djinn wars 02 - taken Page 21

  “Don’t make me,” he murmured in my ear, and I stopped, knowing that he was capable of choking me then and there. After all, who would stop him? Certainly none of the guards, and I doubted Miles Odekirk would lift a hand to save me. After all, to him I was just another djinn-fucker, although I doubted he would ever use such a crude epithet himself.

  The horrible choking noises Natila had been making halted abruptly. I saw her slump in her chair, although the ropes that bound her in place kept her from slipping to the ground. The guard who had been performing the waterboarding procedure set down his bucket, and the first flicker of uncertainty that I’d seen in any of these men passed over his features.

  “Captain?” he said. “I’m not sure, but I think this one might be dead.”

  Evony screamed and struggled to break free of the grip Mitch and Butch had on her arms. Tears streamed down her face, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to get away. Tough she might be, but they each outweighed her by probably a hundred pounds or so.

  “I’ll check, Captain,” Miles Odekirk said, his gaze resting on me where I was still being held by the commander. “It looks as if you might be somewhat…occupied.”

  By then the second waterboarder had stopped torturing Jace, and tilted him back in place so he was more or less upright. He sat there and blinked, and then seemed to realize what had happened, anguish twisting his features.

  “Oh, no. God, no.”

  “Do you believe in God, then?” Odekirk asked in mildly interested tones as he stepped over to examine Natila’s limp form. “I have to say that’s rather surprising.”

  “You’ll find out the day you drop dead, and He sends you straight to Hell for what you’ve done today.” This was a Jace I’d never seen before, dark eyes blazing, black hair dripping lank against his cheeks and throat, an expression on his face that said he would gladly reach out and snap Odekirk’s neck if he could just be freed for a few seconds.

  “Hmm…an Old Testament God, then.” Odekirk laid two fingers against Natila’s damp throat and waited a few seconds. Then he moved those same fingers to her wrist and tried again. “It does appear that she’s dead. Interesting. We’ll need to move her to a morgue — there’s one at the funeral home down on Spruce Street. Then I’ll perform an autopsy.”

  Evony screamed again, redoubling her struggles. Not that it made any difference; the two goons holding her only tightened their grip that much further. At the same time, Jace made a sound of incoherent rage and began struggling in his chair, so much so that he lost his balance and toppled to the side, hitting the cement floor with a sharp crack. Mitch and Butch began to laugh, but stopped abruptly when the scientist lifted an eyebrow at them.

  “Get him up,” Odekirk snapped. “We might as well take these three back to the justice center. Clearly, our security here isn’t as good as I’d hoped, whereas this djinn and the woman were held there for weeks without incident.”

  “Are you sure?” Margolis began, but Odekirk sent him a quelling look.

  “The evidence suggests that they’ll be more secure there.”

  “Right,” the commander replied, and for the briefest second I felt him increase the pressure on my throat before he let go altogether and pushed me toward the two guards who had originally held me. “Keep an eye on that one,” he said, his tone casual. “She’s a bit slippery.”

  They flanked me, their grips beyond iron this time…more like case-hardened steel. I knew I wasn’t getting away.

  And so I was marched out of there, a weeping Evony right behind me, while I heard them gather up Jace as well and have him bring up the rear. Just outside the entrance to the building, the white unmarked van Julia had described to me was waiting. How it had gotten there so quickly, I didn’t know, but I supposed one of the guards must have radioed for it to come pick us up.

  I hadn’t rescued Jace. All I’d succeeded in doing was getting Natila killed, and Evony made prisoner. What the hell I was supposed to do now, I didn’t have a goddamn clue.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Since I’d never seen the cells where Jace and Natila had been imprisoned, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But they were more or less standard-issue, I supposed — enclosed in bars, with a hard little cot in each one. The bathroom facilities were down a short hallway, and you had to ask a guard to take you. I supposed it was better than having to do it out in front of everyone, but still, not the most dignified thing in the world.

  Evony had retreated to her cot and was huddled in a corner, knees drawn up to her chest, face buried in her arms. When I’d tried to call out softly to her, she’d shot me a glare of such fury that I recoiled.

  Let her grieve, Jace told me. He’d been silent the whole way here, and also while we were shoved into our individual cells, with me next to Evony and him across the narrow walkway that separated the pairs of cells. Of course they had to put him in a cell where I could see him but not touch him. I had to believe that was done on purpose.

  He went on, When she wishes to speak to you, she will.

  I couldn’t even be relieved that we still had this strange power of mental speech, despite one of Odekirk’s boxes sitting in plain sight on the guard desk only a few yards away. If Jace had been any farther from me, he probably couldn’t have communicated in that manner, simply because I could tell they had cranked the damn thing up pretty high — he was shivering, and I could see the way his chest rose and fell too rapidly.

  Sitting at that desk was one of the guards who’d performed the waterboarding, a ruddy-faced man I vaguely recalled was named Jeff or John or Jack. Something like that. I supposed it didn’t matter. What did matter was that Jace and I could carry on a conversation like this right under his nose, and he wouldn’t be able to tell.

  It’s all my fault, I said. If I hadn’t gone off all half-cocked, Natila would still be alive.

  That’s not true. Jace had assumed a position similar to Evony’s, arms wrapped around his knees, although in his case I knew it was more in an attempt to keep himself from shivering too badly. My heart ached for him, for how he must be suffering now, although I knew he’d survived weeks of such treatment and doubtless could survive a bit longer. You heard what Margolis said. They’d planned to test this particular torture at some point anyway. Your presence merely gave them an audience.

  That was more or less what the commander had told me, and yet I couldn’t find myself too relieved to hear it. All right, so he had claimed that they were going to do the waterboarding sooner or later. But what if it had been later? Maybe if I’d really stopped to formulate a concrete plan, rather than allowing my desperation and fear to drive me to attempt a rescue before I was ready, then Natila might still be alive.

  Wracked with guilt, I argued, You don’t know that for sure.

  Jace’s shoulders lifted the merest fraction before he stilled again. Even that small movement was enough for the guard to give him a suspicious glance, but as Jace was quiet enough after that, the man gave a shrug of his own before returning his attention to the tablet on the table in front of him. It looked like he might be playing Candy Crush. Strange, the artifacts from before that still hung on. I supposed the games already downloaded on the tablet would continue to function until the device itself broke down.

  No, I don’t know when they would have finally tried that particular torture, Jace replied. But you cannot take this responsibility on yourself. You did not kill Natila. Margolis, who gave the order, and Odekirk, who probably planned it, and the guard who actually drowned her — they are all guilty. Not you.

  My mental voice was very small as I said, Evony will never forgive me.

  She may not, Jace said frankly, and I had to stop myself from flinching. That is something only she can decide. You cannot force forgiveness. You can only wait to see if it is offered to you freely.

  In which case I had a feeling I’d be waiting an awfully long time. But he was right. This wasn’t about me. This was about Evony and her loss, and she needed to work her way
through it on her own terms, whatever those might be. I nodded and leaned back against the wall, wondering how long they planned to keep us here, and whether they would torture all three of us on the next go-round, or only Jace.

  Down the hall, I could hear the creak of a door opening, and footsteps echoing on the polished cement floors. I didn’t know what time it was, but it felt as if we’d been in here forever. In reality, though, the sun was probably just rising. Maybe it was time for a change in shifts. I hoped the approaching footsteps heralded something that innocuous, and weren’t the sound of Margolis coming to get us and visit further tortures on Jace. If they’d already ferreted out the significance of Natila’s death by drowning….

  It wasn’t Margolis who came into the detention area a few seconds later, however, but Dan Lowery. My cheeks burned as his gaze settled on me for a second before he turned to the other guard. “All quiet down here?”

  “Like a tomb,” the man responded. “Not a peep out of any of them — well, unless you count that one in the corner who won’t stop sniffling.”

  “Good,” Dan said. “The commander said I should take over for a while so you can get some rest.”

  “Good.” The guard got up from the desk and yawned. “I’m going on thirty-six hours with no sleep now. This last hour I could barely keep my eyes open. Not that it mattered much, since none of the prisoners were doing anything except sitting there.”

  Dan nodded, watching as the other man pulled his coat off the back of his desk chair and shrugged into it. A bored-sounding, “’Bye,” and he was gone, hurrying toward the exit.

  I watched this exchange with some trepidation. There had never been anything between Dan and me, and I hadn’t wanted there to be. Even so, the current situation was more than a little awkward. Would he sit quietly at the desk and ignore us, or would he come over and mock me for being an idiot?

  It seemed he’d decided to do the latter, since, after waiting a few moments, he slowly approached my cell. “Come here,” he said, his voice hard.

  “I doubt we have anything to say to each other,” I replied. Across the way, Jace’s gaze sharpened at my words, and he gave Dan a probing look.

  “I’ll decide that.”

  Since I didn’t know what else I could do, I slid off the cot and approached the bars of my cell with dragging steps. “What do you want?”

  In response, he darted a quick look over his shoulder. Right then, I realized he was glancing at the security camera, which was mounted on the wall above the guard desk. “Here,” he said in an undertone, reaching out to slip a small piece of paper into my hand.

  Without thinking, I took the paper, then folded my fingers around it. I had no idea what he was doing or why he was acting this way, but now that we were standing this close to one another, I couldn’t see any anger or hatred in his expression. More like…resignation.

  “You’re an idiot,” he told me in much louder tones. “We could’ve been good together, but you had to waste your time on this piece of shit?” A slight jerk of his chin in Jace’s direction, and Jace stared at him with narrowed eyes. As he was opening his mouth to reply, I said,

  Don’t, Jace. This is just an act. There’s no need to defend my honor.

  You’re sure?

  Positive.

  Very well. Jace settled back against the wall of his cell, arms folded, mouth tight and angry. It was a good act. He really did look pissed off.

  Well, maybe he was, but not because of anything Dan had just said.

  With the barest of nods, Dan headed back to the guard desk and sat down, then made a show of fishing an old dog-eared paperback copy of The Stand out of a desk drawer and flipping open to somewhere in the middle. It took a lot for me to keep from grinning at his choice of reading material.

  I settled myself back down on the cot, then adopted a position similar to both Jace’s and Evony’s — knees up against my chest, fingers knotted together in front of them. In my case, however, I did so because I had a good idea that I could make out whatever was on the little slip of paper without anyone else being able to see what was written on it.

  Purposely staring off into what I hoped looked like the middle distance, I shifted focus for a fraction of a second so I was able to read the two words on the paper scrap.

  Hang tight.

  No name signed to that short note — not that I’d expected one. But even in those two words, I recognized the graceful, looping handwriting, so different from my own scrawl. I’d seen that writing on plenty of sticky notes while I was helping out at the justice center.

  Julia had sent me that note.

  Right then a rush of relief and gratitude went through me, so strong I thought Jace must surely sense it. And he did, apparently, because he lifted his head and sent me a piercing glance.

  Good news?

  I think so. But we have to be patient.

  I’ve learned something of patience these past few weeks. He didn’t smile, because I guessed that he’d seen Dan’s glance at the surveillance camera, and he didn’t want to do anything that might attract attention. But I could feel him relax slightly. Then he closed his eyes, as if attempting to marshal what little strength Odekirk’s device permitted him.

  Slowly, I unwrapped my hands from around my knees. Fingers clenched around the scrap of paper, I bent down as if to scratch my leg, then slipped the paper inside my sock. When they locked me up in here, they’d taken away my boots. I had to hope Julia would be able to return them to me, or I wouldn’t get very far. Not in this weather.

  The minutes ticked by. Dan read at the desk and shifted his position every once in a while. To look at him, you’d never know he was conspiring to break a group of prisoners out of the city jail. In her corner, Evony didn’t move at all. Maybe she’d finally fallen asleep. I wished I could communicate with her the way I could with Jace, give her some idea of what might be coming, but of course that was impossible. All I could do was hope she’d be able to think on her feet and follow along when the moment did arrive.

  Then I heard footsteps. Lighter than Dan’s, hurrying down the hallway. I sat up, pulse racing, and saw that Jace had roused himself as well. Even Evony lifted her head, as if picking up on the excitement surging through me.

  Julia emerged into the detention area, expression grim. A glance over at Dan, and he set down his book and then got up from behind the desk.

  “Did you — ” he began, and she nodded.

  “It’s down. We have five minutes before it manually reboots.”

  “What?” I asked, and Julia looked over at me.

  “The security system. I disabled it, but it’ll be back online soon. We have to get you out of here before then.”

  “Margolis — ”

  “He’s over at the funeral home with Odekirk. They’re both…occupied.”

  I couldn’t help wincing, since I knew exactly what was keeping them busy. Where the hell did a physicist even learn how to perform an autopsy?

  Evony obviously understood the meaning of that exchange as well, since she got up off her cot and wrapped her fingers around the cell bars. Her face was a study in anguish. “They’re cutting her up? My Natila?”

  “I’m sorry,” Julia said. “There was no way I could stop them. But at least it means their attention is elsewhere. We do have to get moving, though.”

  While they’d been speaking, Dan had come to my cell and inserted a key in the lock. Without saying anything to me, he opened the door, then moved on to Jace’s cell. He emerged and came straight to me, folding me in his arms. It felt so good to be there — and yet I could feel how he was shaking, how hard his heart was beating.

  “Can you do this?” I asked him.

  He nodded.

  Apparently noting our exchange, Julia turned away from Evony and said, “I’ll take care of that.” She went to the device and moved her hands over it. Almost at once, Jace’s heart beat began to slow, and some of the tremors that wracked his body started to subside.

 
“Sorry I couldn’t turn that down before,” Dan said as he unlocked the door to Evony’s cell. “But I only had one training session with it, and I was afraid I might make matters worse if I started messing with the thing.”

  “That’s all right,” Jace replied. He looked over at Julia. “What’s the plan?”

  “My Suburban is parked outside. I’ve got Dutchie locked up in the back. You’re going to knock Dan and me out, and then you’re going to steal the car and get the hell out of here.”

  Jace blinked. “I’m going to what?”

  “The only way Margolis will swallow any of this is if we make it look convincing.” Julia’s voice was calm, as though she allowed people she’d only just met to knock her unconscious every day of the week. “The security system’s been glitching for weeks, so this hiccup shouldn’t raise too many eyebrows. You’re going to take Dan’s gun and hit him with it, and then you’re going to do the same thing to me. They’ll find us both here unconscious, and my car keys stolen…and you three gone.”

  Evony, face tracked with dark streams of runny mascara and eyeliner, crossed her arms and glared at Julia. “Where are we supposed to go?”

  “To Taos,” Jace said.

  “I can’t go there without Natila. What’s a Chosen with her djinn?”

  My heart constricted at the despair in her voice, but I said gently, “They’ll take you in. You’re still Chosen, even if — even if Natila is gone.”

  The only reply I got from her was a narrow-eyed glare, and I swallowed. Obviously, those fences were going to take a long time to mend.

  Ignoring the tension between us, Julia said, “You have to go, and you have to go now.” She glanced down at her watch. “Now you only have two and a half minutes until the security system turns back on.”

  “What about the rest of the people in the building?” I asked.

  “Most of them are in the break room. It’s Ernie Lasky’s birthday, and someone made cake.”