Defective (The Institute Series Book 3) (20 page)

“Pretty insane, huh?” Drew says.

“Uh… Allira? Do you know that guy over there?” Shilah butts in.

“What guy?” I raise my head and see him. Jayce is standing near the entrance, glancing over the crowd, looking for someone. Looking for me. My breath hitches, and my heart starts pounding.

“Yeah, that guy. Because he obviously knows you, and it’s going to turn ugly if you don’t get him out of here before Paxton gets back,” Shilah warns.

“I’ll be right back,” I say, practically leaping out of my chair.

I get a glimpse through Shilah’s ability that Jayce isn’t going to leave until he talks to me. Managing to catch Jayce’s eye, I start walking away from the stage, getting him to follow me to the hallway where the bathrooms are, and away from the prying eyes of the media and Paxton.

I lead him to the end of the hall, past the bathrooms, and around the corner to a small alcove with an emergency exit at the end. It says it’s alarmed so I don’t open the door. He catches up quickly.

“Jayce,” I start, with more whine in my voice than I expected. He looks good in his suit, which I have to assume he wore so he would blend in. “You can’t be here, how did you get in, anyway?”

“My sister’s press pass.”

I raise my eyebrow at his answer.

“I had to come. I need to hear it from you,” he says cryptically.

“Hear what?”

“That we’re over. You won’t return my calls, you haven’t even shown up for your shifts at the clinic. Your aunt can’t even get a hold of you.”

“What calls? You haven’t called me. Neither has Aunt Kenna.”

He looks at me, suspicion and disappointment on his face. “Allira, we’ve all been trying to contact you. Especially Ebb.”

“Ebb? I got one of her messages, but was too scared to call her back. She sounded really pissed off.”

“Allira, even your parents have tried to get a hold of you. They have been for a while now. Are you telling me Paxton hasn’t told you any of this?”

My brow furrows. “You’re mistaken. Mum and Dad wouldn’t want to get in touch with me. Unless…” Maybe they think I’m grounded enough now that I’m engaged, that I’m stable enough.

Jayce lets out a sigh. “I got in contact with them.”

“You what?” I exclaim.

“After what you told me about them, I wanted to let them know how you’ve changed. You’ve grown, you’re strong again. They can’t keep punishing you for something you did while you were grieving.”

“Why did you do that?”

“I was hoping they could talk sense into you, seeing no one else can. Why are you engaged?”

I sigh as he reaches for my hand, his thumb running over my giant diamond. It takes all of my strength not to kiss him right here in the hallway.

“I need to work some stuff out. Until I do, I have to pretend to be happy where I am. With Paxton. It’s killing me to be away from you, but I have to do it. I was wrong to leave you without an explanation, but I was confused, and angry, and I didn’t know what else to do.” I pause to take a breath. “You shouldn’t have come, Jayce. I need you to leave.”

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on,” he says sternly. I’m surprised by his rigid tone. “I know I said I would never pressure you, but I feel like I’ve lost you. I can’t… I don’t… Please let me be here for you,” he says, his voice softening.

I take a step closer to him. “You’re not losing me. I just can’t let you get involved in this. It’s too dangerous, and I can’t lose you, too. I can’t lose you like I lost…” I take in a deep breath. “I’m hoping it’ll be over soon.”

“You’re in too deep, Allira. You need to pull out of whatever it is. You can’t let him take your life away from you, your choices.”

I smile as my eyes begin to water. “I’m not going to let it get that far. I know what I’m doing.”

I take another step forward so we are pressed up against each other. His hands find my back as mine finds his shoulder and makes its way to his chest. He presses his forehead to mine, our lips centimetres away from each other. I breathe him in as his warmth fills me.

Don’t let him kiss you,
I tell myself. If I allow that, I run the risk of running out of here right now on Jayce’s arm and never looking back.

It’s Paxton’s voice that startles me out of my Jayce trance. But it’s not coming from behind us, it’s coming from a speaker, from the main room. He’s started his speech.

“Shit. I’m meant to be up there with him. I have to go,” I say reluctantly.

I pull away, and go to walk back into the room when I’m met with a familiar face blocking my path. He’s wearing a security uniform, with a baseball cap, but I can see the bleached blond hair under it. I’ve come face to face with my stalker, and it’s not Paxton. It’s not Brookfield. I would recognise that monobrow anywhere.

Chapter Sixteen

“Nice to see you again, Miss Daniels. How about we take a ride?” he says, gesturing to the emergency exit, an evil smile on his face.

“No thanks Zac, I really need to be getting back,” I say casually, taking another step forward, trying to walk around him. I know it’s no use but I thought I’d at least try.

“You don’t want to be out there. Trust me,” he says with a chuckle.

I narrow my eyes. “What did you do?”

“What you should’ve done by now,” he says, his tone down-right scary.

A gun shot explodes from the main room, and I fall to the ground on instinct. From my new vantage point, I see my ‘shadow’ further up the hall, near the entrance to the bathrooms. He’s on the ground too, but the pool of blood around him lets me know he won’t be getting back up.
Shit!
Thom is dead.

Jayce is on the ground next to me. Worried doesn’t begin to describe his expression.

That’s when my brain clicks. “Shilah! Tate!” I whisper in a panic.

“That’s our cue,” Zac says as another shot goes off, accompanied by the screams and sounds of panic from those back in the banquet room. “Now move. You too, loverboy,” he says, giving me a gentle kick to get me to stand up.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say, pulling myself off the ground. If I can stall him long enough, surely people will start heading this way to get out and will see us. He’ll be powerless to do anything then.

I prepare myself for a fight. Even though I’m in a tight dress and heels, I’m sure I could still kick Zac’s arse. Jayce stands beside me. I turn to face him and grab hold of his hand reassuringly, but it starts trembling. It isn’t until I look back at Zac that I realise why. Zac’s has a gun, and is pointing it at Jayce’s head.

“Move. Now,” Zac says, cocking his head to the side.

“Do as he says,” I instruct Jayce calmly.

We leave through the emergency exit, the alarm sounds, but amongst the mad panic, it wouldn’t be drawing any extra attention. And just like that, we’re led into a dark alley away from the crowd pouring out onto the street around the corner. I can’t see anyone, but I can still hear screaming. Less than a minute, that’s how long it took Zac to get us outside. It felt so much longer, but according to Jayce’s watch that I was stealing glances at, it was less than a minute.

Tate! Tate!
I cry out in my mind, hoping he can hear me. I don’t get a response.
If you can hear me, it’s Zac. I don’t know who’s shooting, but Zac’s got Jayce and me. I don’t know where he’s taking us. Tate!
Still nothing.

“Crap,” I mutter. I take a different approach. I concentrate on Shilah’s ability as we walk. Maybe I’m just out of range. I can’t hear anyone’s thoughts, but I do get a vision.

Zac is taking us to an old warehouse. I can’t see exactly where, but there’s a few of them close together. I guess it must be near the business district of the city. Tate – if you can hear me, it’s a trap. He wants Drew. Tell Drew not to come. Please hear me. Please.
I’m begging. I fear it’s no use, that Tate is out of range, or worse, dead.

I tell myself to revert back to the last time Zac had me captured, torturing me for days. I need to be strong like I was back then. Now is not a time to break down and cry. For all I know everyone inside the hall is fine. I can’t worry about them right now, I need to focus on myself and Jayce. I need to keep Jayce safe.

I stand taller, walk more confidently, and ward off the tears that threaten to come. I’ll find a way out of this.

“So what’s this all about?” I ask gently.

“Oh, Miss Daniels, don’t try to play nice now,” Zac sneers.

“Are you at least going to tell me where we’re going?”

“All in due time, Miss Daniels. Right now though, we’re going to get in this car.”

Basic survival knowledge kicks in, telling me to not get in the car. Rule number one is to never allow your kidnapper to take you to a second location. Maybe I can knock him out while he’s driving. There’s two of us and one of him. We could distract him, crash the car… there has to be something.

“Here you go,” Zac says, holding up car keys. “You didn’t think I was going to drive and turn my back on you, did you? You drive, Miss Daniels. And don’t even think about leading us astray. One wrong turn will result in a bullet in loverboy’s head.”

Damn it.
Taking the keys from him, I climb into the driver’s seat. Zac ushers Jayce into the back. I drive, making sure I pay close attention to Zac’s directions and where we’re going so I don’t take a wrong turn, and also so I can relay the information later if I get the chance.

“Are you going to tell me what the plan is yet?” I ask, glancing at Zac in my rear view mirror.

“The plan? The plan is for you to shut your mouth before I shut it for you.”

I shrug. “I only ask because if you wanted to just kill us, we’d be dead now. You could kill us, right here, right now. But we’re useful to you somehow.”

“Only your arm is, sweetie. And if you don’t shut up, I’ll take it with me and dump the rest of you in the gutter, got it?”

I nod and return my eyes to the road. When I look back again, Jayce is white. He may even throw up. There’s nothing I can do to reassure him.

Zac instructs me to drive into the business district, past the commercial offices and buildings, and through to the far end where a row of warehouses are. I can only hope that Tate’s okay, that he heard me earlier and will send help.

“Give me the keys,” Zac orders. I turn the ignition off and hand him the keys. He gets out of the car, but before he shuts the door he waves the gun in my direction. “Don’t even think about trying to outrun me. Wait here.” He starts moving towards the warehouse door to open it.

I turn to Jayce immediately, not knowing how much time we have. “Everything will be okay. I know you’re scared, but I can handle this.”

“I’m only scared for you, Allira. I don’t want anything to—”

“It’s okay. I’ve dealt with Zac before – I endured days of what he can dish out. I’ll be okay. No matter what happens in there, don’t worry about me. Don’t do anything stupid and heroic. I can handle it. Okay?”

Jayce nods before his eyes go wide. Zac’s back, opening my door and pulling me out of the car by my hair. I let out a scream, but try to stifle it for Jayce’s sake. I don’t want him to do something stupid like try to stand up to the guy with the gun.

Zac turns to Jayce. “Think about taking off and she’s dead.”

Zac drags me into the warehouse, binds my hands behind me with duct tape, and then sits me down on a wooden chair, taping my ankles together. He walks back out, and brings Jayce in, doing the same to him.

“Now what?” I ask as he finishes restraining Jayce.

“Now, we wait,” Zac responds, walking over and taking a chair for himself.

He turns a lamp on next to him, lighting up half of the room. A shadowy figure of a couch and a TV are set up on the dark side of the room, a fridge sits over in the other corner. It’s only then do I realise that we’re in Zac’s home. He’s been living here.

Scanning the room with my eyes, I search for anything I could possibly use as a weapon or a knife to get me out of my restraints, but in the dim light of just a small lamp, I can hardly see anything – just shadows.

We sit in silence for what feels like hours, Zac staring at me, me staring at Zac, both of us determined to gain the upper hand. He smirks whenever I break his gaze to look over at Jayce to make sure he’s okay. Most of the time Jayce just looks confused as to why we’re at a standstill.

“Why are you doing this?” he finally breaks the silence.

“Oh! So he does speak, does he? I was beginning to think you were dating a mute.”

“We’re not dating, it’s not like that,” Jayce says.

“I’d say what I walked in on tonight would state otherwise. You’re seriously telling me nothing is going on?”

“Yup,” Jayce answers confidently, but even I notice the spike in his heart rate as he says it.

Zac breaks out into a smile, looking at me. “You haven’t told him about me? I’m offended.”

“You can’t lie to Zac,” I say. “He’s a walking lie detector.”

“Oh,” Jayce says.

“What does your
fiancé
think of your boyfriend?” Zac asks.

“Well he wasn’t all that pleased,” I answer.

Zac laughs. “You know, my little presents were meant to make you see the truth about Paxton, not make you want to marry him.”

“What truth? How was I meant to work out your nonsensical notes? The photos didn’t make sense either. It’s like you didn’t want us to know the truth. If you did, why couldn’t you just write ‘Oh hey, Paxton is a horrible human being for these reasons,’ and then list why you’re after him.”

“I thought you were a graduate of the Institute’s agent program! Or were you too busy sucking face with that other one during classes? You know, the Williams kid.”

I wince and look away.

“Ahh, touchy subject that one.” Zac smiles. He’s enjoying this. He must miss his old job and is making up for lost time. He pulls his chair closer to me. “What was so difficult to understand?”

“I got that you wanted me to feel guilty for Chad’s death because of what we did at the Institute—”

“Wrong,” he interrupts me. “I wanted you to look for who was truly responsible. With a little investigating I thought you would’ve figured it out, and if not, the note about Paxton certainly would’ve tipped you over the edge.”

“I’m just as responsible as Paxton when it comes to what happened that day.”

Zac shakes his head. “You’re so blinded by him. What kind of spell has he put you under to not see him clearly?”

“I don’t understand. Drew, Paxton, and I know we made a mistake. You don’t think we’re torturing ourselves more than you ever could? Why are you coming after us?”

“I need to list
why
you all deserve this? How about this: ten months. Ten months of jail time for a crime I didn’t commit. You thought the Institute was bad? Try being Defective in prison. You don’t think Paxton deserves to be punished for causing that?”

“You tried to kill me! I think ten months was more than fair.”

“Allegedly, Allira. You can’t prove it was me who attacked you in the hospital. And that was more Brookfield’s doing anyway. He knew the minute you and Drew showed up that something was off, but the mass arrest at the compound was too good an opportunity to pass up; he had to do it. He pulled me aside and gave me one mission – that if anything was to happen to him, I was to find you, and kill you. I was just following orders.”

“Nothing happened to Brookfield! He escaped because of you!” I yell.

“Wrong again,” he says shaking his head. “I had no idea where you put him. I did my part, then got the hell out of there. I was meant to kill Paxton and Drew, too, but I couldn’t get to them. You were too easy. A few days later I was found and arrested on aiding and abetting a fugitive.”

“If you didn’t let him out, then who did?” My eyes widen with realisation. “Paxton,” I whisper. “But why?” I ask myself more than anyone else.

Zac touches his nose and smiles. “He’s a piece of work, that fiancé of yours.”

I shudder. “Can you please stop calling him that?”

“I thought you would’ve taken action by now. I thought you would’ve worked it all out. Didn’t you learn anything during your agent training? It was a pretty simple formula. Get you thinking about your dead boyfriend and whose fault it really was. Point out that you and Paxton clearly have issues in your relationship, the main one being he’s a lying, manipulative son-of-a-bitch. Then, make you realise who was truly responsible for the near death of your best friend, the entire takeover of the Institute, and for the loss of all those people. Paxton did it all.”

I shake my head, “No. I know he can be controlling and manipulative, but he wouldn’t… he couldn’t have done the things you’re saying.”

“Oh but he did. He came to me one day, told me that one of the prisoners in the Crypt was a confirmed Defective, but still wouldn’t reveal his ability. He told me to take him to where they kept the double ability Defectives, to starve him for a few days and rough him up. Where do you suppose Paxton got that now infamous photo?”

“No,” I whimper. “Paxton wouldn’t do that to Tate. You’re lying.”

“Am I?” he raises an eyebrow.

“Why would Paxton set Brookfield free? You’re just trying to confuse me. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh, but it does. Convicting Brookfield on such little evidence of his crimes would be difficult, wouldn’t it? It would almost be just Paxton’s word against his. You don’t really think they’d take all the Defectives’ accounts of what happened in that place as fact, do you? Paxton let Brookfield go so there would be no one to dispute his claims.”

“What stopped Brookfield from coming forward since then? Where has he been all this time?”

“He still would’ve faced criminal charges. Paxton made him an offer that was a little too hard to refuse. He was hiding out in this warehouse when I found him.”