Stolen Hearts: Book 1 (Grim's Labyrinth Series) (7 page)

There might be hope for today after all.

Chapter 11

Jessica’s cell, if it could be called that, was a far cry from the ones she’d seen in movies. There were no cinder block walls, no stainless steel toilet decorating the room. There were obviously no bars on her doors or a lack of windows.

Instead, it looked like a few of the mid-range hotels she’d stayed in during family vacations when her dad had still been alive. They’d traveled for his job as a photographer, both for covering important events and sports venues, and sometimes just for his work in freelance nature photography. It had been a happy time, even if it kept them moving.

As she’d gotten older and had school and extracurricular stuff, he’d had to take more and more of the trips by himself, leaving her with her stepmother for weeks at a time. But summers and holidays had been spent traveling, often just the two of them since Faydra claimed to be allergic to anything fun. Well, maybe not in those exact words, but that was Jessica’s analysis of it.

The room where she’d woken up had two double beds with soft duvet coverlets, a separate bathroom area, a TV and phone, and even a small fridge and microwave. Except for the obvious problem of a door that locked from the outside and a very noticeable lack of a clock—which was never a good sign since it meant she could be there a while and someone didn’t want her to know it—it would feel just like a vacation.

Well, that, and the fact that her stepmother had spoken to someone about hiding her body, she didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there, a group of people wanted her to sacrifice herself, and she’d managed to drag a strange guy from her school into her problems.

Otherwise, it was a Hilton.

Jessica couldn’t gauge how long she’d been in the room, only long enough to really feel something like hunger once, meaning maybe for the space between two meals, when the lock began to turn from the outside. She sat upright on the bed and smoothed her rumpled clothes in place, readying herself mentally in case she needed to defend herself.

The door opened only wide enough for her to see Conlan outlined by the door frame. She brightened for a moment, thrilled that he’d managed to escape and was coming to bust her out, but her shoulders slumped slightly when someone pushed him gently from behind and closed the door behind him. The lock turned in place and footsteps retreated down the exterior hallway.

“Hi roomie!” he called out too happily, jumping and landing on the other bed in an outstretched position, letting his hands cradle his head on the pillow. He kicked off his shoes and crossed his ankles, obviously settling in. “Anything good on TV today?”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to mask her disappointment and failing miserably. “I mean, I’m sorry, that came out wrong. How come they put you in my room? Aren’t they worried about us trying to break out of here together?”

“I’d say not. I didn’t think it was a great plan either, but think about it. We don’t even know where we are and we have no way of escaping on foot. And remember the way those three guys looked all nervous just from projecting their faces outside the building? Whatever was out there is probably scary enough to send us running back here, pounding on the door and begging to be let back in. They must not think escaping is too big an attraction, kind of like putting Alcatraz on an island surrounded by shark-infested waters.”

“Or maybe they thought the accommodations made up for the fact that we’re locked in a room without contact with the outside world, held against our will?” she suggested, looking around the room. It wasn’t exactly ugly and it was bigger than even her living room at home, let alone her bedroom, but it was all ruined by the fact that she couldn’t leave.

“Either way, I say we raid the minibar and watch lots of pay-per-view, and charge all of it to their room. When they see what I can do to a room service menu they’ll be sorry they messed with the wrong guy!” Conlan jabbed the end of his index finger against his chest and tried to smile.

Jessica stretched out on her bed in a pose that mimicked Conlan’s, settling against the soft pillows when he reached for the remote and turned it on, keeping the volume low until they could find something they wanted to watch. He idly flipped through the channels and reminded her to call out if she saw something she liked.

“But, Jessica, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” he said, still holding the remote poised to strike at the sensor on the TV. “I didn’t want to pry or anything, but can you fill me in on why we’re here? I get it, saving you and driving off in my car was my idea, and it would be really shitty of me to assign any blame here, but this is all your fault.”

“Hey! I thought you weren’t going to assign blame!” she yelled with a light laugh, throwing one of her extra pillows and hitting him square in the face. He moved the pillow and claimed it with a smug look, wrapping his arms around it before continuing.

“I don’t want to sound like a whiner, but I do kind of want to go home at some point. What are they talking about, you’re supposed to sacrifice yourself and all that stuff?”

“Heck if I know. I didn’t know anything until I jumped out my window, and I’m still completely clueless about it. If it hadn’t been for the ugly argument with Faydra and then hearing that creepy phone call, I’d still be sitting in my room at home.”

“Are you sure about what you heard? I mean, it couldn’t have been taken wrong, or maybe that was supposed to be code for something?”

“You know, I don’t know how these things work in your world,” she began sarcastically, “but in my world, the words ‘where am I supposed to hide her body?’ really only have the one purpose. But you’re right, maybe we should go ask her what she was talking about? Sound good to you?”

“Okay, I see your point. I was just trying to put a positive spin on things. So let’s assume she was talking about killing you. Why would she want to do that? And who in the world would she be talking to on the phone about it?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking the same thing. We’ve never gotten along and she’s always been pretty hateful to me, especially after my dad died, but actually going so far as to kill me? That seems kind of far-fetched.”

“You’d think your dad would be more careful about his choice of a wife. Especially once he got sick, he would have made other arrangements for you if there was even a chance that his wife was a psychopath, right?”

Jessica was quiet for a moment, fighting the urge to say something loud, rude and quite possibly potentially violence-inducing. Instead, she switched directions.

“I have to admit there have been a few times when Faydra came in handy. You’ve never seen someone go from zero-to-bitch in three seconds flat, at least not like she could whenever someone questioned her. Like the time I got in trouble at school for having too many tardy slips. She came flying up there and chewed out old Mr. Carver for daring to threaten me with suspension and promising he would call the truancy court on her. She actually picked up the little ‘principal’ nameplate off his desk and put it through the window behind his head!” Jessica said, laughing a little at the memory.

“Wow, I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when she did that! I bet he needed to go put on a dry pair of pants!” Conlan said, joining in the fun.

Jessica jumped up from the bed and stood over him for a moment, staring him directly in the face. His amusement died down to confusion as he watched her.

“What’s up?” he asked, still reclining casually.

“Oh, nothing. Just giving you time to think about your answer.” She stared down at him, waiting for him to understand.

“What answer?”

“You don’t know? You sure you don’t want to think about it a little longer and get back to me?” she asked, her tone becoming icy as she stared into his eyes, daring him to lie to her again. She waited, her hands twitching into fists as she thought about having to fight him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The principal of our school,” Jessica said quietly, menacingly. “His name isn’t Mr. Carver, it’s Warren. Missus Diane Warren. And I didn’t tell you my dad was sick, I only told you that he died. And I never said how he died. You said he should have made other plans for me after he got sick.”

Conlan’s face became stricken as he realized his mistake. He paused for only a beat before sitting up suddenly and standing in front of Jessica, taking her face in both of his hands and coming closer to her so she could hear him as he whispered.

“There’s no time, so listen to me carefully. I didn’t rescue you at your house, I was there to kidnap you. This is all a trick. You have to protect yourself,” he began, speaking earnestly. “Don’t trust anyone, because none of this is real. None of it. The car, the people in the room, it was all a hallucination. Don’t believe anything. Just protect yourself.”

She opened her eyes wide at his insistent announcement but was even more shocked when the door to her room flew open and armed guards grabbed Conlan, wrenching his arms behind his back. His screams to her to protect herself faded down the hallway before they were silenced once and for all with a sickening thud.

Chapter 12

“Speak, Faydra,” Rageeb ordered as though she was a dog, a condescending smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He knew how this would turn out today, he’d already made certain of that. This little game was only a momentary delay, and who knew? It might even be fun to watch her squirm and writhe, digging herself into a hole that she would never escape from.

Faydra cast a glance of pure disgust and loathing in Rageeb’s direction, almost hateful enough to make him lunge at her from the throne-like chair his attendants had brought forward. She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, ready to address the council with as much dignity as her broken frame could project.

“I will answer any questions that I’m able to,” she began. “Know that I am bound by agreements to keep certain things confidential. If I come to a question that I am forbidden to answer, you have my promise that I will supply you with the name of the person who made that decision for me.”

The council members nodded appreciatively, conceding that her willingness to offer up the names of her superiors was far more assistance than most witnesses at their trials were willing to provide. They conferred with each other in twos and threes before asking the first question.

“Why did you fail to destroy the creature?” one member asked pointedly, immediately supporting Rageeb’s position that Faydra was guilty of treason. Rageeb made a note to have the councilman’s wife released from her kidnappers as soon as the trial was over.

“I was under direct orders from my agency not to destroy the creature. They needed to gather more information on it before they could decide to eliminate it,” she explained, fighting to keep her voice even and her nervousness from showing in her tone.

“Are you implying that the agency was more interested in the scientific value of a known killer than the safety of our people?” another member demanded before looking to Rageeb for approval. When Rageeb smiled, she breathed a smile sigh of relief, hoping she would be reunited with her infant son soon.

“Not at all, Your Excellency. The agency was far more afraid that there were others like it, and therefore ordered me to maintain a watch on the creature at all times and to report back to them with regular daily updates. They felt that killing the creature would simply take out that one lone threat, leaving us all vulnerable to future attacks from others of its kind.”

“Then Faydra must be lying to protect her own skin. What proof do you have that there were more, or that anyone ever even suggested such a thing?”

“I’m not lying. No, I do not have proof of the existence of other creatures, but there were many in the agency—officials in high positions, I might add—who pointed to the increasing numbers of attacks. They felt there was no way it could be the work of only one being, and one that was still so young at that. I simply had my orders which were to guard the thing until such time as the agency decided to eliminate it. The belief in more of its kind is simply an agency decision and not something I was entitled to know.”

“Tell us then, once it became apparent that the creature had to be destroyed, why did you wait? Why did you let it escape?” a council member asked, the accusing tone in his voice replaced more by fearful curiosity than venom.

“I did not knowingly let her go. She had never strayed from the property before, and after it became obvious that her powers were growing, I immediately called the agency for an update and for new orders. I was given the order to eliminate the threat, and by the time I received the order the creature had already fled.”

“And that’s what you expect us to believe? We’re simply supposed to take your word at face value, when you’ve demonstrated a complete lack of regard for this council in the past, undermining the very important work that we do? You have a long history of letting us down… why should we believe you now?” Rageeb demanded with a sneer.

“Because I’m telling you the truth. I’ve already offered the names of my superiors who can confirm my version of events. If, for some reason, they are unwilling to admit that I acted under orders, then I am confident that they regard the secrecy of my assignment so highly that they would sacrifice me to protect the work that I did. If that is the case, I will willingly face my sentence as it is vital to all of our security.”

Faydra’s offer to accept her fate caused a visible shift in the demeanor of the council. Rageeb began to see his carefully laid plan for revenge dissolve before his eyes, ripping away any hope of punishment against the one who had wronged him more than anyone else alive. He struggled to hold himself back; just as Faydra had already known, he knew that any display of his temper would be seen as a sign of weakness and therefore guilt.

The last thing he needed was for his carefully crafted charges against the woman to result in his own death, especially a death as gruesome as this council was long known for.