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Chapter Twenty-Nine

W hoever was outside passed the door and continued on down the hall. Kenna’s phone buzzed. She put it on speaker, then tucked the phone in the front pocket of her vest. “What’s up, Maze?”

“Hang on.” A second later, the teen said, “Yeah, Bruce. Click that.”

Nicola seemed like she’d had some kind of procedure or been given a drug that made her compliant. Someone’s sick idea of compliance from the people who were being held here. Likely, all so they could be experimented on.

“Okay, I’m back.” Maizie’s voice rang through much clearer now. “I’m opening all the doors. There are sixteen patients, or whatever there are, on that floor, and they’re going to go free.”

Kenna looked at Ramon.

“It’s the right thing to do,” the teen said.

“No one is going to argue with you,” Kenna said. With Maizie living for years as a captive, it probably meant a lot to her to be able to give others the same chance at freedom she’d had.

Nicola continued to lay on the bed, staring at the far wall. The room was little bigger than a prison cell, but with a small dresser beside the bed. No artwork. Nothing personal. Not even a book.

“They all should be free,” Kenna said. “But they also need care and probably medical help. We can’t just let them be out into the world without having doctors look them over.”

The doors buzzed and clanged and swung open all down the hall.

Ramon darted out into the hall, and she heard running footsteps, followed by a quick double shot from his gun.

She went to the door, but Nicola shuffled in front of her out into the hallway.

The hall had filled with patients in their white scrubs, all shuffling along in the same direction. What had Buzard done to them to make them like this? A lobotomy was a terrifying idea. No one was allowed to perform that procedure on another person, right? Not anymore.

But it wouldn’t produce this kind of uniform behavior, would it?

Kenna joined the stream of patients, keeping an eye on the older man behind her as she made her way to Ramon.

He stood up with blood on the front leg of his pants. A man lay dead by his feet. “What now?”

“We’re seeing where they go.” She tugged his shirtsleeve, and he moved with her.

Down endless halls, through a wide room with long metal tables and scientific equipment.

One wall held cabinets with environmental controls, rows and rows of test tubes in little racks inside.

Beakers with lids containing liquid in all colors. Containers with hazard signs on them.

“Maizie?” Kenna said, low into her phone. “Any idea what he’s doing here?”

“I have his whole computer system up. It’s all his research going back decades, and there’s a lot of it.”

Ramon leaned over. “Just dump it on the internet. Let the people see what’s going on here.”

The patients all turned another corner and walked through a set of doors into an open expanse. It looked like a school gym with paneled wood flooring. They stopped in the center, huddled together in a group.

Dominatus wasn’t going to like it if the world suddenly found out what was happening here.

“Here it is,” Maizie said. “I found the security system.” She paused for a second. “I can see you. There have to be cameras all throughout. Even in the private rooms. I can see all of it.”

Kenna looked up at the rafters in this ceiling but didn’t see any cameras.

“Smile,” Maizie said. “You’re now live on Banbury Investigations social media accounts. All of them. I also sent a link to Special Agent Herron, so she can get to the feeds. They’ll have all the intel they need if they can see in every room in the entire facility.”

Ramon lifted his hood, covering his face. Trying to shield himself from view?

She rolled her eyes, lifted her hand and waved. “Everyone, say hi.”

The group of patients around her all lifted one hand and waved. “Hi,” murmured across the group.

“Whoa.” Ramon turned one way, then the other. “I think we should get out of here before?—”

Doors opened at the far end.

“Everyone, down!” Kenna yelled the command.

The crowd around her ducked simultaneously, and she swung the rifle up, squeezed the trigger, and slammed the three men who entered with a volley of bullets.

They had guns of their own, and at least a few shots whizzed across the air above her.

One knocked out a light fixture, spraying glass on the group.

Nicola screamed.

Kenna fired at the man, who ducked back into the hallway. The other two men were now lying on the ground where they’d fallen. She looked at Nicola, who stared at her hand. Blood coated the doctor’s fingers.

She looked up at Kenna. “What’s happening?”

“You tell me.” But that wasn’t their most pressing issue.

“We need a way out of here.” Was the woman lucid enough to understand that?

Or was this only a temporary stay in her situation?

Just a moment where she was jogged out of the stupor and able to talk for a second.

Any moment now she could descend back into that walking automaton way of being.

It certainly didn’t count as living.

Nicola straightened and her gaze settled on Kenna. “I know you.” She shook her head. “I can’t think from where.”

“What do you know? Like your name, or what this place is?” Kenna looked around. It felt too much like they were waiting for something.

She grasped the elbow of a man near to her, lifting gently. “Come on. Please. We have to go, everyone.”

The group straightened.

“Head for the door.”

No one moved.

“Why is this so creepy?” Nicola looked down at her clothes. “Why am I dressed like them?” Her voice rose in pitch.

“Hey, Doctor?” Ramon got in front of her. “We need to get these people out. You can freak out after.”

The young woman looked up at Ramon. “Oh, um. Okay. I’m okay.”

“Good.” He glanced around. “Let’s move, people.”

Kenna said, “Everyone, to the door.”

The group started to shuffle toward the men Kenna had killed.

“Maybe not that way.” She winced, going with the group. “But I think the word ‘everyone’ is the trigger.”

Nicola shook her head and shivered with the movement. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this.”

“That’s why we’re leaving,” Kenna said. “Is this the way?”

“Check your map.” Ramon motioned to her phone.

“Maizie.”

She’d just been remembering aloud that the girl was still on the phone, but Maizie asked, “Yes? What do you need?”

“You’re dumping everything on the internet?”

“Working on it,” Maizie said, sounding distracted. “I’m compiling it all, but there’s a whole lot of raw data. I’ve got to make it look like exposé articles. No one is going to read terabytes of raw data without a reason to look at it.”

“And the live feed?”

“It’s catching you in the hallway in three, two?—”

“Hang on, everyone.” The group slowed but didn’t stop moving. “Maizie is there anyone out there?”

“Nope. Hallway is clear.”

Ramon pushed through the group to go ahead.

Nicola followed him, rushing between people to catch up to the tall man. Kenna didn’t really blame her, but she’d rather have Jax here any day.

“I need to find the doctor.” Then she’d have a shot at convincing Nicola the best course of action here was to go back to her family so that Jax would be set free.

Not that she would hand over Buzard to the Santinos, if they could even get him past the FBI.

That would be condemning him to a slow death by torture at the hands of a crime family when he needed to face the right kind of justice—the kind that gave him a chance to repent and rehabilitate.

“Maizie, where do I find the doctor? These people need a safe way out, and I need to get what I came for.”

Nicola glanced back.

Kenna sent her a reassuring smile she didn’t feel.

“This way,” Nicola said, darting ahead and turning a corner. Ramon snagged her arm and pulled her back, but it was too late.

The shot slammed into her left shoulder before she could get out of the line of fire.

“Everyone, against the wall!”

A gunman emerged from the end of the hall. Ramon fired off two shots while swinging Nicola behind him and saying, “Put pressure on it!”

She hit the wall, gasping as she slid down to sit. Leaving blood smeared on the paint behind her as she cried and held her bleeding arm.

The group huddled around her, all of them trying to stand against the wall.

More shots smacked into the wall, and Ramon crept over to it. He looked around the corner and fired two shots, then two more. “Clear.”

“Okay, everyone. Let’s go.” Kenna helped Nicola up and ushered them all along. If she got them to an exit or to the bureau agents, they’d have help. She could double back for Buzard.

He had to be here somewhere.

One of the men turned to Kenna. “I know how to use that.” He motioned to her rifle.

She was about to object when she spotted the Marine Corps tattoo on the inside of his forearm. She pulled the pistol from the back of her belt, where she’d slid the holster. “How about this?”

He took it and immediately ejected the magazine, then slid it back home and racked the slide back. “Ready.”

“Ready.” She was going to keep a close eye on him but prayed that whatever instinct had been trained into him would win out, and he would help her protect these people. “Keep any eye out. Shoot anyone that’s not us and doesn’t have an FBI badge.”

She didn’t trust cops right now but wasn’t going to tell him to shoot any. She’d let that be his judgment. “Maizie, update?”

“Two men headed your way, coming up behind you.”

The marine swung around, and she spotted blood on the back of his neck. From the glass that sprayed down on them when the light was shot out? He fired a single shot, then two together. “Okay, that feels good.”

Kenna spotted the deceased men behind them, dressed in old-timey medical clothing. “If everyone is wearing white, it’s going to be difficult to figure out who is who.”

They passed a corkboard with papers pinned to it.

Kenna had a crazy idea and snatched a pushpin off the wall. She grabbed the arm of a young man in front of her and stuck the pin in the fleshy underside of his forearm. He flinched, flailing his arms before she could get out of reach. She ducked. “Easy. You with me?”

“I-I think so.” He looked around, still walking with the rest. Falling out of step.

“What’s your name?”

“Sean.”

“Okay, Sean. You know where the exit is?”

He said, “Maybe. I think so.”

Nicola dropped back to walk with them. “I can help Sean find the exit. I remember some things.” She looked at Sean. “The yellow fire extinguisher.”

“Right. And the door with the light.”

“We need to get there.”

“Okay,” Kenna said. “Sounds like we’ve got the beginning of a plan.”

“No go.” Maizie didn’t sound happy.

The marine asked, “Who’s that?”

“I’m your guardian angel, Axel.”

“Are you hacking military files, Maze?” Kenna walked with the crowd, following Ramon.

Maizie said, “Facial recognition.”

“Now tell me what the problem is with the plan.”

“It isn’t bad,” Maizie said. “It’s just not going to work. There are too many captors, and they’re making their way to you. They all have guns. They’re between you all and the front door.”

Kenna said, “Maizie, let the FBI in. Open all the doors and let them in.”

“They aren’t quite through the inner doors. I’m unlocking them now.” Maizie paused. “I think I have a roundabout route for you. I can lock the people coming for you in a hallway, seal it, and leave them there.”

“Do it. Get the bureau down here,” Kenna said. “What about the doctor? Is he here?”

Axel whipped his head around, watching their six but also interested. “What doctor? Wait, there was a doctor.” He shook himself. “Why does he terrify me?”

“I need to find him. But I don’t want him dead. I need him alive so he can face justice.”

“I’d rather put a bullet in his head, thanks for offering, though.” He leaned down to the phone, getting in Kenna’s space. “Where is he? I’m gonna kill this guy.”

“I’m in favor of this plan,” Sean said. “In case anyone is interested.”

Kenna figured she should stick her pushpin in everyone walking with them, but she would have to get them all convinced to help. “We need somewhere to hole up. What have you got, Maze?”

“Sean Reed. Nineteen, double major in biology and chemistry.” Maizie sounded like she was in awe.

“Let’s focus, shall we?”

“Somewhere to hole up, got it.” Maizie went quiet again.

“No offense,” Axel said. “But I’m not stopping until I’m out of here. Got it?”

“I understand. If you could get the rest of these people out, I can finish this.”

Up ahead, Ramon said, “You’re recruiting?”

“Everyone, keep an eye out for assailants, okay? We don’t need anyone else getting shot.” She made her way to Nicola. “Can you tell me, did you see any kids while you were here? I still need to find the two who came to your medical center that day. They were taken as well.”

Nicola frowned. “Maybe. There was a ward. I went there once because he—the doctor—needed me to look at patient files. I don’t know who it was for.”

“Can you show me where it was on a map?” Kenna slid the phone from her vest, thumbed to Maizie’s map, and handed it to Nicola.

Sean glanced behind them. “Where did that guy go?”

Ramon stopped up ahead, bunching everyone together. “What is it?”

Kenna looked for Axel, but he wasn’t behind them. Down the hall, out of sight, gunshots rang out. “He’s going after the doctor.” She turned back to Nicola. “Tell me where, then take Sean and these people and get out of here. Maizie will clear a path to the FBI.”

Ramon skirted around them and took the phone. “Let’s go get those kids.”

Kenna fought the urge to go get the doctor before someone else did, but she knew what Jax’s first priority would be.

So, she went to save more lives.

Even if it meant he lost his.