Taken By Choice (Taken Trilogy Book 3)

by Jessica Frances

  “Excuse me?” I nearly trip over my feet at his words.

  “This will be my one chance to actually receive permission. I get the feeling every other woman I’ve dated has had to fight their father over their choice in me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, I thought if you were going to be proposing to someone, it’d be the doc.”

  I look back at Ethan and see him blush. I’ve never seen him blush before.

  “We’re just friends.”

  “Yeah, right.” I roll my eyes at him, turning back in time to see Frank walking into the gym. We rush to the closed door and just as my hand moves to the door handle, it abruptly opens and two guys rush out, all sweaty with towels draped around their necks.

  “What’s the rush?” Ethan asks them casually.

  “Told to get out,” one says right when Ethan catches the door before it closes behind them.

  “Quick, duck down,” he hisses at me. We crouch down and sneak into the gym while the door quietly closes behind us as we crawl to the closest boxing ring.

  I take a peek over and see Frank standing only feet from Stan, his arms crossed over his chest. He looks angry, angrier than I’ve ever seen him look at me. We dash around the ring and move to one that is closer, keeping low and quiet so we’re not seen.

  “Holloway, what can I do for you?” Stan asks Frank, his back still facing away from him.

  “I’ve been through the files; I know what’s really going on here.”

  “I thought we discussed your involvement with this project. Filing isn’t part of your duties.”

  “You’re selling these kids to the highest bidder. When we set out with this project it was to protect America. Now you’re taking on missions for our enemies? Taking missions for your own agenda?”

  “That daughter of yours is proving to be quite the problem. I’m rather wondering if that isn’t one of her gifts too, persuasion.”

  “You leave Zoe out of this.”

  “That is what you should have done. You were meant to watch over the girl, not fall in love with her mother. I had to call you off because I knew you were getting too close. The soldier I knew was getting lost behind being a husband and father. It was nauseating to see you changing like that. I had hoped I pulled you out in time, but I realize now that I left it too late.”

  Frank growls in anger, punching the table next to him, causing it to jump up in the air. “When did you start selling us out? Or was this always your plan?”

  “You don’t seem to realize that these things cost money. Do you think we could afford the best doctors, the best scientists, the best equipment and weapons on the pathetic money they deem acceptable to give us? The fact that this country isn’t in shambles is a miracle. I did what I had to do to ensure we would be ready and strong enough to protect our borders.”

  “You crossed a line.”

  “What line is that exactly? You didn’t appear to have a problem with what we were doing until five minutes ago. Did you think we were noble people, taking pregnant women and experimenting on their unborn children? What about all the babies and children that died for this? You never asked questions then.”

  “I should have asked questions.”

  “But you didn’t because you understood that sacrifices needed to be made. Don’t screw this up now, friend.”

  “It’s not right. You need to take a step back, reassess what is going on. You need to get some perspective.”

  “You know there is only one way to leave this program.”

  “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

  “It’s either that or prison. I’m a hero. I sacrificed everything for the love of my country, but I’m fully aware that no one can know what we’ve done here. No one can know how much we’ve given up because people don’t want the ugly truth. They don’t want to hear about the means, just so long as it works out in the end. I’m part of those means. I’m a part of what gets swept under the rug. There is no leaving this place for me, just like there is no leaving this place for you.”

  “It’s not too late to turn this around.”

  “It is too late, and I’m sorry to be the one to do this to you.” At that, Stan pulls out a gun, aiming it at Frank.

  My body shakes in fear as I look around us for a weapon or anything that can help Frank. I struggle when an arm wraps around me, holding me down and a hand clamps my mouth shut.

  “Please don’t do this,” Frank begs him.

  His answer is three loud gunshots. I hear a thud as Frank goes down, but I lose sight of him. Ethan pulls us lower so we can’t be seen over the ring and I struggle to hold back my tears.

  Frank has been shot.

  There is no way I can wrap my head around this. I listen as Stan grunts, lifting Frank’s arms and sliding him along the ground. Frank isn’t moving. I know he’s dead.

  Once Stan moves Frank’s body out of the gym and through a side door, I push Ethan off me and he lets me this time.

  “What the fuck!” Ethan gasps, his face deathly pale and his jaw hanging loosely from his mouth.

  “That… it… did I just… how can…” I feel faint and I lay my head down on the floor mats below our feet.

  “Holloway, you look green.”

  I try to tell him to shut up, but even to my own ears I don’t make any sense. Stan killed Frank. Stan murdered Frank. Stan shot Frank. There’s no way that I can consider it where it makes sense to me.

  “We need to get out of here.” Ethan grabs my arm, using his body to shield me from the scene before us. There is no body, but I bet there is a lot of blood.

  Blood. Dana’s blood covering my hands. I see it clearly, feel it sticking to me and feel its warmth.

  I dry retch, almost bringing up my dinner, but after several deep breaths, I’m able to keep my food down.

  “Are you going into shock? You feel cold!” Without waiting for my answer, Ethan picks me up, rushing me down the hallway. He takes me past the kitchen, past the showers and bathroom, past our bedrooms and towards medical. He pauses at the door when he sees Stan in there, shouting at one of the other doctors.

  “Maybe not,” he mutters to himself, backpedalling us, going back towards our bedrooms. He takes me into the men’s area and within moments Will and Blake rush up to us.

  “What happened?”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Just watch over her. I think she’s going into shock.” Ethan places me down on a bed and then wraps a blanket around me.

  “Wait, where are you going?” Blake calls after him.

  “I’m going to get Pratt,” he says calmly, his voice disappearing around the corner.

  “What happened to you?” Blake asks me, kneeling down beside me.

  “Stan killed… I saw him… he shot… Frank.” I stumble around the words, trying to say what I saw while my body shakes in fear. I want to sleep and never have to wake up to this nightmare I’m stuck living in.

  “He what?” Blake jumps up to his feet in outrage. “Right, we need to get the hell out of here, now.”

  “I agree, but what about Rose and Charlie?” Will sounds unsure.

  “I know that they mean a lot to you guys and what I’m saying sounds cruel, but it’s time to set things in motion. In the larger scheme of things, they’re two people. This isn’t a guaranteed death sentence for them; they’re smart and resourceful. They’ll be able to look after themselves. But it comes down to two lives, and maybe even our own lives, for all those unborn babies about to be taken from their families and raised to be murderers. It’s about all those soldiers that have already died because they needed the test subjects. It’s about the future ones that will die. We talked about them crossing the line; well, right now, we are at the line, and if we don’t move now, then we’re just as bad as them,” Blake brings up what I learned from Frank. I know he’s right. I never intended to tell anyone what Frank said to me, especially not Blake, but I knew I had to. Maybe it was so he could give me this speech and help us to
do the right thing.

  “You can’t make us put targets on our friends,” Will protests.

  “They already have targets on them, they will for the rest of their lives if P.A.G.E. stays around. It’s time to put an end to it.”

  I sit up, my emotions settling as Blake’s words soak into me. Tears well up in my eyes, but I try not to let them fall.

  “Blake is right. Rose and Charlie would hate us if they knew we were putting all those lives at risk just for them. I’ve seen Rose get married in the future, and her wedding is at the end of the week. If we act now, then I know they live for at least another week. It’ll give us a week to get to them.”

  “So we’re doing it? We’re getting out of here tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  Ethan and Doctor Pratt rush in then, closing the door behind them. They both look surprised to see me sitting upright.

  “Tonight is the night,” I say, knowing they won’t need any further explanation as to what I’m telling them.

  “Are you sure?” Ethan asks me.

  “Yes.”

  The door opens and we all tense up as Ocean comes in, surprised by us all turning and watching him enter.

  “No one invited me to the party,” he jokes being upset, his eyes landing quickly on me. “Holloway, I have something for you, I think.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Frank gave me this, said if he wasn’t back in an hour to take it off me, then I was to give it to you.” He shrugs.

  “He gave you a letter?” I stand up, letting the blanket drop back onto the bed.

  “Yeah.” Ocean nods, holding it out to me as I step closer to him.

  I take it, my hand shaking as I look at my name written down on it.

  “He knew he might not survive his talk with Stan; he prepared just in case,” Ethan says, moving to stand next to me.

  “I can’t read this,” I whisper, my grip tightening around the envelope.

  “Then read it later.”

  “But what if it says something important, something that might help us?” I don’t take my eyes off the letter. There is no way I can read it, not now, not when we’re about to stage an escape. “You read it.”

  “What?” Ethan blanches at my request.

  “Just take a quick look, see if there is anything helpful and then put it back.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think I—”

  “Just hurry up and do it,” Blake snaps at Ethan, eager to begin our plan.

  “Okay, okay.” He carefully takes the envelope from my hands, opening it up and skimming the letter. His expression turns uncomfortable when he hands it back to me. “He says we need to get as much information as we can. He mentions a safe in the wall behind a filing cabinet, along with a code to access it and a hidden section in the bottom draw of his desk.”

  “Does he say how to get passed his door?”

  “He said the codes changes every day, but Parker or Ocean should easily be able to break it down,” Ethan tells me as I fold the letter into my back pocket. It weighs barely anything, as paper does, but it feels like it drags me down emotionally. I might as well have just put a weight of a hundred tons and sat it over my heart.

  “What are you talking about? What is going on?” Ocean asks, his expression turning nervous.

  None of us gets the chance to answer him because Corby and Maggie rush in and they’re each holding a gun. They only take a breath before they begin shooting at us.

  Chapter 24 – THE GUN

  Time moves slowly. Corby storms into the room with his gaze a cross between determined and insane. He barely gives himself a chance to take in the scene before him—barely looks at who is in front of him—before he holds the gun in his hand out and shoots.

  No matter how many times I hear the noise, it still sounds foreign and intruding to my ears. It’s like my ears refuse to accept that noise—refuse to get used to it—as it echoes around the room.

  Will doesn’t get any time to react. He doesn’t get a chance to move out of the way. He takes the full brunt of the gunshot and this time he’s not being shot in the arms or legs. He is shot in the chest and he goes down hard.

  “Will!” I scream his name, torn between getting out of the path of Corby and Maggie, and getting to Will. Maggie holds out her gun, she is standing just behind Corby and she takes aim at Doctor Pratt. Ethan tries to push her out of the way, but the gun goes off and they both fall down. I’m not sure if one of them is hit, or maybe even they both are.

  Another shot is fired at Blake, and he ducks down. I think he avoids getting hit, but I’m not sure. All of this happens in seconds and I stumble backwards, hitting a bed with my back legs when Corby takes aim at me, stomping towards me menacingly.

  “Planning to escape this place? Planning to take it down?” he screams at me, suddenly looking completely crazy. His eyes are bloodshot and a drop of blood falls from his nose. Not only is he crazy right now, but he’s also super strong.

  “We weren’t, we—”

  “I heard you!” he yells at me, shoving me so I fall across the bed and then over it.

  Another two gunshots ring off, but I’m too distracted to see who Maggie has aimed at or if she hit anyone. There is screaming surrounding us, but it already feels like it’s falling to a low hum.

  My ears are only attuned to Corby’s voice. I hear his heavy breathing as he approaches me again. My heart hammers away in my chest and I scatter backwards, away from him.

  “Please…” I beg him, hating that we’ve come so close to leaving this place and now we’re about to be massacred here.

  “Don’t use your manipulation on me. You may have been able to turn Reader into a traitor and you may have been able to turn everyone in this room, but not me.” He jumps over the bed in one quick move, his legs landing on either side of me, then crouches down over me. His eyes look even wilder up close. I don’t even blink; I’m too afraid to take my eyes off him.

  “You were experimented on, just like Ethan. What they did was wrong and—”

  “NO!” His voice booms and I wince at how powerful it sounds. He grabs hold of my arms, forcing me to stand with him, and then he turns so he is facing my side. “I am going to make you wish you never met me, going to make you beg me for death,” he whispers the words to me. My body shakes at the evilness touching my ears.

  He uses his super strength to throw me across the room, just avoiding hitting Maggie. I hit the opposite wall, my shoulder knocking on the doorframe. Maggie aims her gun at me, but halts shooting me. As my eyes move to meet hers, she smirks at me before turning away and landing a punch in Ocean’s face just as he tries pouncing on her.

  I try to glance around the room, try to assess how everyone is, but as soon as my eyes land on Corby approaching me, everything else blurs. My vision zeros in to only him. Instinctively, I try to get away, even though I know it’s pointless. I turn and crawl out of the door, quickly getting to my feet, ready to run. Instead, I only make it a step when Corby’s hand wraps around my ponytail and yanks me back. I fall against him and then he shoves me into the wall, face first. I turn my head to avoid a direct collision, but that’s the only thing I can manage. The side of my forehead takes the brunt of the attack and I drop to my knees, barely avoiding a punch that ends up with his fist through the wall where my head has just been. Black dots invade my vision and I inhale a deep breath of air, realizing I’ve forgotten to breathe.

  “Stop!” I beg him, gasping as he grabs my shirt and pulls me to my feet.

  “Let her go!” Ocean rushes out the doorway, determination over his face. Maybe he can help me. Maybe this is why I knew I felt I had to save his life after the car accident. Maybe this is the moment I knew was coming.

  Corby pushes me against the wall, this time facing Ocean at the same time he leans his arm over my neck, keeping me locked in place. With his free hand he holds the gun out and takes perfect aim at Ocean. I know I’m about to watch Ocean be executed, and I can’t accept
that. I didn’t help to save his life so he could be ruthlessly murdered only months later.

  I pull every bit of strength I have left—my anger, my sadness, my grief—and I let it consume my body; let it take hold of me. I shove Corby’s arm just as he fires the gun. I’m still stuck against the wall, but my arm makes enough contact that his aim misses. He quickly tries again, but Ocean ducks out of the way and disappears back into the men’s room to take cover.

  “Is that what you want? You want me to murder your friends in front of you?” he taunts me, his face moving only inches from me. As his vile breath hits my face, his wild eyes are almost completely red now and his nose is gushing blood. There is possibly a chance that if I can keep him talking, then he might pass out from blood loss before he can kill me. Somehow, I don’t think I’ll get the chance to survive that long, though.

  I open my mouth to speak, maybe to keep begging for my life—for my friend’s lives—but running footsteps sound, coming towards us from down the hallway. Corby growls; angry that he’s being interrupted no doubt. I don’t know who it is, though, because he’s holding me so tightly now that I can’t even move my head. I hear the shouting of a woman’s voice, but my eyes are locked onto Corby’s, my ears unable to hear much else other than my heart smashing against my ribs. He doesn’t seem to be listening to whatever is being said. He merely holds the gun menacingly to my head, the cool metal digging into my tender forehead.

  I stop breathing, watching his mouth twitch into a smile before he moves the gun away from me, facing it down the hallway and, just as quickly as he glances away from me, he pulls the trigger.

  “No!” I gasp, managing to shove him off me. I don’t know why he let me go so easily until I notice that he is staring at the body just feet away from us in shock. As my gaze moves to the body, I stare, too. It’s Martha staring lifelessly at the ceiling, her body flat against the ground. Blood begins to immediately pool around her.

  Corby’s breathing quickens. He just shot his aunt dead. I tense, seeing the anger flash over his face. His body swells before my eyes, his shoulders growing and his chest widening.