black.
Mr. Walters is gone. Dead. I can’t even process the meaning of that single word. My hands shake, rattling the laptop as my brain tries to hold off reality.
“Why?” Milo asks. His strangled voice cracks as he speaks. “Why did they kill him? Why did they even take him in the first place? Braden’s the one who broke his promises. Mr. Walters wasn’t a part of their world anymore.”
Part of my mind is screaming at me to wake up. I know this. A hint that has been hiding until this moment is battering to get out of its prison. I latch onto the slim hope that I can figure this out, that I can put off admitting my teacher and friend is gone forever.
Mr. Walters knew about betrayal. When he tried to convince me it would be either Milo or Braden, he said you could never know what would push a person over the edge. I had a feeling at the time that he wasn’t really talking about either of my friends. My heart breaks as I realize what secret he was really trying to tell me. The secret of betrayal.
“It was him,” I whisper. “Mr. Walters, he’s the one who betrayed us, Milo. He let them take Braden.”
Milo’s body rocks back in the face of my revelation. He shakes his head slowly. “Libby, that doesn’t make sense. He’s always been the one saying you were going to make things better. He was behind you completely. No, something else happened.”
“It was his idea for him to stay with Braden,” I say. “I told him about splitting up and he insisted on pairing up with Braden. He’s the one who betrayed him. How else would Blackwood have known exactly when to come and what to expect? The captured Ciphers are proof enough.”
“He said he was sorry,” Lance says quietly.
“Sorry for our plan not working!” Milo argues. “He didn’t do this. Blackwood could have found out some other way.”
Lance’s head drops down and he sighs. “There wasn’t enough time for the Spiritualists to alert the Guardians to what was happening. All the other groups got out. They grabbed Braden so fast. Mr. Walters had to have tipped them off. He looked as if he expected them to kill him. He knew what he did, Milo.”
“But … but why would they kill Walters if he helped them?” Milo is getting frantic trying to defend one of the few people he truly trusted and respected.
My mind falls back to our conversation. Not only did Mr. Walters know betrayal well, he knew the limits of the human soul. He doubted my friends because he doubted himself. He has always hidden things from me. Things he was forced to hide because of Oaths and promises, but I suspect there was even more he chose to keep to himself. Our little game that day let him reveal some of what he wanted me to know. So much more must have been hidden behind his eyes. Something else slaps against my consciousness. Our game.
“Twenty questions!” I gasp. “He told me to remember twenty questions. It was a message. We have to find what he left!”
They all stare at me as if I’ve lost what small portion of sanity I had left. My growl of frustration makes me push up from my seat. The change of light in the corner of my eye draws my attention back to the laptop. I must have hit something when I stood up because the email page is gone and only the desktop remains. I am about to dismiss it in my rush to find the message when I catch sight of a lone icon in the center of the screen. It’s a single folder with a simple name. My brain processes the words slowly.
Twenty questions.
I double click the file and find only a single item inside, a video file. Remembering the gruesome video link we just endured, my stomach threatens to empty itself. I force the feeling away and open the file. Mr. Walters’ flustered face centers in the screen with Braden seated and fully in his trance in the background. My heart falters at the sight of Braden alive and unhurt, but I can’t focus on him right now. The turbulent, almost pained expression on Mr. Walters’ normally calm face seems so out of place. One click of the play button brings him to life.
“Libby, I don’t think I can bear this much longer. I’ll hold out as long as I can, but I may not make it through this day. I tried to warn you that someone you trusted was going to betray you. I tried to tell you that everyone has their limit. I reached mine a long time ago. The Guardians will be here soon to take me and Braden. I led them to believe you would be here, too. At least I was able to do that. They don’t know where you are, but they’re coming for us. I can’t stop them, Libby. They’re going to kill me, but it’s what I had to do. I’m sorry.
“When I thought you had found a way to break Guardian promises, I know you must have felt my fear. I lied when I told you I left the Seekers, Libby. You can never leave. I tried. I paid for it, too, but I never made it out. What I didn’t lie about was when I told you I thought the Seekers were going about dealing with the Destroyer in the wrong way, because of the Ciphers. That’s also what I meant when I told you I knew about forbidden love.
“I was assisting on a Cipher hunt when I met her,” Mr. Walters says quietly. His entire face crumples in agony. Tears run down his wrinkled cheeks
.
“She was the one I was supposed to help capture. But I couldn’t do it. I used my Vision to find the perfect moment to escape with her, and I took it. I ran, I hid, I used every one of my talents to protect her. We fell in love and secretly married. After three years of running, I thought we were finally safe. I could see any threats before they came. When Samantha told me she was pregnant, I thought our lives together could never get any better. My daughter, Helen, was only six months old when they found us.
“I didn’t see it in time.”
Mr. Walters breaks down and hides his face in his hands. I want to do the same, but I can’t tear my eyes away from him. It’s several long seconds before he can continue.
“I was away from the house with Helen when I saw them coming for Samantha. I was too far away to get to her in time. I couldn’t even go back to say goodbye. They killed her and stood guard on the house, hoping I would return. I couldn’t risk the same thing happening to Helen. It killed me to do it, but I hid her with my sister and turned myself in to the Guardians.”
He pushes his sleeves up to reveal the mottled scars covering his arms. He stares at them with a sense of pride. “I paid for betraying them. For years they tortured me, but I took every bit of it knowing I was saving my daughter’s life. I couldn’t do it for Samantha, but I could do it for my baby girl. They kept me in that prison until someone found a better use for me. Someone remembered my fascination with the Destroyer, as well as my strong Vision. I was pulled out of my cell and offered a single mission. Find the Destroyer, and all would be forgiven.
“It was a chance at freedom, a chance to see Helen again. I’m sorry, Libby, but I took it. I swore to do anything in my power to find you, thinking I would never live to see the birth of the Destroyer. I must have been a fool not to understand that someone must have glimpsed a sign of your coming sometime in the near future. I found my daughter, by then a young woman, and watched her grow and marry.” He falters when his emotions become too difficult to bear. “I got to walk her down the aisle, something I never imagined I would be able to do.”
Swiping his hand across his face, he tries to dry his tears. “Libby, I told you about how I felt your presence when you were born. You have idea how shocking that was for me. I followed the pull blindly. I had to. I was bound to my mission. You asked me once about Howe showing up so soon after your Inquest. I was the one who alerted him. I knew the Destroyer would be revealed, even though I still didn’t know your identity. But I hadn’t been idle since being released by the Guardians. Quite the opposite, actually. I found every scrap of information I could on you. And what I found did little to convince me that the Guardians were right.
“Then I started searching for something else, a way to release me from my promise. I didn’t know who you were, yet, or what exactly I was trying to get away from, but I knew I couldn’t let the Guardians have you. A few months after feeling your presence, Helen surprised me with amazing news. I was going to be a grandfather. By that time I knew the Guardians were wrong about you. I was terrified that completing my mission would put Helen and the baby in danger. I pressured every resource I had to help me over the years, especially after meeting you, but I ended up alerting the Guardians to what I was after.
“But like last time, instead of coming after me, they took what they knew would really hurt me.”
His desperation hits me so profoundly, I feel trapped by it.
“Libby,” he says, “the Guardians have Helen. They took her husband and my granddaughter Hope, too. They’ve been holding them since the night after Braden tried to arrest Milo at the theater. I tried to get them back, but they made me promise to finish the mission or I would watch them die. That’s why I was so scared when I thought you had figured out a way to break Guardian promises. I couldn’t bear to see you fail, Libby. You have to become what you were meant to be, but if you had released me from my promise I was scared I wouldn’t follow through and my family would be killed. You may hate me for making the choice, but I can’t say I regret it. They are everything to me. I’m giving up my life to protect them and to warn you.
“When we spoke, when we played twenty questions, there was so much more I wanted to tell you. I can’t believe how much I know that I can’t share with you. Go to my house. There’s a box labeled Libby Sparks in my den. It has all the information I was able to write down. Use it in any way you can.”
Behind him, Braden starts to stir. He looks back at him with a flash of panic in his eyes. He knows time is running out. He turns back to the camera, the urgency in his stance making him tremble.
“Libby, if you were to ask me whether or not there was more to the prophecy, I would say I’m very happy. I can’t tell you any more than that, but I’m not the only person who knows. Find one of my brothers. Learn my deadly secrets. What you don’t know is vital, Libby, but don’t forget about the last stanza. It has more than one meaning. This isn’t the first time you’ve been betrayed.
“If you asked me whether the Guardians were capable of creating something worse than Sihirs out of Ciphers, I would tell you I was ecstatic. Do you understand me?”
Mr. Walters’ anxious fingers are tap-dancing on the laptop to the point of making the screen bounce back and forth. Braden shifts behind him, a sign that his focus is starting to weaken.
“I’m hoping the Ciphers will all make it out, but it’s a slim chance the ones here in Albuquerque are going to escape. I gave the Guardians as little information as I could manage given my promise, but I’m afraid it will be enough for them to realize what’s happening in time. If they are captured—and if I know Blackwood—he’ll hold them at ransom and use Braden against you. He wants you to surrender to him. Whatever you do, do not go after Braden, and do not give yourself up. I mean it, Libby. Stay as far away from the Guardians as possible! You have to survive, or nobody else will.”
Pounding on the door makes Mr. Walters flinch. The last image I have of him is his frenzied face as he turns away to betray everything I have worked for, everything I love.
Chapter 34
When
I sit on the jet, staring at the spot where I sat with Braden so long ago, but now unable to touch it. My entire body is numb except for the burning anger deep inside of me. I don’t know if it makes any sense, but I’m not mad at Mr. Walters. I hate that he did it. I hate even more that he was ever put in the position where he had to make the choice. But I understand the choices he made, and I honestly can’t say I would have chosen any differently. Not everyone knows the agony of losing someone you love. It changes you forever. It builds a promise deep inside of you that you will never let it happen again.
Lance slides in next to me and immediately wraps his arm around my shoulder. He’s trying to help, but right now all I can think of is how much I want it to be Braden’s arm around me instead. My stiff body keeps him at a distance.
“The captain said we’ll land in Victoria in seven hours,” Lance says.
I just nod. I don’t want to go to Canada right now. I want to be back in Albuquerque, closer to getting Braden back. Lance and Milo decided I couldn’t stay. And Milo refused to come with me. The idea of being stuck on a plane with me for hours made him cringe. He couldn’t stand the thought. That is how much he hates me right now. I don’t blame him. I hate myself just as much. I managed to hurt the man I love so badly he can’t stand the sight of me. And if that wasn’t enough, I know I’m in love with Braden. Yet because of me, he is either about to die right now or is being tortured to the point of breaking. Maybe I was never meant to be loved by anyone.
I try desperately to think of something else, but can’t quite manage it. My mind goes back to why I am on this plane. Lance and Milo were both sure I was going to run to the Guardian compound the second they turned their backs on me. Smart boys. So Lance is babysitting me while Milo and Dean work on figuring out how to rescue the Ciphers. I could have stayed. Even with all three of them trying to stop me, I still could have beaten them. Bu
t even I have to admit that I need some time to think. Checking in on the closest group of Ciphers will give me that time.
Part of me knows I should be much more concerned about making sure the other Ciphers who did escape are all fine and where they’re supposed to be. They’re my army after all, my only chance at success, but until I can figure out what Mr. Walters was talking about when he said there is more to the prophecy, and that the Guardians can create something worse than Sihirs, I don’t even know what to do with the Ciphers. I’ll get them started on their training, but I can’t move forward until I have a plan. And I honestly can’t even focus enough to think about making one until I have Braden back.
“Milo is going to go to Mr. Walters’ house to find that box he mentioned,” Lance says. “He’ll call as soon as he finds something.”
I nod again. He may find the box, but I doubt he’ll find anything useful, not until we decode everything. Mr. Walters’ notes were always written in a code only he knew the key to. I’m sure he had the foresight to leave us the key, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy work.
“Do you think what Mr. Walters did even worked?” Lance asks.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, speaking for the first time since boarding the plane.
“He gave us up to the Guardians to save his family.” Lance’s expression grows even more serious. I miss his smile. Lance looks over at me and asks the question he really wants to know the answer to. “Do you think Blackwood killed his family? I mean, as soon as he had what he wanted from him, why would he keep them alive?”
I have thought about them almost as much as Braden. “I hope they’re still alive, Lance. I hope there’s enough humanity left in Blackwood that he left them alone.”
“He didn’t let them go, though, even if he didn’t kill them.”
‘No,” I agree. “No, they’re still there inside the compound somewhere.”
“They don’t deserve that,” Lance says.
Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy Page 34
