The Escape (32 page)

Because you’re not me,
I told her, though I didn’t really know.

Impossible. You can’t have that kind of connection.

Ignoring her, I pushed out.
Ritter!

He can’t hear you,
she said.

My world went black.

D
ARKNESS TUMBLED IN MY MIND,
greedily eating everything in its path. Only occasional flashes of light relieved the scenery, but these moments of near lucidity were accompanied by terrible scenes of Jace fighting for his life, of Stella weeping after losing her baby, of Ritter being tortured. Someone was laughing, a horrid, nasal sound that scraped my nerves.

I jerked awake, only to see nothing but more darkness. A hard carpet made up my bed. Where was I? At Emporium headquarters or at the compound? Or perhaps somewhere worse. My first thought was to reach outside myself in search of clues to my location and a way to escape, but I stifled the impulse. First, I had to make sure I was mentally free.

Gingerly, I explored my mind. Was I alone, or was Delia and her assistant poised to control me again? I did the equivalent of mental tiptoeing as I looked around. Everywhere I turned, I sensed soreness, as though the fabric of my mind had been wounded during the mental blast. But no other presence was near, and tentatively, I threw up a shield around my thoughts. The barrier was a weak, flimsy, Swiss cheese kind of thing, but I felt triumphant to have managed that much.

Piece by piece, I repaired the damage, working by feel and hoping I was doing it correctly. Whatever Delia had done to my mind didn’t seem permanent. Or would I know if she’d damaged me forever? Others I’d met hadn’t known, like Tom, my former fiancé. I’d have to let Dimitri and Ava explore later to see if there was anything the hateful crone had left behind. No way did I want her touch staining me.

Had Jace gotten away? I shuddered as I remembered the dream. If they’d captured Jace, Delia would have one more pawn against me and against her colleague Stefan Carrington. Maybe she would mess with Jace’s mind. Was he strong enough to withstand her?

Later,
I told myself. Worrying about Jace wouldn’t get either of us anywhere. Better to focus on healing and getting out of here. Reaching out, I began absorbing. I’d been more than full before the attack, but now even the effort of thought sent hunger pains raking through my stomach.

Wait, what was that? A small, shiny, black snake coiled in a corner of my mind. I dropped my shield and tried to push it out, but it eluded my grasp. A present from Delia, I assumed. But what was it? A way to control me or to spy on me? A time bomb ready to destroy at some given point in the future?

Regardless, I wasn’t going to sit back and let it control me. Time passed as I considered the snake. It seemed to be of the same construction as the one in Patrick Mann’s mind, only smaller, as though made for concealment. If I hadn’t been lying there in the dark taking careful assessment, I might have missed it altogether.

If I couldn’t get rid of it, I wouldn’t be able to return to the Renegades, even if I escaped. I would never know if this little present would get them all killed. Then again, if I could hide it, lock it away so that I couldn’t access it, maybe Delia couldn’t either.

Piece by piece, I constructed another black box like the one that housed my fear of heights. I’d learned to lock it away so that I could function, so why not the snake? And since I couldn’t grasp the loathsome thing, I’d build around it. The construction process was slow and tedious, especially the bottom of the box, where I had to push back the illusion of a floor to build under the snake. When I was done, the seamless box glowed as shiny as the snake ever had. I pushed at it tentatively and found I could move both the box and the snake inside it. I could see no signature other than my own. It would have to do until I reached Ava.

Exhausted, I pulled in more nutrients through my pores, receiving the sensation of alcohol and peanut oil. Well, whatever gave me energy. When I felt strong enough, I left off conscious absorbing to search for any clue to my whereabouts.

A presence glowed brightly not far from me, but the absence of a shield and thoughts signaled an unconscious person. Wherever I was, I wasn’t alone as I’d first assumed.

Reaching beyond my immediate vicinity, I found the consciousnesses of the five Renegade prisoners, which meant Delia had me taken to the compound. Why? She knew I wasn’t the real biological daughter of Stefan Carrington, but she had gone to lengths to hide this fact and my true ability from him, so she should have taken me to him.

Unless she wanted something more from me.

I sat up quickly, my head spinning. How long had I been here? Had they already performed tests? Impregnated me? Given where I was in my cycle and how long both Unbounded sperm and eggs lived, it wouldn’t be impossible, especially as I thought of the two gravid women prisoners they were already monitoring. Bile rose in my throat as I pulled the borrowed hotel uniform skirt as far down as it would go and tucked my knees to my chest.

A quick intake of breath several feet away helped me put my panic under control. “Who is that?” It was a man’s groggy voice, one that was familiar somehow.

“My name’s Erin,” I said into the darkness, “and I seem to be the prisoner of some very nasty people. Guess you are, too. What’s your name?” He was Unbounded, that much I could tell, and by the fear and mistrust radiating from him, he had no idea who I was. I suspected he was the prisoner Dr. Tunns had shown me on her monitor, but it was entirely possible that they had captured others since my last visit.

He hesitated. “So you aren’t with
them?
”

“No.”

“Then what did you do to get tossed in here?” He wanted to believe me, but he was afraid the Emporium was playing with his mind. He half thought I was an illusion his fevered brain had conjured up to torment him.

I had nothing to lose by telling the truth, and it was far easier to remember. “Actually, I was trying to kidnap the vice president’s son, Patrick Mann. He’s one of them and with the president on his deathbed, the vice president will be moving up. My friends and I were trying to protect the vice president because something about his son isn’t right.”

“You have no idea.” A note of irony entered his voice.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. Because I’m Patrick Mann.”

So he
was
the prisoner I’d seen on the monitor. I scooted closer to him on the carpet. “We kind of figured the other guy was a fake. That was why we tried to grab him. What are you doing here?”

Now that he’d decided to take a chance, the real Patrick Mann was full of information. “A year ago, I decided not to pursue politics,” he told me. “I wanted to start an information business of some kind. I’d always loved working with computers, but suddenly I understood everything about them.”

“You’d Changed.” As a technopath, he’d have made it huge in computer software.

“That’s when they first approached me—a woman who claimed to have given birth to me and a man who was supposedly my uncle. They said my father had been killed in an ongoing war involving near immortals and it was time for me to step forward and do what I’d been put in place to do.”

“What was that?”

“To become my father.” He hesitated before continuing. “I know it sounds crazy, but they’ve figured out how to use these really impressive nanites to completely change someone’s appearance. Not just subtle changes, but a total makeover. I mean, it’s easier with people who are the same height and have other similarities, but really they can do anyone.”

To hear our suspicions verified so casually astounded me. “So they wanted you to become a puppet president.”

“Something like that. They’d find a way to get rid of the president or they’d assure that my father was elected next. Either way I’d step in. Apparently, since I knew my father and politics so well, I’d be able to fool those closest to him for however long they needed. Even my mother. They said it was my duty, a legacy given me by right of my birth.”

“I’m guessing you decided not to go along with the plan.”

“No. My parents—” He made a choking sound. “I mean, the Manns taught me that it was important to make a stand for what we really believe, even if it came with a cost. Betraying them wasn’t an option. I love my parents. I want them to be proud of me even if they never know the choice I made.”

“They will know,” I said. “We’ll make sure of that. But if you’re Patrick, who did I just try to kidnap?”

A sharp, bitter laugh. “I don’t know. But oddly enough it makes me feel better, less forgotten. They told me my parents hadn’t cared enough to look for me, that they didn’t accept our disagreement about my career choice and wanted nothing to do with me.” He paused and let out a sigh. “I didn’t believe them, but after so long, it’s hard not to begin to wonder. I mean how could the vice president’s son go missing and no one notice? Now it makes sense. Of course they used their nanites to put someone in my place. They were going ahead with the plan, with or without me. And now that we’re talking about it, I think I might have some idea as to who the guy is. For weeks straight they had this one man come in and talk to me for hours. Then suddenly he was gone. He was also a technopath.”

“He’s had a whole year to become you and get to know your father.”

“They’re going to kill him.” The anger in Patrick’s voice grated on my ears. “My father, I mean. They never said as much to me, but I know that was the plan after I became him.”

“No. We’re getting out of here, and we’ll stop them. My friends will come for us.”

“How will they know where to look?”

With the machine shield in place around the compound, Ava wouldn’t be able to contact me, even if they suspected I was here, but I took comfort in the fact that they would eventually come to free the other prisoners. I couldn’t tell Patrick that because the room might be bugged, and I didn’t want to freak him out yet by speaking in his mind, especially with the possibility that Delia and her assistant were still around.

“They’ll come,” I said. The belief would be a natural one and wouldn’t give anything away no matter who overheard me.

“I just hope it’s not too late.”

His words sent a chill crawling over my skin. “How long have I been here? Do you know?”

“Well, you weren’t here when they brought me back from their so-called therapy this morning, and they usually bring me something to eat once a day around what I think is dinnertime. Or maybe bedtime. Hard to say when they keep me in this room with no windows or light. They haven’t come yet.”

I forced myself to relax. Since we’d been at the hotel until well after three, if he was right that meant I hadn’t been here long, maybe only a few hours.

We sat in dark silence for a few minutes, with me probing for other life forces in the building. Besides the five prisoners, there were four other Unbounded that I could sense, with one of them being the guard outside our room. With another guard watching the other prisoners, that left the director and two others who were either doctors or more guards. That didn’t mean Delia and her assistant weren’t here, as their impenetrable shields would hide their life forces completely from my view. So possibly six inside. There would also be at least two guards in the lobby where I couldn’t get past the machine-generated shields and however many more soldiers around the perimeter of the building. There was no sign of my brother, though they could have taken him elsewhere if he’d been captured.

Unless he’d been really and truly killed. The Emporium hit team definitely meant business and their swords weren’t just for looks. The idea sent a wave of nausea careening through my stomach.
No, I won’t believe that.
Delia had said Ritter was headed to the room. Both he and Jace had to be okay.

Faint steps outside what I assumed was the door urged me to my feet. I needed to be ready for whatever happened.
Too soon for a rescue,
I thought, but that didn’t stop me from wanting it to be one.

Patrick also climbed to his feet, his hand brushing mine like a kiss of frozen snow. “Probably just the food.”

“No, there’re four people out there, plus the guard.”

“How do you know?”

“Later.” I was suddenly trying not to panic because I’d only sensed three people out there but I had seen from the guard’s mind that Delia and Lew were also present. And now that she was this close, I could feel her impressive shield. Her mental signature screamed out to me. Instinctively, my hands ran over my body, but all my weapons were long gone.

“If they take you,” Patrick whispered in my ear, his voice low and urgent, “don’t believe anything, even your own thoughts. Some of them can see inside your brain. Not every thought, but they get enough to manipulate you. They push in their own thoughts until you believe they’re yours. If I grit my teeth and tense my head until I feel a rushing sound, sometimes I can hide from them—for a while anyway.” He was doing it now, and his shield was stronger than many I’d seen. I was sure I could get in, once I was more rested, but it was interesting that he could keep Delia out.