Chapter Six
Nick surfaced from the blackness slowly.
He was on a bed, but it smelled musty, like it hadn’t been aired out in years. Or ever. There was no sheet.
As his eyes came open, he found Kitty crouched over him, staring at him.
“Thank the Lord.” Her shoulders slackened, and she fell backward onto her bottom, closing her eyes. “You were breathing so slowly.”
He rubbed his head as he sat up, trying to shake the last vestiges of fog. “I guess I was sleeping. Where are we? What happened?”
“Give it a second. It’ll come back to you. That’s how it always is with the tranks.”
He glanced around the room, taking in the basement chic of it. Concrete-block walls, concrete floor with a drain in the center, as if whoever cleaned here did it like they would a fast food restaurant: with bleach and a hose. There were two cots, the one he was laying on and another like it on the other side of the room. There was a makeshift bathroom in the corner, with a small sink, a rudimentary toilet, and a pipe jutting from the ceiling. In the center of the room, a light bulb hung from an electrical wire. There was only a pull-string to turn it on or off.
The room had one window, about the size of a ship’s porthole. Maybe smaller.
It was a cell.
That’s right. Goldstone. The cave. The other changed soldiers.
“How long was I out?” How long had she sat there watching over him was what he wanted to ask. She’d seemed upset. He tried not to like that very much. She hadn’t wanted him to die. Because she was a good person. Not because she liked him.
He needed to get a grip.
“I’ve only been awake for a few minutes. Ten maybe.” She shrugged. “Time is fuzzy in places like this.”
He could imagine.
“This isn’t the room you were in, though.” He glanced around them. “This isn’t like any of the rooms at the complex.”
“No.” She lifted the front of her hair and pushed it away from her face. “They must have moved us while we were unconscious.” She knelt then got to her feet, stretching her back. “Where were we before?”
“South Dakota.”
“Oh. Well, I doubt we’re there anymore.” Her brow scrunched up. “Funny. I’ve never been to South Dakota before.”
That’s what she latched onto? He searched the room, frantic. “Are there cameras in here?”
“Dunno.” She studied the room as well. “Usually the cameras were propped in the corner. Both in the last complex and the first. I don’t see any, though.”
He didn’t, either. The entire structure was cement block. There was a steel door in the corner, and the only power seemed to be going to the hanging light. If there were cameras, they’d have to be battery powered. “You think there’s a microphone?”
“I don’t see any. I doubt they’d waste small, inconspicuous cameras or microphones on us.”
He went to the walls, running his hands over them. No cracks, no openings. Nothing.
“I think we’re alone,” she offered as he continued to survey the place.
He could barely hear around his heartbeat.
Captive. He was a prisoner. He let the utter devastation of it wash over him.
Martins would have no idea where they were. Again. It might be months before they were found.
He’d failed.
His head dropped into his shoulders, and he gritted his teeth. How the hell was he going to get them out of here? This room was locked down. They had a better chance of surviving an atomic bomb in here than of ever getting out on their own.
Damn it.
“Are you okay?” Kitty’s voice cut into his silent diatribe.
“As if you don’t know.” He lifted his head on a bark of self-derisive laughter. “You, the only person who doesn’t have to ask that question, can hear my self-criticism firsthand.” He tapped the side of his head. His failure was bad enough. Sharing it with her was the whipped cream on this shit sundae.
They stood there, staring at each other. The tension cracked in the air as neither of them said anything.
Finally she stepped forward, putting her hands on his forearms. The contact calmed him, focused him. He remained still, not wanting to scare her or do anything that would discourage the connection. Her eyes soft, she said, “I know this is scary, but you’ll survive. I promise. We’re here together now.”
Simple words, spoken with what sounded like a lifetime of experience. But what really got him was that she cared to comfort him. When faced with returning to a cell, what had to be her worst nightmare, she reached out to him.
God, she killed him.
As natural as anything, he lifted his hands, curling them the slightest bit around her elbows. Her warmth seeped into him as he cradled her fine bones in his fingers.
The possibilities played through his mind, vivid and appealing. With the slightest pressure, he would coax her into his arms, feel her willowy form against him, and cocoon her slight frame with himself.
He would hold her safe, and she would burrow into him.
Quickly he dropped his hands and turned away, desperately trying to conceal his thoughts. What was he even thinking?
“What are you thinking?”
Stalling, he stepped away from her. This was bad, so bad. “What do you mean?”
“You…” Her voice had pitched up. “I heard you.”
Fuck.
She opened her mouth to comment, but the door lock clicked, interrupting her. Despite whatever conversation they’d been about to have, or however uncomfortable it might have been, they stepped closer, united, as the door swung open.
Jeremy stood in the entrance, flanked by two soldiers. Nick recognized them from the valley. They’d been there to run him and Kitty down.
His jaw clenched, Nick stepped forward, positioning himself partially in front of Kitty. If they thought they were going to take her somewhere, for God only knew what reason, they’d have to get through him first.
“Oh good, you’re both awake.” Jeremy smirked, as if he was amused by his own joke. “Nick, the doctor wants to see you.”
Behind him, Kitty tensed. “Fields wants to see Nick? Why?”
“He’s got some questions.” Jeremy shrugged. “Nick landed a job here—at a high-level security contractor—in order to find you and get you out. His name should have raised flags, but he cleared our background checks.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Obviously, Dr. Fields would like to know how he managed to do that.”
The other men with Jeremy stepped forward, advancing on him.
Nick didn’t think; he reacted. He swept a leg out, tripping the one on the left. He had a flare of satisfaction, watching the man fall, and he spun to address the second pursuer. Before he could make any contact, he was frozen. Completely paralyzed. He was familiar with the feeling. Blue and Luke had lifted him before, thrown him out of windows and off of buildings. But they always let him breathe while they did it.
The suffocation kicked off spikes of terror. It only lasted a moment or two, but it felt like so much longer. When he began to feel dizzy, though, the air entered his lungs again.
He dropped to his knees, gasping. Over his heartbeat, he heard Kitty. The words weren’t clear, but the speed and pitch told him she was upset.
She crouched beside him, her hand on his sleeve. He tried to focus on her as he coughed. Her eyes were incredibly blue as she whispered, “Are you okay?”
He nodded, because he hated to see her so scared, but didn’t respond before they dragged him to his feet.
“You can’t do this,” she declared, yanking on Nick’s arm. Not that she had any chance of stopping them.
Seemed he didn’t have much chance, either.
“He won’t be gone long, baby.” Jeremy winked at her as he held the door. The other two shoved Nick forward.
“You can’t do this,” she repeated, her voice stronger. Irate. For him.
“It’s okay,” he told her, as they dragged him past her. He tried to keep at the forefront of his mind, where she could hear it, that it would all be okay, somehow.
He wasn’t sure he convinced her, though, and as they closed the door behind them, he wasn’t convinced, either.
No one said anything as they led him down the hallway of what appeared to be a rundown, rambling school building. Signs of negligence surrounded him. Dust covered windows and windowsills, and the floor hadn’t been scrubbed. There were no furnishings in some of the rooms he passed, and other rooms’ furniture was covered in sheets.
Kitty had been right. This wasn’t the compound he’d worked in. They must have abandoned the other building quickly. This one wasn’t prepared for them yet.
They turned into what looked like a conference room of some kind. This place was cleaner than the rest, the linoleum tiles free of dust, the light fixtures gleaming. A desk sat at one end, a few chairs against the wall.
“Ah. Thank you.” Fields placed the paperwork he’d been holding on the desk and came around to greet him. “Mr. Degrassi. Thank you for joining us.”
Nick didn’t answer. As if he’d had a chance to decline.
“Please. Have a seat.” Fields gestured to the chair one of Jeremy’s cohorts had moved to the center of the room.
Nick remained silent. Fields lifted his eyebrow. The challenge was clear. Sit, or be seated.
He sat. He didn’t delude himself that this would be an easy meeting. No reason to stir trouble unnecessarily.
“Thank you.” Fields grinned, as if praising a student’s correct answer. “Now. Mr. Rickles has informed me that you roomed with him in San Antonio.”
“That’s right.” Nick turned to glare at his former roommate. “I took him in when he needed a room.” Bastard.
“He says you are friends with Seth Campbell, as well.”
He grunted. If this asshole thought he was going to find out anything about Seth or Blue from him, he was sorely mistaken.
“Where are Mr. Campbell and Miss Blueberry Michaels?”
Nick shrugged.
Fields tsked. “Mr. Degrassi. Now is not the time to be silent.”
“Don’t know where they are.” Which was true technically. Idaho was a big state. “We split up.”
The doctor’s mouth thinned. “Split up, you say. Exactly where did you go?”
Nick remained silent, only staring at the doctor. Their eyes held for a heavy moment before Fields’s brow dropped.
“I see.” He made a clicking noise in the back of his throat before nodding to Jeremy, at Nick’s left side.
The punch came fast and hard. The uppercut landed on his left jaw. His head jerked back and to the right, wrenching his neck and sending pain slicing along the entire side of him. Then, the agony of the blow started to set in. He gritted his teeth before he realized he must have bit his lip or tongue or something. His mouth filled with blood.
He spat the entire mess of it in front of him, at Fields’s feet.
“Now, then. Let’s try this again.” Fields folded his hands in front of him. “Where did you go?”
Still recovering from the punch, he glanced around him, taking stock of his options. Wincing, he recognized that things were about to get worse for him. As the pain laced through him, his priorities clarified.
Fields wanted answers. Nick needed to decide what answers he was willing to give.
Who sent him? Fine. They would be able to find that out easy enough on their own.
But there was going to be a lot here that he wasn’t about to spill, no matter how much they tried to beat it out of him.
His best bet was to convince them he didn’t know much.
Realistically, it made sense. He was a twenty-one-year-old new special ops soldier. How much could he know?
Maybe he could learn something in return.
“I went to Major Martins, at Sam Houston, and I turned myself in.” It was the perfect olive branch. It gave the impression of helpfulness without actually being helpful.
Fields smiled and nodded over Nick’s head, presumably at Jeremy. “See? I told you he only needed to see it our way.”
Nick smiled back, but it felt nasty. Rage boiled inside him, and he swallowed it down, the taste of blood still tangy in his mouth. “I aim to please. But the real question, doctor, is where did you go?”
Fields tapped his chin. “Now, now.” He gazed out the window. “Why are you here?”
“I came to get Kitty.” No real secret there, either.
“Such a knight in shining armor.” Jeremy sneered at his side.
“Well, I felt bad.” Nick glared at him. “If I’d known how much of a dickhead my roommate was, maybe I could have stopped her from being trapped here in the first place.”
The second punch caught him in the mouth. Those always hurt, with the face involved. But it had been worth it.
“Mr. Rickles!” Fields’s voice had sharpened. “This isn’t your interrogation.”
“Yeah, Mr. Rickles,” Nick added with as much of a grin as he could work up with his lips throbbing. “Keep your fucking mouth shut.”
Fields scowled. “Why would they send you?” He asked the question off-hand. “Why not choose more qualified people?”
That didn’t seem to deserve comment so he remained silent.
“There are more.” The doctor nodded. “Who is it?”
Here’s where the ride started. “There’s no one else.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Sorry about that.”
“This will be much easier if you tell me what I want to know.”
“Yep.” Nick smacked the end of the word. “But that doesn’t mean I know anything.”
Fields sighed. “You leave me no choice, then.”
Jeremy stepped in front of Nick, massaging his knuckles.
In response, Nick smiled at him.