Gilded Hearts (The Shadow Guild Series) (12 page)

“What the hell does his voice matter?” Ryerson tried to crowd Piper, but Dennison held him back. “This is pointless.”

“We need to know if he’s French, Spanish, an aristocrat, a gutter rat. Anything that might help us identify him.” Samuel was clenching his jaw so hard his head ached from the pressure. “Now shut up and let me do my job.”

Piper giggled again.

“Annie?”

“He didn’t sound like he was from New London. He sounded… different.”

Dennison shook his head and shrugged. Samuel gave Piper’s hand a squeeze. “Did he say anything odd?”

Piper gasped, jerking her hand from Samuel’s. “He’s squeezing my throat.”

It was hard to keep from pulling Piper into an embrace, offer what little comfort he could to her. Instead, he rose from the chair and sat beside her on the cold metal bed. “He’s speaking to you while he’s choking you?”

“Make him stop.” Tears slipped down Piper’s cheeks from beneath the goggles. “I’m so scared.”

“I know you are, sweetheart. I promise he will stop soon.” He was a beast for pushing forward, but he knew they only had this one opportunity to discover what they could about the man. “Tell me everything, Annie.”

The dam broke, and words spilled from Piper in a rush. “His hand is so big around my throat. I can feel his fingers all the way around. His face is pressed to my hair and he’s talking to me. Telling me I’ll be his soon. That I’m a pretty little slut. His other hand is around my wrist and he’s pressing against my tattoo. Calls me a stupid bitch… Oh, God, he has a knife!”

Her slender body jerked, lips opening in a horrible, silent gasp. After a moment she continued, more calmly, but still crying. “Then I knew he wasn’t going to let me go, not ever. I clawed at him, just like the others told me to. Clawed and scratched and tried to kick him, but he was too close.”

“Where did you scratch him?”

“His face. I remember him shouting and slapping me. I want to go home. Can I go home to my mum?”

“Soon.” Without thinking, Samuel wiped some of her tears with his thumb. “I promise it will be over soon.”

“I don’t want to die like this. Not like this.”

“I know.”

“The zombies will come and take my soul. I don’t want to be trapped in a little box underground. I just want to go home to my mum. I w-w-want… I-I…”

Piper collapsed forward, as though the weight of the memories was suddenly too much for her to bear. The goggles slid down the bridge of her nose, and Samuel could see Piper’s blank gaze over the heavy frame.

“Shit.” He pulled the goggles free from her head, tossing them blindly in the direction of the console. “Piper? Pip?” Cupping her face, he lightly tapped her face. “Wake up, darling.”

Both Ryerson and Dennison moved around the room, talking, accusing each other of the failure of what should have been a simple report. They could both be damned for all Samuel cared. She was the only thing that mattered to him then. He tried to maneuver her around to jostle her awake, but it didn’t seem to work.

Finally Samuel leaned in, pressing his lips to her temple. “Pip? You need to wake up now.”

As if she heard the command, she slowly blinked once, twice, before taking a deep breath. “Sam?”

“Thank God.” Not caring what anyone thought, he pulled her into a hug. “Thank God.”

“She was so scared. Scared of
us
. And I’m the one who took her fears and made them real. I took her out and shoved her in the cathode.” Piper pulled back and looked at him with wide eyes filled to the brim with tears. “How could I do that to her? How can we do that to anyone? Oh my God, I’m a monster.”

They didn’t have the luxury of time for Piper to have her crisis of faith right then. He needed her strong until they solved their cases, until he could get her out of here to someplace safe. Then he would hold her while she worked through all of this.

“You did what you had to.” He pushed stray locks of her hair from her face and kissed her temple. “She isn’t actually alive in there.”

“Annie hates this.” Piper shuddered.

“She’s not really here. She died and all that you took were her thoughts and experiences.” Pressing a kiss to her forehead, Samuel paused to wipe a tear track away. “You can’t blame yourself for this. If not you, another archivist would have done the same. At least you care.”

Ryerson moved around the table to stop beside Piper. His hand twitched at his side, but he did not reach out to touch her. “It appears you got the information you wanted, Mr. Dennison. Now let’s get that wretch out of Miss Smith’s mind. She will need the opportunity to recover from this extraction, and I recommend she not go on assignment for quite some time. Perhaps months.”

“I’ll get the needle.” The doctor busied himself with his bag.

This was wrong. Samuel knew Piper couldn’t be left with Annie’s experiences, but nor did it seem right for everything that she’d gone through to be wiped away, as if Piper’s own memories weren’t worth the preservation. And yet, he wasn’t willing to subject Piper to the pain of Annie’s murder any longer than necessary.

He watched as Ryerson and the doctor prepared the needle that would take away her memories of the last several hours. Everything would go—her thoughts and feelings, every experience she’d had since the extraction—wiped away in a blink. Samuel rubbed his thumb along the inside of her wrist, wishing there were some way she could remember the good things. Remember him.

“It doesn’t feel like her thoughts and feelings.” Piper spoke softly enough the others wouldn’t hear her. “It’s as if I… heard her voice coming out through mine. It wasn’t an echo of Annie. It was
her
.”

Samuel ignored the creeping sensation of dread worming its way through him. “It wasn’t her, Pip. How could it be?”

“You were right, Sam. What is our soul but the expression of our thoughts and experiences?” She squeezed his hand tightly. “I don’t want to kill her. That’s what I feel like I’m doing.”

“You can’t have her stuck in your head. It will drive you mad. You know that.”

“But she knows more than she told us. I need to convince her to share what she’d learned.”

“Not possible, Pip.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” She pushed him away and slipped to the floor. “It was Annie speaking to you. Even now, I can hear her talking in my head. She’s sarcastic, sniping at every comment you’re making. She’s remarking on your appearance, noticing things I wouldn’t. She’s not
dead
.”

Piper watched as realization dawned on Samuel’s face. The question of what the soul really was had never been a debate long tolerated within the Archives. The soul was a religious construct, unrelated to the science of memory extraction. An irrelevant superstition. The dead were simply dead, their memories only neural shadows. She’d never once questioned what she’d been told as a child. Not until now.

Poor timing to finally debate the fundamentals of her upbringing. Typical.

Ryerson looked over when she moved from the table, the doctor close behind him with the needle in hand. Her heart began to pound and her head throbbed. She didn’t know if the fear racing through her was her own, or a by-product of Annie’s thoughts lodged in her brain. Not that it mattered, given their silent agreement about how to handle the matter. When Master Ryerson tried to come closer she shifted once again, keeping the table between them.

“What are you doing, Miss Smith?”

There was no way she’d be able to escape the Archives, to force her way free. Still, she wasn’t about to let them take her without a fight. If she was going to have another hole placed in her mind, Piper would only allow it to happen on her terms. Annie wasn’t willing to quietly slip away, didn’t want to be here at all. It was Piper’s doing, her actions that stopped Annie’s soul from going on whatever journey it was about to take. The least she could do was give the woman a few more hours of life.

She could hear Annie scrambling around in her head, agreeing with her, warning her to keep away from Ryerson.

I can help still. Don’t let them take me from you. There is more I can tell you but I won’t if they wipe me away. You’ll never know and he’ll kill again and again and again. Help me!

“Sir, I believe I need to retain Miss Chapman’s thoughts for a longer time period.” Piper’s mouth had gone dry, making it difficult to speak. “I believe I have retained information vital to our investigation and simply need a bit longer to access those memories.”

“I think Miss Smith might be correct.” Piper was shocked that it was Dennison who’d spoken and not Samuel. “Clearly there was an issue with the Archives machine. We can’t be certain that it has accessed everything. Or even if it’s safe to continue. We should reconsider our options. Perhaps limit all extractions for the time being.”

She shouldn’t be thankful for his intervention, not when her trust in him was rapidly slipping from absolute to tenuous. But given the alternative—losing Annie and being left with another gaping hole in her memory—his help wasn’t something she could afford to spurn.

Samuel slipped from the bed, positioning himself beside Piper. “What are you playing at, Dennison?”

“For once I find myself agreeing with Hawkins. What is the meaning of this?” Master Ryerson stood opposite Samuel, but kept his eyes locked on Dennison. “This goes against everything we do. You’re not some apprentice, new to this game.”

“Miss Smith has access to the memories of the woman who saw our killer.” Dennison pushed past the doctor and stepped into Samuel’s space. They locked gazes, and she knew neither one of them was willing to back down. “There’s too much at stake to let this chance disappear.”

Samuel didn’t back down. “You told me that was what this machine was for. To keep those memories along with the report. I’d always understood that the verbal reports were enough. It was you and Ryerson who said she needed to do this.”

“The machine isn’t working. It’s like the bloody thing has gone mad.”

“Dennison, enough of this foolishness.” Master Ryerson surged past Samuel and grabbed Piper’s arm. She gasped, struggling to break his iron grip. “We need to free her mind now! These thoughts will drive her insane.”

“What are you doing?” Samuel tried to pull her away by prying Ryerson’s hand away. “Let go!”

“Doctor, give me the needle. Now.”

“No!” Piper yanked her arm away, helped by Samuel to move away. Master Ryerson didn’t follow immediately, holding his hand out for the doctor.

“Miss Smith, you don’t know what it will do to your mind to have those thoughts colliding with yours. You’ll lose yourself and end up in Bedlam.” Master Ryerson took the needle from the doctor and slowly inched closer. “Let me help you, child. Don’t let these men put you at risk for their selfish gains. You are too valuable an asset for that. I haven’t seen a more gifted archivist in years.”

“Our selfish gains?” Samuel stepped between her and Ryerson. His hands shook, but she knew it wasn’t from fear. “
Our
selfish gains? Is it me who takes children from their homes and forces them into a life they don’t want? Is it me who treats those children like experiments, like interchangeable cogs in the Archives machine? You care nothing for any of us who’ve been shoved into the bowels of this place.”

“How dare you, you ungrateful bastard!” Master Ryerson lowered his voice and his gaze bounced between the three of them. “You know nothing about me or what I’ve done, what I’ve sacrificed. You have no right to judge me.”

Piper leaned closer into Samuel, needing the warmth of his touch to help keep her calm. “What did you mean when you said the machine is broken, Dennison?”

“Don’t say a bloody word.” Ryerson advanced another step, which only drove Piper into Samuel further. He didn’t break the staring match they were engaged in, which let Piper witness the warmth in his gaze slowly freeze to ice. “It’s irrelevant, misleading, and most of all not true.”

“The Archives central machine hasn’t been allowing for the proper retrieval and documentation of memories for months now. Master June thought I should be aware given this was your second retrieval.” Dennison stepped to the side, but didn’t move to join Ryerson. “It’s… glitching.”

“Glitching?” Samuel continued to inch Piper toward the door even as he spoke. “Like dumping memories into someone’s head instead of a simple viewing?”

Ryerson’s head snapped up and Piper didn’t like the look of excitement in his gaze. “So that’s what happened. The others didn’t tell me.”

“We need to leave.” She tried to step around him, but Samuel held her fast.

“It tried to speak to you, didn’t it?” Master Ryerson’s grin stretched his face into a death-like grin. “More than tried, it succeeded. You can’t run away from your destiny now, boy. The machine is a part of you, connected.”

Samuel didn’t move, his body frozen in place.

No, this was all wrong. They had to escape, get out.

Grab his fool arm and drag him from this hellhole! The stubborn idiot can’t look after himself, so you’ll have to do it for him.
It was strange hearing Annie’s thoughts in her head, but Piper found she couldn’t disagree. Looking over at Dennison she was surprised to see concern reflected on his face. He took Samuel’s other arm and began to pull.

“Follow me. You need to get out of here before the machine alerts the Administrators of a problem.” Dennison moved to the door, holding it open. “I’ll show you the way.”

For a moment, Piper didn’t think Samuel had heard Dennison. They didn’t have time to hesitate with this. They had to get out of here now and damn the consequences. She’d figure the rest out later. “Please, Sam. I can’t do this alone. We need to go.”

When he looked down at her, she saw the confusion and fear morph into determination. While they stood there no longer than a second, the shift in him was clear. In that heartbeat she was catapulted back in time, Samuel by her side, the two of them unstoppable. With a nod, he wrapped an arm around her waist and moved her toward Dennison and freedom.

“Let’s go.”

“You’ll regret this!” Master Ryerson’s voice echoed through the thick door as they stepped through and slammed it shut. Samuel held it closed while Piper and Dennison quickly searched the area for something they could use to secure the door and buy them precious time.

“Here!” Piper yanked on the conduit wires, pulling them free from the wall. “We can use these to tie it shut.”

Dennison joined her and together they gathered several feet of wiring. “It won’t hold for long.”

Bolting back to where Samuel was pressed against the door, they wound the wiring around the handle and stretched out the remainder to secure it to the closest juncture of the steam pipes. They shared a look as Samuel stepped away. Ryerson and the doctor made another push, the door slid open half an inch and the wire stretched dangerously taut.

“We need to move now,” Piper said and grabbed Samuel’s hand.

“I know a few places where you can both hide for the time being.” Dennison took the lead. “Unofficial property my family owns. It will give us time until we determine your next move. Follow me.”

Dennison led them through a side door Piper hadn’t paid attention to in years. The room on the other side was closed up. Sheets covered the Spartan furnishings, and a thick layer of dust clung to the exposed bits. “There is a side passage that no one uses. There are so many passages in the Archives they won’t know where to start looking. We should be able to slip out easily. This way.”

Piper removed herself from Samuel’s hold and fell into step behind Dennison. “Why are you doing this, Emmet?”

“Helping you escape?” He cast a glance at her before disappearing into the dark of the corridor. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Not to me.” She tugged on his shirt, forcing him to stop. “This is putting your career in jeopardy, everything that you’ve worked for. They could take away your posting with the king.”

Dennison closed his eyes briefly, a fleeting look Piper didn’t recognize flicking across his face, before he opened them once more and his mask was securely back in place. “I know you seem to think that I don’t care, but you’re both my friends. I do stand by my friends in their time of need.”

Had things been different between her and Samuel, Piper knew she could have had feelings for Dennison. Samuel pressed against her side. The comforting weight of his body elicited a burst of thoughts from Annie, all of which Piper had to fight to ignore.

He’s a possessive one. I bet he’d be like that in bed, too. Think there’d be a way you could get ’em both in bed with ya? Oh, bein’ between them two fit bodies would be heaven.

Piper pressed her hand to her forehead. She didn’t have time for this.

“Pip?” Samuel squeezed her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Dennison looked over his shoulder once more at the passageway. “All of this will be for naught if we don’t leave
now
.”

Piper nodded and they moved quickly through the door into the hallway.

The lights that sparingly lit the walls brightened for a heartbeat as a burst of steam pulsed through the pipe. Strange shadows were cast, stretching high along the walls before them, only to sink into the darkness. Piper shivered when Dennison paused their journey to check the passage before them. The place between her thighs dampened as Dennison looked at her, his gaze traveling from her eyes to her lips and bosom so quickly as to be nearly unnoticeable. She would never have noticed the move a few days ago, let alone have her body react. She’d never thought of him in any sexual way before, and now all she wanted to do was strip his shirt from his body and explore.

What was going on with her?

Once you get a man between your thighs you won’t ask that again. Take either of them the first chance you get.

“Piper?” Samuel’s deep voice by her ear sent another shiver through her already aware body. Of course he’d sense what was happening with her.

“I’m fine.” A blatant lie, but they didn’t have time to deal with Annie properly yet. She’d have to keep the other woman in check. “We need to keep moving.”

Dennison pulled a small message tube from his inner jacket pocket. “This is the address of a safe house. Hawkins, I need you to take Piper there and make sure she’s safe.”

Without a thought, Piper rose up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

Dennison nodded, avoiding her gaze. “Go down this passage. Two lefts and you’ll find the door out. No one uses this service entrance any longer. Go to the address in the tube and I’ll follow when I can.”

She knew this was dangerous, wrong, but Piper needed to know all that Annie could tell her before she let her go. Nodding, she grabbed Samuel’s hand once more and led him out.

The address in the message tube led them to the far side of Whitechapel, not at all the best part of New London. Piper had tried to lead Samuel along the most direct path, wanting to reach their destination as quickly as possible and get them off the street and into hiding, but he’d pulled her down one of the side alleys, refused to give her in to her protests.

“They will be looking for us by now. We need to stay invisible.”

“All the more reason to move quickly.” She tried to pull away, but Samuel shook his head.

“All the more reason to be smart. This is my world, Pip. Let me take the lead.”

“I’m capable of caring for myself.”

“I don’t doubt that for a moment.”

“Sam—”

“Let me do this, Pip. For once, don’t argue.”

“I’ve been looking after myself since the moment I was taken from my mum.”

“That may be, but I clearly remember bailing you out of trouble on more than one occasion.”