Imprisoned (31 page)

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back the way we had come. His head swiveled back and forth as we moved forward. Finally, he stopped in front of a door marked
Restroom
. He opened the door and pulled me inside.

“Give me the knife and first-aid supplies.” He was completely calm.

I did as he ordered, thrilled beyond reason that I wasn’t by myself.

“Let me have your arm.”

I held out my arm and watched as he ripped open a small package, swiped a cool, damp cloth against my skin, then wiped the cloth along the knife.

“Look the other way and breath slowly,” he said.

I turned my head away and just as I inhaled, a sharp, stinging pain shot up my arm. “Ow,” I cried out.

“Shhh. I know it hurts, but you have to be quiet.”

Tears filled my eyes and I pressed my free hand to my mouth to keep from screaming. The pain was nearly unbearable, but after a moment it lessened.

“Hold this here.” Billy guided my free hand to white gauze he’d pressed against my arm. “I’m all done. It’s out.” He held the tiny chip for me to see, then dropped it on the floor and stomped on it. He pulled out a strip of white tape and wrapped it around the gauze. “Okay, you’re all set. Now you have to do me.”

I knew there was no time to be afraid, so I opened an alcohol-soaked pad and wiped off his arm at the spot he pointed to, then swiped the knife blade. “Ready?” I asked.

“No, but do it anyway.”

I nodded and pressed the tip of the knife against his arm.

“Do it, Morgan. It’s the only way.”

Nodding, I sliced open his arm and almost stopped when he flinched, but then I saw the small chip, which had been just under the skin, and used the tip of the knife to pop it out. I set the knife on the counter, then pressed a clean strip of gauze against the wound and wrapped the tape around it, holding it in place.

“That really hurt.” His eyes were bright with unshed tears. He blinked them away, then smashed the chip on the floor. He turned to the sink and washed the blood from his hands and arm at the sink.

I did the same and we threw away the supplies we had used, keeping unused bandages for later. Billy slid the knife into his back pocket.

“Now that we’re invisible to them we need to get out of here,” he said.

“What about the cameras? If we leave, they’ll see us. They probably know exactly where we are.” A fresh wave of panic began building, building, building and I felt it begin to crest. “Billy, they’re going to find us.” My ears began to buzz and I feared I might pass out. Between the minor surgery he’d just performed and my abject terror, it was all too much.

He looked around the small space, his gaze stopping at the ceiling. He pointed up. “Through there.”

“What?” I was taking slow breaths and the buzzing in my ears was starting to fade.

With one foot on the toilet tank and the other on the sink, he punched upward until the vent cover popped open. “After you,” he said, grinning.

He climbed down and I took his place. He boosted me up and I managed to hoist myself into the stifling vent area. It was extremely dark and musty and I felt like I needed to cough. Swallowing down the urge, I turned around and reached down to help Billy through the opening. After he was through, he put the cover back in place.

A moment later, two Enforcers burst into the bathroom. My heart pounded so hard, I knew they had to hear it. With Billy closer to the opening, I couldn’t see what was happening but only heard the two men speaking.

“They’re gone.”

“How’d they get their chips out?”

“I don’t know, but Tasco’s going to be pissed if we don’t find them.”

I could hear one of them swearing and prayed he wouldn’t think to look in the ventilation system. Billy touched my arm, which comforted me. Knowing he was with me made all the difference. I never could have done this on my own.

“Let’s search the floor. They’ve got to be here somewhere.”

A moment later they left the room and I closed my eyes in relief. When I opened them, I could tell Billy was looking at me. “Now what?” I whispered.

Chapter Thirty Four

“Let’s follow the vent and see where it goes.”

I didn’t like that we didn’t have an actual plan. Yes, I was thrilled we’d manage to remove the chips, but we were still in the building. Until we made it out, we were vulnerable to being caught and I didn’t want to consider the horrors of that scenario.

Billy moved away from me and I scrambled to follow—there was no way I was going to be left behind. To keep the sound down, we moved slowly. Not only that, the space was tight, forcing us to army crawl, which made the journey awkward.

Occasionally I heard voices and knew the Enforcers were still looking for us. I wondered how many were looking—I could only assume that most went home at night—and I wondered if Hansen was among the searchers.

After a few minutes, Billy stopped. “There’s an office below us. Let’s go down there.”

“What if the Enforcers find us?”

“The doors are probably locked. Come on, we have to try.”

He was right about that, but I was still terrified of being caught.

He removed the vent cover and slid out, holding on to the edge of the vent, then dropping to the floor. “Come on, Morgan. I’ll catch you.”

Having no choice but to do as he said, I shimmied out of the vent, holding on to the edge as he’d done, then let go. With Billy’s help, I managed to land without crashing to the floor. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he said as he let me go.

Not bothering with the vent, Billy went to the door and pressed his ear against it. After a moment, he turned to me and smiled. “I think they’re gone,” he whispered.

Though his words sounded promising, I would only feel comfortable once I was far away from here, but I didn’t want to discourage him, so I nodded and smiled.

“Help me look for something we can use,” he said.

While he searched the desk, I pulled open the drawers of a filing cabinet. All I saw were files. I moved to a tall cabinet, but the doors were locked. I looked around, trying to determine where to search next and my gaze stopped on a wall of framed certificates. I walked over to them, read the name of the recipient, then turned to Billy. “This is Tasco’s office.”

He stopped what he was doing. “Really?”

I gestured toward the wall. “Says so right here.”

He looked at the cabinet. “What’s in there?”

“I don’t know. It’s locked.”

He grinned. “Then it must be something good.”

I smiled back. “Let’s find out.”

He walked over to the cabinet, pulled the knife out of his back pocket, and used the tip to force the lock open. The doors swung wide. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

I looked over his shoulder to see what he’d found. It was dark in the room and even darker in the cabinet, but my eyes had adjusted to the lack of light. There were several stun guns on a shelf. All were plugged in.

Billy grabbed two and used the clips to hook them onto his waistband.  “You gonna take one?”

I’d never used one before, and after having been tasered twice myself, wasn’t sure if I could use one against someone. Still, I took one out of the closet and hooked it to my waistband. “How do you work these things, anyway?”

He looked at me with surprise, as if the use of stun guns was common knowledge. Maybe it was here, but that didn’t help me. He took one off of his hip. “You hold it against the person and squeeze here.”

I nodded. It sounded simple enough.

He put it back on his hip and looked in the closet again. “Look at that.” He pointed to a box of power bars—not the new kind that were laced with drugs, but the kind we’d eaten before. The kind the general population ate. He grabbed several and shoved them in his pockets. I did the same.

“I guess Tasco likes to work out.” I pointed to several track suits hanging in the closet.

Billy glanced toward the window, then back at the track suits, then he dashed over to the window. He stared at it, seeming to examine it, then pressed his forehead against the glass, looking down.

I watched as he raced back to the closet and ripped down the track suits. “What are you doing?”

“Making a rope so we can climb down.” He tied the leg of one track suit to the leg of another track suit and yanked, testing the strength. It held.

“Billy, you’re brilliant.”

He grinned. “I know, right?”

Giddy with hope and fear, I laughed, then helped him finish tying the track suits together. We carried our “rope” to the window and set it on the floor.

Billy looked around, then walked to the desk and gave it a shove. It didn’t budge. “This will work.” He tied one of the track suit legs to the leg of the desk, pulling the knot tight. “I’m going to have to break the glass, and it’s going to be loud, so as soon as I’m done, we’ll have to move fast.”

“Okay.”

“You’ll go first and I’ll follow right after.”

I nodded as even more adrenaline pumped through my veins.

He picked up the desk chair, carried it to the window, and smashed it against the glass. The sound of shattering glass rang through the air and I expected a swarm of Enforcers to burst through the door at any second.

Using a track jacket we hadn’t used for our rope, Billy quickly removed the extra glass from the frame, then tossed the rope out the window. “Go, Morgan. Go now. I’ll hold it steady.”

My heart pounding so hard I thought it would burst through my chest, I scooted into the window sill and sat in the open space, then grabbed the rope Billy held out to me. Gripping the fabric and praying it would hold, I turned and made my way down. The rope ended about five feet from the ground, but I jumped the rest of the way and motioned for Billy to follow.

“Just a sec,” he whispered out the window. “The rope came loose.”

My gaze frantically probed the area, looking for danger. Tall bushes lined the fence behind me, and to my left and right were the long grassy sections that I’d seen at the Saturday Challenge. I wasn’t sure which way led to freedom—with zero sense of direction, neither way felt more “right” than the other—but I was certain Billy would know. I looked up to see if he was coming yet, but all I saw was a blank window missing its glass.

Just then I heard a noise coming from my left and saw a faint beam of light. “Someone’s coming,” I whispered urgently, praying Billy would hear me and know what to do.

The beam became brighter as the light approached the corner of the building, which was about fifty feet away. Any second now, the person carrying the flashlight would round the corner and see me. I scrambled backward and pushed myself into the bushes just as two things happened simultaneously: Billy’s back appeared in the window as he prepared to rappel down the wall, and an Enforcer came into view from the corner of the building. The Enforcer was alone, which surprised me, as they usually seemed to be in pairs.

I was hidden behind the bush, but I could clearly see the Enforcer walking in our direction. My gaze shot to Billy who was completely exposed as he began his descent. I dug my nails into my palms, not knowing what to do. If I called out to Billy I would expose my position, but if I didn’t warn him, he’d be caught.

“Billy,” I whispered wildly. “Billy, look out.”

He didn’t respond to my voice and I knew he didn’t hear me. He was nearly to the end of the rope, about seven feet from the ground. In my mind I was screaming at him to hurry, but he didn’t get the message and seemed to take his time.

“Hey!” the Enforcer called out as he shone his beam on Billy, who froze for a second, obviously surprised. The Enforcer raced forward and Billy went into action, dropping the rest of the way to the ground, and landing on his side. The Enforcer was on him before Billy could get on his feet.

My gaze was glued to the two of them scuffling on the ground. I desperately wanted to help him, but couldn’t seem to make my feet move forward. Suddenly the Enforcer’s body seemed to seize up, then he collapsed to the ground. Billy had used one of the stun guns.

Relief flooded me, and just as I was about to step out of the bushes, another Enforcer—most likely the first one’s partner—rushed Billy, pinning him to the ground. In the dim light, something about the Enforcer looked familiar and after only a moment I realized what it was. I knew this Enforcer.

It was Hansen.

Fury pulsed through me as I thought about all the ways he’d bullied me. Then I saw him swing his fist into Billy’s face.

“Where’s your little girlfriend, Foster?” he taunted as he punched him again.

I knew he was talking about me and I knew it was up to me to do something. I stepped forward, but something caught on the bushes and I had to jerk forward to free myself. Moving toward Hansen, I reached for the stun gun at my hip, but came away empty. That must have been what had caught on the bushes. My gaze flew to Billy, but with Hansen on top of him I could hardly see him, let alone get to his stun gun.

I briefly considered going into the bushes to look for mine, but it was so dark, I’d have to search by feel and there wasn’t time. Instead, I rushed toward Hansen, prepared to jump onto his back. But then a glint of metal caught my eye, stopping me. It was the knife we’d used to cut out our chips, the same knife Billy had put in his pocket. It was lying on the ground just behind Hansen—it must have fallen out of Billy’s pocket during the scuffle.

The other Enforcer, who was lying a few feet from Hansen and Billy, followed me with his eyes—but he was incapacitated for the moment. I scooped up the knife, then using all the anger I’d accumulated in the last ten days, I thrust it toward Hansen’s neck. At the last second he leaned forward and the blade missed the tender skin on his neck and instead sunk into his back.

He screamed in shock and pain and sat up straight, still straddling Billy. His hands grasped for the blade, but it was just out of reach. He twisted this way and that, frantically trying to grab the knife that protruded from his back. Then, when he seemed to realize it was hopeless, he turned his head and looked at me. When his eyes met mine, I staggered back a step at the pure hatred that shone from his eyes.