Sally Singletary's Curiosity (The Sally Singletary Book 1) (18 page)

Yasif twisted his wrists, feeling the rope cutting into his arms. He ignored the pain, allowing it to fuel the anger. After a while, his skin was chaffed to the point of nearly bleeding, but the ropes had begun to loosen, almost enough for him to slip through.

“LOOK, DAN,
I’m following a lead on a story. I may be out of town for a couple days.” Lani’s voice echoed in the abandoned station. Lani sat on the couch they’d procured, talking to her boss, explaining why she hadn’t shown up for work. She paused, glancing at Jake, then returned to the conversation. “No. But this may have something to do with the kidnappings and I need to follow up on it fast.”

Jake hadn’t even bothered. It wouldn’t be the first time he hadn’t shown up to work. If it weren’t for the fact his father owned the company, he would’ve been fired long ago.

He glanced around the switching station, recalling the times he’d been there as a kid, back when the equipment was new. What was now covered with strings of cobwebs and layers of dust had once been a child’s fascination. There was a time before the pain and hurt, when he’d actually enjoyed working with his father.

He glanced at a panel on the wall, remembering the hundreds of crisscrossing wires behind the metal cover, each one carefully placed there by him and his dad. It had been fun to come and spend the night, but all that ended the evening he and Daniel had spent together.

The memories overwhelmed him. He gazed at the ceiling, taking a deep breath, fighting against the sudden spring of emotion. For too long he’d repressed these feelings.

He needed a distraction.

He went into the small room where the TESSA server was humming away, the drives making faint clicking noises as her program chewed away at the incoming data. He tried not to think that this was all possible because of Daniel. Instead, he took to examining the incoming information.

He noticed something odd, a post from a user named Ash.

JD S&Y=(null) < D51 @HLS #911

Smart kid.

Lani entered. “Everything okay?”

“Not so much.” Jake waved her over. “Check this out.”

She stared at the screen, but clearly didn’t understand the post.

“It’s from Idric.” Jake explained. “Sally and Yasif were taken by Division 51. He’s stuck at the school and needs help.”

“You got all that from that?” She pointed at the screen.

Jake shrugged. “It’s actually pretty easy. The null means empty set, missing. D51 stands for Department 51—”

“Ah, I get it,” she said. “It’s good you noticed that. I’d have just deleted it, thinking it was a junk post or something.”

Jake noticed the bags underneath her eyes were beginning to show.

She continued. “I guess we’d better get back over to the school and pick up Idric.”

“Then go rescue Sally and Yasif?” Jake posed.

“Rescue?” Lani looked surprised. “They’re with government agents, not some teenage hoodlums. How do you propose we rescue them?”

“We’ll think of something, but we can’t just leave them there.”

“Jake, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but stop right there. It’s one thing to break into a guy’s apartment for info. It’s another entirely when we’re talking about taking on federal agents. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on spending the rest of my life in a federal prison.” Lani crossed her arms.

“Even with everything that’s going on? What if these guys are involved? What if they’re torturing them for information or something?” Jake was beginning to feel a bit frantic.

“You certainly have quite the imagination. I’ll give you that,” Lani replied. “Look, I’m just here to get to the bottom of the story. I’m not about to play vigilante against a couple federal agents. It’s just not worth it. I realize there’s some strange stuff going on, but we’ve got to keep our heads, okay?”

Jake sighed. She clearly wasn’t getting the big picture. “Don’t you get it? With everything we’ve seen? What if those agents are more shape-shifters? What if these things have already invaded the government? Who else knows about this stuff but us? Who else is going to do anything about it?”

“If you want to go up against these things, fine,” Lani said. “Just leave me out of it. I’ll get you to the school to get Idric. Beyond that, you’re on your own.”

Jake stared, dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe she’d rejected his proposal so easily. He felt a sense of responsibility he was sure Lani would share. He’d thought her loyal, especially since she’d already done so much. Maybe he really was thinking too much into it.

With a sigh, he said, “Okay. Let’s just go get Idric.”

“MISS SINGLETARY,
we’re not unreasonable men.”

Sally eyed Dawkins. They’d sat her at a table next to a window with the shades drawn, presumably so she wouldn’t know exactly where they were. On the inside it could have been any hotel chain. There was nothing to identify it. She searched the room for something that might come in handy to help her escape.

“All we want,” Dawkins continued, “is just a bit of information.”

Sally scoffed defiantly. “I’ve told you everything I know. Daniel was a friend. He helped us with our online school newsletter. We hung out from time to time, and Billy was his roommate. I didn’t even know Shayne other than he was on the football team.”

Thompson wore a condescending smile. “Don’t play dumb, little girl. You were the ones listening in to our conversation.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I get you’re trying to protect your friends, but we’re trying to protect people, too. Don’t you understand that?”

Through his dark glasses, Sally could see his eyes shifting and knew he was receiving a fresh batch of information. What did he expect? Her to just trust him after being kidnapped and taunted? “I’ve already told you! I don’t know anything more.”

“We know you were listening in on that speaker,” Thompson said angrily.

“Prove it,” Sally challenged.

Anger flashed over Thompson’s face. “Let’s play this a different way. If you don’t cooperate, your little piss-pants friend in there is going to be deported to an offshore federal prison.”

Sally crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

Dawkins sighed, looking down at the floor. “Make the call.”

Thompson reached into his pocket and produced a phone. He’d begun dialing when the thought of Yasif bound to the chair in the other room flashed in her mind. Would they really do this? She was convinced they were bluffing, but wasn’t sure she was willing to take the chance. “Okay, wait… Please don’t do that. Yasif’s a good guy. I’m the one who made him listen in, okay?” she lied.

Both men watched expectantly.

“This is all that I know. I saw the boys disappear from the school.” Sally sighed.

“When you say disappeared, what exactly do you mean?” Dawkins asked.

“Poof! Gone! Vanished! Disappeared out of thin air. How many more ways do I need to say it?”

The men eyed her, gauging her truthfulness. She thought it odd how easily they accepted what she’d said. Any other person would have given her a look of surprise or disbelief, but these guys looked as though she’d answered some questions.

A noise from behind drew their attention. The door burst open. Yasif appeared, his eyes bloodshot, his face red with anger, his jeans still darkened from where he’d wet himself. He let out a scream that sounded more like an animal than the friend she knew.

Yasif tore through the living room, pushing over a side table. As it fell, he grabbed the lamp off the top and threw it directly at Thompson. The man tried to block, but it crashed against him, sending shards of glass in all directions.

Sally gasped.

Yasif grabbed a large vase, not bothering to remove the fake flowers, and heaved it at him as well. Neither had the effect he apparently desired. His gaze searched the room until settling on something to his right. Sally, still in shock, glanced over and saw the fireplace. In front was a set of rod iron tools.

“Yaz?”

But he ignored her, grabbing the poker and moving toward the two men.

“Yasif!” Sally screamed in shock as he advanced.

Thompson frantically searched his pockets, but there wasn’t time for him to find whatever he was looking for. Yasif swung the metal poker. Thompson tried to block, but screamed in pain as the rod collided with his forearm.

Thompson scowled, cradling his arm, but then moved into a fighting stance.

Yasif wasted no time. He struck him twice more on either side, ducking under the man’s retaliatory swings. Then Yasif got a lucky break. The man misstepped in an attempt to gain leverage, and Yasif clocked him on the side of the head.

Sally let out a cry of dismay and looked away as the man’s body crumpled to the floor. Tears filled her eyes. She’d never witnessed anything quite so disturbing. It was one thing to see people getting hit on TV, but entirely another in real life. There were no Foley tracks to make the impact dramatic. The real sound of the man being struck sickened her.

Yasif eyed the other agent.

“Yaz! What the hell are you doing?” She tried desperately to break his attention.

He turned to her, rage in his eyes, his chest rising and falling. This wasn’t the Yasif she knew. Part of her was shocked and disgusted, but another part realized the hurt he must have been in to drive him to this level of madness. She could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t himself; he wasn’t in control.

“Revenge,” he said.

Sally pleaded. “I know what they did to you was wrong, but this isn’t the answer!” She motioned toward the fallen man.

“Why not?” he replied. “They humiliated me. Hurt me. Threatened to deport me and send me to some godawful prison!” He was crying again. “I’ve never been so scared in my life!”

Her heart went out to him.

“Think about what you’re doing, son,” Dawkins said. “You’ve just attacked a federal agent.”

Yasif turned on Dawkins. “Did you hear the things he said to me?”

Dawkins said nothing.

Sally tried a different approach. “Yaz, I know you’re angry, but I need help.”

His tear-filled brown eyes softened. He immediately dropped the poker and came to her without a moment’s hesitation. He untied her and she noticed his bleeding wrists. It was clear freeing himself had come at a cost. Once untied, she pulled him into a hug.

She wasn’t sure if she needed the comfort, or if she was doing it for him. She felt his body shudder as he cried onto her shoulder. She glanced at the unconscious agent, blood already pooling on the floor. She held him tighter. Thompson had pushed him pretty hard.

“You know I can’t let you get away with this, right?” Dawkins said, reaching into his pocket.

“You will if you want information,” Sally replied with a glare, letting Yasif back away as he wiped his nose and sniffled, his head hanging.

Dawkins paused.

“I’ll get you the information you want if…” She held up a finger. “…you let us go.” She held his gaze before she added, “This is a one-time offer.”

He considered. “Look, my partner went over the line, and I should’ve stopped him. I apologize for his behavior and I’ll make sure no charges are filed against you provided you relay to us any information you have on this case.”

“Screw you!” Yasif screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks once again.

“Yaz, relax. It’ll be okay.” Sally tried to calm him, then turned back to the agent. “Deal.”

Dawkins nodded and took his hand from his pocket.

Sally looked down at the other agent. “Will he be okay?”

“He’s a tough guy.”

“Do you have anything he can use for…you know…” Sally motioned toward Yasif’s wet jeans.

Dawkins nodded and went into the bedroom and then returned with a pair of sleeping pants, dotted with small UFOs. “It’s not pretty, but it’s all I’ve got aside from underwear, and I’m pretty sure your friend doesn’t want those.”

At first, Yasif refused, but Sally insisted he go change.

Sally and the agent stood in silence for a time before she crossed her arms and addressed him. “What your partner did was uncalled for, and it doesn’t make me want to trust you at all.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have let him get so out of hand. He’s still a rookie.” He paused. “We’re really not your enemy here, Miss Singletary.”

“Then why did you kidnap us?”

“We needed to get your attention.”

Sally said nothing. After what they’d done, she certainly wasn’t ready to start trusting him.

Yasif returned wearing the ridiculous-looking UFO sleeping pants, but she held her head high and made no indication to how silly he looked. He wouldn’t look at her, but she could tell by his frequent glances at Thompson that he felt guilty for what he’d done.

Sally went over to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s over. You’re going to be all right.”

IDRIC SAT IN HIS ROOM,
his knees drawn to his chest, rocking back and forth on his bed. He didn’t know what to do with himself. If he went out into the halls, someone might recognize him and know he was part of Sally’s group. It was ridiculous, of course; none of the students had a clue about what was going on beyond a few eyewitness accounts that nobody believed, yet something had changed. The halls were quieter than usual and there was a tangible feeling in the air as though the other students were aware of something happening.

He wondered how he’d gotten dragged into this mess, wishing he’d never gone into that chemical closet for supplies. Never had he imagined his life filled with so many of the strange and scary things he thought only a part of bedtime stories from his mother. But these creatures weren’t fictional monsters. They were real.

Idric wanted to do something, anything other than sit by and wait, but until Jake got his message, he was stuck. Sure, he could go to classes and pretend everything was normal, but he doubted he’d be able to keep his mind focused on his work.

Why hadn’t his parents ever told him these things were out there? They must have known. Maybe Yasif was right. What if these things were the danger his people had run from? If that were true, perhaps his parents hadn’t sent him there to hide. Maybe they needed him to be safe until he was old enough to fight. If that were the case, how could he be ready if he didn’t know how to use his gifts? He wished they’d taught him more. He’d always been told to keep his power a secret, that it’d be dangerous for him if others found out.