Chapter 15

Sunday

"How much of that conversation did you hear?" I asked. I wasn't sure what the vigilante knew about my past. Don. The abuse. Any of it.

"Enough."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means your friend squandered his opportunity."

"Of what?"

The vigilante didn't reply.

"Of having me?"

"No, not of having you." His hands seemed to tighten around me. "Of deserving you, maybe. But that wasn't what I meant."

"I can walk, you know. I'm not injured."

He looked down at me. "I know. But you're in shock."

I stared into his eyes. I wasn't really in shock. Honestly, I was used to lies. I was used to being in pain. Maybe he just wanted an excuse because he liked having me close to him. Maybe he was as insane as me. I heard a clanging noise and realized he was walking up a fire escape.

After several minutes of climbing, we stopped outside of a window. The vigilante reached out his hand and pressed some numbers into a keypad. There was a whirring noise as the window began to rise.

I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting. I had pictured him as a sort of Robin Hood superhero, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. That would mean he knew what living in poverty was like. His lair would be a rundown building in the slums of the city. But something like that wouldn't have a touchpad that operated a fancy door-like window.

He carried me into a room bathed in total darkness. The sound of his shoes on the floor was the only sound in the room. He slowly lowered me to my feet, in such a way that my arms stayed wrapped around his neck after my feet touched the ground. I breathed in his exhales. They were so much sweeter than oxygen. I was pretty sure I could live off of his breaths.

"Why are you doing all this for me?" I asked.

He pressed his forehead against mine. "I'm only here because of you. You created me."

"But what about the bank robbery? And the random muggings you stopped? That has nothing to do with me."

"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen," he said, ignoring me, as he let go of my waist and stepped back. "Athena. Lights on."

There was a clicking noise and suddenly I could see him again. I squinted my eyes at the blast of illumination.

I was still adjusting to the brightness when he added, "I'll be back soon."

"Where are you going?"

"I have to go back for Eli."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't get to interrogate him yet. Don't break anything while I'm gone."

The window automatically shut behind him before I got to ask him any more questions.

"V, wait!" I looked around the window for a way to open it. I didn't actually want to leave, but I thought it was important to know how. "Open," I eventually whispered when I couldn't find any buttons or knobs that would do the trick.

"Access denied," said a computerized female voice from above me. I looked up to see a speaker above the window. And a camera. Had he seriously locked me in?

I turned around and let my eyes wander over the room. The place looked like it was a combination of a bachelor pad and a high tech computer lab. If he had been poor, he was certainly keeping some of the missing money from his conquests for himself. I walked into the center of the huge room and turned around in a circle.

Glass partitions were the only thing that separated the different areas. There was a section with workout equipment. Several glass desks were decked out with computers and monitors. There was another glass table filled with small vials of a clear liquid. A kitchen that looked like it had never been used was off to one side. And there were three doors that led to who knew where.

Everything was glass or stainless steel. And there wasn't a spot on anything. It was like he had just wiped it all clean like a criminal not wanting to be detected. I wondered if he had a thing about smudges and dirt. I thought about the gloves he always wore when I saw him. Did he wear them all the time?

The other thing that was odd was that there were no decorations. Well, I guess there was one: the five-foot target hanging on the far wall. Not a single arrow was in the bulls-eye. Some arrows were even sunk into the drywall. I walked over to it and I touched the end of one of the arrows on the outer ring of the target. I was lucky he hadn't hit me when he shot that note at me earlier today.

I took a step back and looked at the wall covered in holes. He was practicing, perfecting his technique. But why? Why did he have to get better at what he was doing? All we needed to do was take down one man. Just one. This didn't need to be a whole operation. This couldn't be all about me.

The image of Sadie Davis popped into my head. My mind seemed to focus on her outstretched hand, telling me to stop. Was she warning me somehow? Maybe she was trying to help me.

I glanced over my shoulder, that eerie feeling of being watched suddenly overcoming me. I looked up at the ceiling and saw another camera and speaker. Hell, maybe the vigilante was watching me right now.

I walked over to one of the doors and grabbed the handle.

"Access denied," said the computerized voice before I even had a chance to turn it.

I went to the next door and the same thing happened.

The last door opened without anyone yelling at me. It was a bathroom that was as immaculate as the rest of the house. The shower was incased in glass. There wasn't a single splash of water or stray hair anywhere on the vanity. It was like he never stepped foot in here, yet I knew that wasn't true. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was completely overcome by the enticing smell. It was his cologne. The whole room smelled just like him. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was embarrassing that the smell turned me on.

I stepped out of the bathroom before I did something embarrassing like smell his body wash. I looked around the main room again and bit the inside of my lip. So, there was a bathroom but no bedroom. Which meant he didn't live here. Also, why was there no front door? There was just the window to the emergency escape. There should have been a door entering the main building. I walked around the room, but I didn't see a door anywhere. He really did lock me in here.

I walked over to the glass desks with the computers and sat down in the only chair. My feet barely touched the ground. I grabbed the lever on the side and lowered the chair until it was a comfortable height. If I was locked in here, I could at least make myself useful. I pressed the power button on the closest computer monitor.

"Access denied," said the female voice.

I pushed the chair to the side and pressed the power button on the next computer.

"Access denied," she said again.

I thought about when the vigilante had said "lights on," and the room had immediately been illuminated. "Computer on," I said.

"Access denied."

What had V said before the command? Athena? "Athena, computer on."

"Access denied."

"You've got to be kidding me." I sighed and stood up. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a few papers strewn about at the end of the desk. I picked one of them up. It looked like a sketch for a new mask. He definitely wasn't planning on stopping this any time soon. I pressed my lips together. I didn't want to drag any of this out. As soon as Don was back, all of this had to end once and for all. I wouldn't be the reason that V got himself killed. I placed the sketch back down on the desk and turned around.

What was I supposed to do in here? My stomach rumbled. I was almost pissed off that the vigilante had told me I could help myself to anything in his kitchen. It was like he knew that I'd get hungry. How does he know more about me than I know about myself?

"Am I allowed to open the fridge door?" I asked to the speaker above me.

The computerized voice didn't respond.

My eyes wandered back toward the bathroom. Was it really that weird to smell his body wash? While I was debating whether to make myself a sandwich or just dive right into being a crazy person, a whooshing noise sounded through the apartment.

The vigilante emerged through the window, carrying Eli's unconscious body over his shoulder. V heaved Eli off his shoulder and dropped him unceremoniously on the floor.

"Any ideas?" he said and looked from me to Eli's body.

"Me? I don't know how to interrogate someone."

"You know him better than I do."

I shook my head. The truth was I didn't know Eli at all. "You're not going to hurt him, are you?"

"Good idea. It's probably better if we make it look like I might." He grabbed Eli's limp arm and dragged him across the sparkling clean floors.

"That's not what I meant."

V ignored me as he pushed Eli's body to a seated position underneath the bulls-eye. The one he was still clearly learning how to use. He grabbed the bow and an arrow off a nearby glass table and kicked Eli's thigh.

"Please don't hurt him."

V glanced at me over his shoulder. "He'll be more scared if he doesn't see you." He nodded for me to go into the bathroom.

"Don't hurt him."

"I'm not going to kill your boyfriend if that's what you're worried about."

I couldn't even believe it. He was jealous. How could he be jealous of anything I did when he wouldn't even show me his face? It wasn't like we were in a relationship built on honesty. But it didn't stop me from feeling terrible about it either. I had been a little relieved when I thought the vigilante was Eli instead of some stranger under a mask.

"I thought he was you."

He shook his head and turned back to Eli.

V was right, it would be better if I wasn't watching. And I didn't want to witness this. I flinched when V kicked Eli again. The truth was, I had feelings for both of them. I wouldn't have just slept with Eli because he was the vigilante if I didn't like Eli in the first place. I retreated into the bathroom and let the enchanting smell calm me down.