“Hold on,” I had to insert myself into that statement. “Were you watching things I did in the bedroom? How gross are you?”
He smirked at me and shook his head. “I was not. But anyone watching you walk home after that night with the boy could have known you were disappointed. You had “I was not fucked properly” all over your face.”
I took a deep breath. “I suppose I could try to deny it, but it was really bad.”
“Ninety-nine percent of the guys you’re going to fuck at that age are bad. They have to get a little bit older to get control over themselves to make it good for you. Unless they’re one of the few that really got laid in high school and don’t just pretend they did.”
It took me a second to realize that statement had come from K and not Derrick. I think D might have been shocked, too. We both stared at him, neither of us speaking. K rolled his eyes. “It’s just how it is.”
“Was that how it was for you?” Derrick grinned. “Because I remember getting the job done pretty well.”
K shook his head. “Please. You were paying for pussy back then. They’d have told you anything.”
“I never paid for it.”
K stepped away from the door. “Buying a girl an expensive tennis bracelet after you fuck her is basically the same thing.”
I didn’t need to hear them reminisce. I really didn’t. But it did tell me they’d known each other a long time. It wasn’t just J that Derrick knew well. K could comment on Derrick’s sex life. I took my chance and stepped around K, grabbing the door and rushing down the stairs.
“Hey,” K called after me. “Everly, I know you have no reason to believe me, but you really don’t want to do that.”
Oh, but I did. I was here, and I wasn’t going to live here without knowing what was in the basement. My eyes had to adjust from the sunlight to the lower wattage, and I instinctively reached out to grip the banister on the stairs. I tended to be clumsy when I was off kilter and changes in light did that to me.
I ignored K and continued down the stairs. They were made out of wood and they were noisy, creaky, when I stepped on them. Like something out of a ridiculous horror movie. But that was where the oldness ended. The basement was the most modern spot in the house. Down here, there were computers and screens everywhere I looked.
I made it to the bottom as K and Derrick followed me down. “Guess there’s no Wi-Fi problem down here.”
“We have contacts. It’s as good as anyone can have anywhere in the world,” Derrick supplied. Ju—sorry, J, he knows the right people.”
He’d almost given me another name but I couldn’t focus on that right then.
“You know, K, if you really wanted me to be able to live my life undisturbed, the thing to do would have been to have left me alone to begin with.”
Derrick laughed. I was really amusing him today. “But honey, we needed a sacrificial lamb.”
I shook my head. “I’m not meek or easy to bleed.”
“You are.” K said walking past me. “The problem is you just don’t know it, which makes you even more vulnerable.”
I walked toward the computers. They were all on. Numbers flew by, and I tried to make quick sense of them. It seemed like each monitor had something different on it. I had taken statistics classes in abundance, but I had no idea what I was looking at.
The screens weren’t better. They seemed to be focused on people. Sitting, walking, running, and driving cars. They were no one I recognized.
“This is where you ruin people’s lives and run the world?”
A shout sounded from somewhere down the hall. Neither K nor Derrick responded to it. I turned toward the sound, eventually finding myself in another room filled with screens. In this one, there were people tied up, injured, beaten, and one man I thought might actually be dead from the angle of his head. I covered my mouth with my hand to stop from screaming.
“Help me,” the scream came again from a man on a screen to my left. He had a bag over his head.
“At any given time,” Derrick said as he entered the room slowly. “The Alliance has hundreds of people captive. Tortured. Killed. Sometimes it’s the ants, as K likes to refer to them. Sometimes it’s their own members. We’re watching a few of them right now.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Because you are… gathering intel or you’re getting off on it… or what?”
“We’re not getting off on it.” K leaned against the door. “I don’t have a thing for torture. None of us do. I suppose there is a time and a place. But Derrick over there lost his wife because he refused to participate in the darker side of things.” He stared at Derrick. “See? I can share private information, too.”
He shrugged. “I already told her that last night.”
“Fuck. How much did the two of you talk?”
I ignored them. Let them banter. There were people in pain, in terror, and they were on a view screen. We stared at them like a spectacle. I could hardly breathe, but I sought calm. I’d wanted down in the basement, and I was here. Now, I had to understand just how far down the sick, distorted rabbit hole I had fallen with these guys.
“Why are you watching them?” They hadn’t answered that, and so help me, they were going to.
“Right now we’re out of favor. The five of us were never… popular, per se. But we were on the councils. Not the ruling council, mind you. But advisory positions. Our voices were heard. They’ve managed to sideline us without killing us. That’s interesting. Also, more important is why.” K pointed at the screen. “Why do they have these people? They don’t know we’re watching them or they’d cut it off.”
I rubbed my eyes. “Why don’t you help them?”
“Why would we do that?” Derrick didn’t sound sarcastic. “Maybe they’re very bad people. Maybe they’re terrorists. Child rapists. Part of what The Alliance does is keep order. Occasionally, things go awry in the world. Chaos is not good unless it’s chaos we create. That’s the party line anyway. Lately, things have gotten very bad, control of events moving too far from what we’d want. Just another indication it’s time to change the status quo. Why should we help those strangers?”
Okay, I’d had enough. I walked past them. I was powerless right now to help anyone but it wouldn’t always be that way. So help me, I’d find a way. When I got out of here, I’d spend my life trying to free people from The Alliance. I’d devote myself to it. I’d wanted to help people. Well, this was how I’d do it.
“I told you that you couldn’t unsee it.”
I took a long breath. “Yes, K, you did.”
“Fuck it. Just call me Kade.”
“I’m going back to my room. If this is what you wanted, Derrick, you’ve succeeded. You have officially shown me how the world gets destroyed. Just a bunch of people watching torture and terror and doing nothing about it.”
He furrowed his brow. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
I didn’t stop to answer him. My room seemed like the best possible place to be right then. In fact, I might stay in it permanently until my father got me out of here. My father, a member of this nightmare—who knew where I was and wasn’t storming the place to get me back—could finish what he was doing, and I’d go home.
Then I’d figure things out. In my room, with the sounds of those people screaming, pleading, still ringing in my ears I looked under my bed. The shotgun was gone. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Derrick was the only person who could have thought it wasn’t a bad idea. I might snap and kill them all.
I’d been skirting a line this whole time, and I might have just crossed it. The five of them were spending their days in the basement, watching people suffer. And I hadn’t even asked about those numbers on the computers. What were they? I didn’t look at the rest of the basement. There was probably more. Maybe they had their own captive prisoner down there. No, I was the prisoner, and I was free to wander an island I couldn’t get off of until I either went mad or my despicable father rescued me.
T
alk about awful choices.
I climbed into the bed. I didn’t have to be strong all the time. I was still sweaty from my run, but I didn’t even care. This was too much. It just was.
I woke up and went back to sleep all day. No one bothered me and that was fine. I’d be good with this lasting for months. I’d eat if I had to and otherwise I would sleep. Time would pass. I wouldn’t make any more trips down to that basement.
Why had Derrick brought me down there? To punish me? I had all kinds of names now. Derrick. Kade. Warden. They’d told them to me. I knew Trace. And it was only J left, who was Ju something or other. Knowing them hadn’t humanized them to me. Now they were just evil people watching evil people do terrible things.
The world was in chaos? What did that mean?
And if they’d been ousted by The Alliance did that mean they were or weren’t involved? Too many questions, and I didn’t think I should ask for answers.
I hadn’t liked the way the basement resolved itself.
Outside, the helicopter landed. Did it come every other day? I didn’t get up to look at it. Derrick hadn’t shot up the lake tonight or at least I hadn’t heard it. I’d been pretty heavily asleep. Maybe he had. Or maybe he’d just found a different location.
I rolled over. I’d go back to sleep.
A knock sounded on the door. I thought about not answering it. The clock said it was almost midnight. Who wanted me now? In the end, curiosity won. I swung open the door. On the other side, T waited.
“I heard you had a rough day. You’ve been in here over twelve hours.”
Did he have a point? “Yes, and?”
“Pack your bag. You have ten minutes. Enough for three days away. Some of your nicer clothes. Things you’d wear to a job interview or a funeral and something for a dinner. Don’t do anything passive aggressive like just pack your sweatpants. You won’t like how that ends for you. As though you were taking a weekend away. You won’t need a coat, but you’ll want it until we get out of here. Hurry up. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”
I shook my head. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
“We’re going somewhere for three days. Ten minutes. You can shower when we get there. Hurry up.”
He closed the door, and I methodically started to do what he said. Where was he taking me? I’d seen the basement. That wasn’t something he’d wanted. Was he going to kill me? No, he could have done that now. He didn’t have to tell me to pack. Did they need me out of the house for some reason? I sighed. I wasn’t going to find out if I didn’t pack my bag.
I opened the closet. They’d really brought all my clothes. Derrick did like details. That much was obvious, considering that the closet was almost exactly as I’d set mine up at home. Had he taken photos and then recreated it, or did he just have a photographic memory? Was that a real thing?
I packed a bag. I had two suits I interviewed in so I grabbed those. Dinner? I didn’t know what kind of restaurant, but black pants tended to work for everything. If I didn’t need a coat wherever this was, I’d use a black top and a sweater just in case the restaurant was cold. I also shoved in jeans, pajamas, a t-shirt, a bathing suit for good measure, and my toiletries. The fact that they’d brought my suitcase at all meant that someone must have thought I was going to need it.
I made his ten minute deadline. He took my hand, even though I hadn’t offered it, and handed my bag to a person I didn’t know.
“Where are we going?”
He put his finger to his mouth. “I don’t think anyone will hear you over the helicopter, but just in case, I’m not dealing with the others right now. They won’t like me taking you, and I just don’t give a shit. They took you to the basement. All rules are over.”
A thought dawned on me. “Are you letting me go?”
He shook his head. “No. You’re still ours until your father comes through. I’m just taking you on a field trip.”
We climbed onto the helicopter and T actually bent over to buckle me in. “It’s going to get loud when we take off.” He picked up some headphones. “You’ll put these on to protect your ears. But first you’re going to take this pill.”
I stared at his hand as it opened, revealing a small white pill in it. “What is that?”
“It’s going to knock you out. We have places to go before we get where we’re going and I don’t trust you enough to let you see those places. Not yet anyway. You’re proving surprising. You can take the pill, or I can shove it down your throat.”
I laughed and that must have surprised him. “What if I couldn’t swallow pills? Oh sure, that’s the shoving it down my throat thing. Sure, I’ll take your pill because of the sweet, charming way you asked me to, and because I don’t give two shits about the places you don’t want me to see. You’re evil. Evil people and evil places. You can all sink into the ocean.”
His smile was slow. If he cared what I said, he didn’t say a word. I opened my mouth and he placed the pill on my tongue before he brought a bottle of water to my lips. My hands worked just fine but maybe he thought I’d spit it out or refuse. I settled against the seat while he placed the headphones over my ears.
Fine, I’d sleep through whatever this was. I’d never particularly wanted to be on a helicopter to begin with. I hated flying on a good day and that was on an airplane.
T lifted one of half of the headphone just slightly off my ear. “My name is Trace, Everly. Probably best if you don’t call me T when you wake up.”
“I knew that.” Let him think on that for a while. “But I’m not telling you how. And, you should know, T, that I fully intend to try to get away from you the whole time we’re out there.”
He nodded. “You’ll fail if you try. You’re also not going to want to, but you’ll have to trust me on that. What we’re doing? It’s going to be like a train wreck. You won’t be able to look away.” He pulled out his phone and texted something. The pill must work quickly because already my mind felt fuzzy. “I’m letting the others know where you’re going and when you’ll be back. Feeling it?”
I nodded, closing my mind. “Whatever. I don’t need a play by play. It’s not like I have any say in any of this.”
“You came. You didn’t shout when I told you not to. You climbed on the helicopter. You didn’t spit the pill into my face. You’re no wilting flower, Everly. I think the truth is that you want to come. We’ve piqued something in you. Maybe it’s not something you like. Fight against it if you want to. I don’t blame you. You’re in this now. You were right away, but since you went into the basement, now you’re officially ours and for the next three days you’re mine.”
He hadn’t mentioned the kiss we’d shared. He was right. As disgusted as I was, there was part of me that was completely transfixed with all of it. My head felt sideways. It was hard to think. “Did you cause September 11th?”
“No. I didn’t. And it wasn’t Alliance. That was… chaos.”
I supposed that was something. “Have you ever made an airplane crash?”
“Not personally.” That didn’t make me feel better. Did that mean someone else had? He put the earbud back over my ear. I guessed that was my cue to stop talking. It was okay.
I closed my eyes. “You guys are drugging me so much I might become addicted.”
If he said anything, I couldn’t hear it.
“Everly, open your eyes.”
A warm breeze hit my face, along with a voice telling me to open my eyes. I scrunched up my nose. No, I wasn’t ready. “Don’t want to.”
“I know. But you need to. Time for some water and to wake up.” It was T’s insistent voice making me give up my nap. I wrenched open my eyes. I’d fallen asleep on a helicopter and now I was… I looked around, trying to make my brain work. The sun was bright, the colors vivid. The sky above my head was blue and cloudless. “Where is here?”
“That’s a funny way to put it.” He pressed a bottle of water to my mouth, giving me a sense of déjà vu. He’d just done that. Or may
be not. Maybe a lot of time had passed. I drank down the water, and he pulled back the bottle, finally handing it to me. “Where is here?”
He leaned back in his seat. We were in an open air taxi, driving fast on bumpy roads. A beat from the radio caught my attention as did the man who drove the car. I couldn’t see or hear anything but his dreadlocks and his voice singing with the radio.
“This is St. Croix. We made a few stops before getting here. Don’t worry, you didn’t snore.”
I hadn’t been concerned. If I snored that was his problem for knocking me out. “And no one blinked at you hauling an unconscious me around?”
“If only that was the strangest thing I’d ever done.” He shook his head. “No one saw us who would have blinked at it. Feeling okay?”
I looked around. Everything was kind of pink. “Why are we in St. Croix?”
“I need to check on a client, and you can help me more on the project you’ve been working on.”
I rubbed my eyes. The truth was I could go back to sleep again. “Still tired.”
“You’ll throw off the drugs soon enough. We should be able to fly straight back, so I’m not going to drug you again.”
“Aw, but T, maybe I need my fix. What will I do if one of you is not knocking me out like Sally Sleeps A Lot?”
He stared at me with his head tilted to the side. “Is that some kind of toy? Sally Sleeps A Lot?”
“It might be. I just made it up.”
Trace’s smile was fast and big. “You’re acting more like yourself. You’ll be fine.”
I leaned forward. “What if I wasn’t? Would you bury my body here on the island? Leave me here to decay on the side of the road? Ship me in a coffin to someplace they’d never identify my remains?”
T tugged on the end of my hair. It was such a simple gesture. “You make me wish I could have met you under different circumstances. I would have liked to hear that mouth of yours say things to me across a table with you having no idea how fucked up I am.”
Hard Truths (Kiss Her Goodbye Book 1) Page 8
