Chapter 52

T

A daily stroll with Albany was part of my routine now. I counted snipers as she shared her hopes and dreams. As magnetic as she was in person—especially the first time you met her—there was a shallow vapid-ness that eventually reared its head. She wanted her father to recognize her. She bitched about her brother trying to run the company. She complained about her situation.

She was the type of person who unloaded and never asked you how your day was. I pretended to be interested, asking questions about the worries from the previous day. Like all narcissists, she required reams of praise. And although I thought it was pretty obvious that I was playing her, Albany could never see it that way. She thought she was the center of my universe. And she thought she should be the center of everyone’s universe.

Albany got chatty, because eventually she ran out of topics about herself and had to offer options on what was happening around her. She started telling me things, like new innovations Breston was working on besides the drug that had been tested on me. It was used to aid in my recovery, not just torture me. It had kept me still so I could heal quicker.

Every once in a while Albany would threaten me with the truth-telling portion of the drug, but the more I listened, the more she got to talk about herself. I didn’t bolt when I started to get opportunities. That was a very tough part. But I remembered how successful Nix was. He was full of information from the time he was in with the Feybis.

Albany would tell me when she saw footage of Animal, claiming she was still sleeping with him from time to time. I doubted it. There was a falseness in her claims.

When my time came to leave, I wanted to make sure that it was worth it. I wanted to hand Animal information that would help him stay out from under the thumb of Breston. And, of course, out from between Albany’s legs.

Her plans to use the Feybi side of the organization Animal was running to distribute her new drug illegally was her holy grail plan. A new drug on the streets would be the way she could finally be seen as a major player in Breston.

The thought of this drug she had getting into the hands of the public was terrifying. The truth telling—the paralysis. It would be like a hyper roofie. It was a drug that was a dangerous weapon.

I had enough on her now. It was time. If I was correct about my time in captivity, I had been here about five months. Our daily stroll was upon us in the sun.

I was possibly in a different country. Most of the guards seemed to have a similar accent. Dealing with where in the hell I was was a problem for another hour.

Now it was escape. I asked Albany more questions about her. She was glamorous today, even in jeans. She had pearls on and a dark blazer, nude pumps, and the perfect amount of makeup.

I was in my uniform for my time here. Scrubs and sneakers, my hair in a rubber band. The lavishness of Albany’s lifestyle did not spread to her favorite toy of the moment. While she rattled on about her latest car, I counted the snipers again. Jones, the one on the East side, liked to smoke. And from the whiffs I’d gotten, it wasn’t regular cigarettes. He was my best bet. I needed his gun and his keys. As Albany gestured with her hands, I was deciding about her fate. To kill or not to kill. She told me how the car drove on her way here to me today. She pointed toward the parking lot as she answered.

I wanted to kill her—for keeping me, but more for sleeping with Animal—but I was making a decision for everyone when I started that war. And I would add urgency to my own capture, assuming I made it out.

For today I would knock her out really, really hard. I knew where to hit her, and I knew her guard wasn’t up at all.

As we entered the part of the path that had a clump of trees, I pointed out a pretty bird in the sky. Turning her head was the last thing she would remember doing.

I hit her behind the neck and squeezed a pressure point so she would slide to the ground. Her eyes rolled back into her head.

If I’d timed it right, she and I had between nine and eleven minutes to come out the other side of the path and back into view. I was counting on five minutes of leeway time before any guards realized something was amiss.

I stripped her of her jeans and blazer and made a quick swap. Scrubs wouldn’t be great at camouflaging me in public. I patted the jacket pocket and it had her wallet and her keys. The other pocket had her newest cell phone.

She was still breathing, so I hadn’t killed her. I felt a pang of remorse and stared at her for an extra beat. I hoped I wouldn’t regret leaving her here with her heart beating.

Jones was mid-toke, and clearly not expecting a woman to climb the ladder to his post. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. His M24 and pistol became my property. I took a pull on his joint, trying to settle my hammering heart before I free-climbed out the window.

I had miles and miles to go—and possibly an ocean or two, but I would get back to my people, so help me God.