CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - CHRISTINE
“Is this really happening?” Alec asks, looking up at us from where he’s knelt on the floor. It’s very strange. Very, very strange. I’ve known him for almost half my life, and I’ve known him in almost all the ways it’s possible to know someone. But I’ve never known him like this.
Confused.
Muddled.
Vulnerable.
He doesn’t look scared. That’s a look that I’ve never seen from him, and doubt I ever will, but what he’s projecting right now is the closest I imagine it’ll get.
“Yes, Alec, this is real. And it’s time to go,” Eliza says.
“What…? How…?”
“Ah, yes, you’re as charming a conversationalist as I recall. But all that for another time. I don’t know how long Brenden, Charlie, and Danny can keep your friends occupied without getting someone killed.”
“Brenden and Charlie are here too?” Alec asks, even more confused-sounding than before.
“Yeah, mate. They’s here. That’s what all the going-on outside is about. Shall we?” Russell extends his hand to help Alec up. Alec stares at it for the briefest of moments before reaching out and being assisted to his feet. He winces as he stands. And something inside me winces as well.
He’s hurt. He doesn’t look like he’s been beaten or tortured or anything. In fact, he looks pretty well taken care of. Apart from the fact that he’s unshaven, which I’ve never seen on him before and never really even imagined as a possibility. It’s odd. Being scruffy is such a Danny thing.
But otherwise, he looks exactly like himself. Apart from the scruff, the bafflement on his face, and the fact that he’s in pain. So. Actually. No. Nothing like himself.
And I get sad. Because I have to conclude that the pain is a remnant of what happened with us at the waterfall. So I did this to him. I put him in this place. In this state. In this position. And I still don’t even have a full understanding of exactly why. I don’t have a complete picture of everything. There are still holes in my memory. Ones I really can’t afford to have.
My long-term memory seems okay. All the things that led up to that night on the roof are pretty clear.
I think.
But I don’t know exactly what happened that night. And I don’t know if the things I do remember are accurate. Or true. Or how I should feel right now. I thought I had worked out all my emotions and gotten clear that I just wanted that day back. That perfect day that Danny, Alec and I spent together. That brief moment we had where it looked like everything was going to be OK and we were finally all three going to just… be together. The triangle.
But seeing him now, a flood of feelings wash over me. Especially when I see Eliza, who is two steps closer to him than I am, go to help Russell pull him to his feet. She takes him by the other arm and puts her hand on his side, saying, “You all right there, luv? Can you walk? Or do I have to carry you?”
She says it with a smile and an almost wink. He smiles back, as if by impulse. Like an old record that has been dusted off and is being played once more.
And I have to remind myself again. I did this.
“I’m fine,” he says. And then, quicker than a flash of lightning, he remembers himself and who he is. He steps back, free from the both of them, lifts his hands in a broad gesture and says, “I imagine that now that we’re all jolly and reunited, someone has a plan to get us the fok out of here.”
“There he is,” Eliza says with what can only be called shit-eating sarcasm.
“Well,” says Russell, “the plan is fuckin’ shit, mate. But so far, it’s maybe kind of working. Christine… what’s happening out front?”
I’m still just staring at Alec when he says it, so it takes me an extra beat before I answer, “Hmm?”
“You’ve still got Danny on the mobile, yeah? What’s happening out there? Sounds like it’s quieted down.”
He’s right. It has quieted. I hadn’t even noticed. I pull out the phone with the line I have open to Danny and whisper again, “Danny… what’s happening? What was all the gunfire?”
After a moment, he whispers—so quiet I can barely hear him—“Yeah, one of the guys was shooting at the sky to get everyone to shut up.”
“He was shooting at the fucking sky?”
“Yeah, they’re… emotional, these guys.”
“What the hell’s happening now?”
“Um… well, I can’t fucking believe this, but Brenden and Charlie actually started blaming each other for the fuckup, started wrestling—”
“Fucking wrestling?”
“What I said. And then the mercs started laughing at them, and one of them—who looks to be in charge—broke it up, asked for the manifest, shrugged, said, ‘Top grade eats for us, my boets,’ and then, once they looked in the back and saw that it’s really beef and not, like, a truck of assassins or something, started helping unload it. They’re all taking it into the kitchen now.”
Un. Be. Lievable. “And what are you doing?”
“Still fucking pinned down, hiding in old Chinese food wrappers, wondering why I agreed to come along.”
I turn to Russell and say, “We’re good. I guess. Tell Theo to be ready to kill the fence again. We’ll get out through the woods and meet the truck by the main road.” I step to Alec and say, “Can you climb?”
“Climb what?”
“Whatever. Can you get up on the roof so we can get back out through the fence?”
“Nunu, that parkour thing is not mine. It’s all of you. And besides, I’m not hundreds. My ribs still need some tending. Maybe if I had some pain muti, I could work through it, but I don’t. They have the laaitie dole it out to me.”
“Brilliant,” Eliza says. “Well, good to have seen you, I suppose. Cheers.” And she makes her way toward the window again. I don’t think she’s really going to go. I think she’s just being Eliza. But you never know.
“Which laaitie?” I ask. “What do you mean?”
“Him,” he says, and gestures to under the bed. Russell, Eliza, and I bend down to look. There, under the bed, is a young man dressed like the other guards. And completely knocked out. Snoring.
“What did you do to him?” I ask.
“Well, before I knew everyone was coming to retrieve me, I had decided that today was the day I planned on leaving. I even sent Danny a text to see where he was in the world.”
“You did?”
He nods at me. “I did.”
“Today?”
“Today, nunu. Just around the exact same time that you all were coming for me, I reckon.”
He grins and I can’t help the feeling I get in my stomach. I can’t stop it. And I don’t try. “That’s…”
“Yeah. It’s a coincidence, ain’t it?”
He smiles at me. I smile back. We are connected. Always and forever.
“Charming.” Eliza’s voice breaks through. “But none of us are successfully out of here yet. Since Mr. van den Berg here can’t climb, do we have an alternate course of egress?”
We all look to Alec, who says, “I had planned to use the passageways.”
“Passageways?” Russell asks.
“Yeah,” Alec says, “there’s underground passageways. Like catacombs leading out underneath the property. Eliza remembers.”
We now all look at Eliza. “Yes,” she says. “I do remember.” Then she puts her hand on one of the posts of the four-poster bed. “I remember a lot of things about this place.”
Rage.
Whatever feelings I was having in my stomach are now replaced by my friend, rage.
“Super. Let’s fuckin’ go,” I say, making my way to the door.
“Wait,” calls Alec. “How do we know it’s clear?”
“I’ll go up,” Russell says. “You two stay on comms, stay with him, and I’ll do a quick perimeter check from the roof. If I see a bunch of blokes hauling meat, we’ll assume that they’re all preoccupied with that.”
“How can we be sure that there’s no more on the main floor?” Eliza asks. Russell shrugs. “Brilliant,” she says.
“I’m not sure it’s any better an idea, us just mucking about here waiting on someone to walk in though, is it?” Russell says.
“Good point.” Eliza sighs. “To which end… what about him?” she asks, referring to the kid snoring under the bed.
Russell says, “What about him?”
“If they come in and don’t find Alec, but instead a groggy lad on the ground who’s been stripped of his rifle, there’s a tiny chance they might become a wee bit hostile.”
No one says anything for a moment, and then, since it would appear that nobody plans on stating the obvious—a tactic that calls back to the very first conversation I ever had with Eliza—I offer it up.
“Replica,” I say.