Stolen Secret

by Piper Dow

  She blew on the first spoonful before cautiously taking a bite. "Mmm. This is delicious."

  Matt sniffed his bowl, stirring it and inspecting the contents. Kelly wondered why he was always so suspicious with the food. She hadn't tasted anything weird, other than the juice that had fermented a little that first day. "Think there's cheese in this?" he asked.

  Kelly frowned, studying her soup. "I don't know. I mean, it's not like a chowder or cheese and broccoli soup, where you can see it, right?" She shot him a glance. "Are you allergic?"

  He nodded, still stirring the soup. "Well, not exactly, but it'll make me sick." His stomach growled.

  Kelly searched the room. "Roger? Maria?"

  Maria stood up from where she was working in the lab area. "What's up?"

  "Do you know if there's any cheese in this soup? Or, any dairy?" Kelly glanced at Matt and he nodded.

  Maria wandered back to the cage. "Is that why you've been sending food back?" She bit her lip as though trying not to smile. "Mike thought you were just being difficult. I'll ask him, he's the one that makes it." She walked back to the lap and picked up the phone. In a minute she was back. "Nah, he says you're good. He says he put a pinch of Parmesan cheese on top but there's practically no lactose in Parmesan. If you think that will still cause problems, he can send up a bowl without any."

  Matt shook his head, not meeting her gaze. He lifted the spoon and sniffed it before taking a small taste. Kelly watched him swallow and spoon up a second bite.

  "Thank you, Maria." She called. Maria was already heading back to the lab.

  Kelly picked up the buttered bread that lay on the tray. She had seen Matt refuse it before, but still she offered him a slice. He shook his head, already scraping the bottom of his soup bowl with his spoon. Kelly recalled the trays they had been served, how little Matt had been eating. She put her spoon on the tray and pushed her bowl into his hands.

  "I've got the bread, I'll be fine," she assured when he looked like he would refuse. He accepted her bowl.

  "Thanks."

  Kelly heard Joe mumble something about the soup, but when she glanced his way he was focused on his bowl. She waited to see if he said anything else, but he stirred his soup languidly, paying her no mind. She squinted at him, wondering if she had imagined hearing him.

  Roger passed the front of their cage and went into the bathroom. Kelly watched the door, surprised. She hadn't seen anyone use that bathroom other than herself, Joe, or Matt. The others went downstairs throughout the day; Kelly assumed they use a toilet down there. She got up and wandered over to the cage door, leaning against the wall of the cell. She ate the bread and butter nonchalantly, waiting.

  It was a bit of a wait. Kelly was glad she wasn't waiting to use the room after him, or she'd have been dancing. When he finally came out, Kelly stared. His skin was flushed, and there were beads of sweat near his hairline. His eyes looked bright and glassy.

  "Are you all right?" The words popped out before Kelly had time to remind herself she didn't care if he was sick.

  The glance he threw at her was so vague Kelly doubted he had even seen her. He walked back to his desk and sat heavily, pulling some pages toward him to read.

  Kelly went back to sit next to Matt.

  Chapter thirty-six

  "Matt? How are you feeling?"

  Kelly dropped down to sit next to him, dusting bread crumbs from her hands. He took a swallow of water and put the cap back on.

  "My head, you mean? It's better." He didn't bother telling her about the sore, achy feeling in his arm. He knew she probably had the same reaction to the injection.

  "How good are you at observation?" Her voice was low, like she was trying to keep anyone else from hearing her. Matt wasn't sure how successful that would be. Anytime the others took her out of the cage for their tests, he could always hear their conversation in the other part of the room.

  Now, he shrugged. He liked to watch people, but he didn't always understand what they did, or why. He examined her face. "I'm okay, I guess. Why?"

  She picked up the pad of paper she'd been drawing on. He looked at the portrait of Joe she was drawing and pursed his lips. "Woah. That's really good!"

  She gave him a tight smile and sent a furtive glance to the other end of the room before pulling out another sheet of paper. She unfolded it and Matt's eyes grew round. She had drawn images of the others, smaller portraits than the one of Joe scattered randomly across the page.

  "What doesn't look right, on these? I know I need to make Maria's eyes a little further apart. What else?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

  He studied the sketches. "His forehead is..." he struggled to find the word, "less rounded? Like, he has corners, where his hair is farther back." He pointed to another image. "And I think his face is heavier than this looks." He paused, staring at the unfinished sketch of a woman with long hair, trying to recall someone with similar features. "I don't remember her. Where is she from?"

  Kelly took the pad back and slid the sheet of sketches back into its pages. "She was downstairs, that first night. I don't remember her well, she hasn't come up here so I've only seen her once." She crossed her legs and set the pad on them, adding tiny lines to Joe's beard.

  Maria walked to the front of the cage. "You guys all set with that tray? Bring it over."

  Matt heaved himself to his feet and carried the tray over. He put it on the floor and used his foot to push it to the little gate at the bottom of the door. He watched as Maria bent to pick it up, adding it to the one she had grabbed from Joe's cell.

  Backing into the middle of the cage, Matt lifted both arms overhead and stretched toward the ceiling. His bicep scolded him, telling him it didn't like being jabbed with needles and injected with whatever they had stuck him with.

  He hated not being able to move around. He was used to walking miles every day—he didn't always like that, but he was used to it. This cage—he threw a disgusted glance around at the barred walls—it was better than the closet Tony had put him in when he was little, but only because he could see through the walls into the rest of the room.

  Enough! He stopped himself from going further down that line of thinking—it put him too close to a panic attack. He bent at his waist and reached toward the floor, keeping his legs straight. He moved his head gingerly, wincing at the tenderness he still felt where he'd been whacked.

  He caught movement in the next cage out of the corner of his eye but refused to look. That guy was mean. Matt knew if he looked, Joe would probably give him the finger or something. He shouldn't have risen to the bait the other day when Joe was talking about his kid, but sometimes Matt just had enough. Since then Matt had worked to pretend the other man wasn't there. He had left home so he didn't have to take his step-father's abuse, he wasn't going to take anyone else's, either.

  A low groan came from the other cage. Matt risked a quick glance. "Hey, he doesn't look so good," he called to Kelly. Joe lay curled on the floor in the far corner of his cage, eyes closed, clutching his stomach. His skin had a gray pallor. He was panting through his open mouth.

  Kelly dropped her sketch pad and scooted to the wall of bars separating the two cages. "Joe? You okay?" When he didn't respond, she raised her voice louder. "Hey! You guys, Joe needs help!"

  Maria walked to the cage door and looked in. Her mouth twisted like she was chewing the inside of her cheek but she just stood and watched without speaking.

  "Aren't you going to do something? He's in pain!" Kelly's eyes flashed with outrage.

  Maria shrugged, her face a blank mask. "Nothing we can do at this point. He'll be gone in a few minutes." She walked back to the elevator, hit the button, and disappeared inside when the door slid open.

  Chapter thirty-seven

  Kelly stared open mouthed at the elevator as the door slid shut. How could Maria just walk away when a man lay dying on the floor? Her hands trembled as her fury grew. She would never understand people being able to turn their basic humanity off
like that. She turned to see if Roger was going to help, but he hadn't even turned around.

  Kelly lay down on the floor of the cage and stuck her hand through the bars, wiggling her arm as far as she could stretch it to try to touch the moaning man. By wedging her arm nearly to the armpit she could just reach his hand with her fingertips.

  "Joe, I'm so sorry you are going through this," she murmured. Tears made their way down her face. She sniffed, wiping her face on her shoulder. "I am so, so sorry." She pushed her face against the bars, straining to try to hold his hand, but the best she could do was brush her fingers against his hand.

  Joe's fingers spasmed and he caught his breath in a hiccup. Kelly sought his eyes, but they were unfocused, staring across the floor into a corner of the cell. His fingers relaxed, splayed open. He was gone. Just like that. One minute he had been eating his soup, the next...she sat up abruptly, scraping her arm as she pulled it back between the bars.

  "Matt? You were eating the soup—how do you feel?" She whirled to face him, eyes searching his face.

  He frowned, shrugging. "I'm okay. Why?" His eyes traveled to the dead body on the other side of the cage wall. Kelly watched them widen. "You think they poisoned the soup?"

  Kelly covered her mouth with a hand, trying to force her mind to quieten. How had Joe been this morning? She thought back to his grumpy request for a second cup of coffee, then the green syringe Maria had injected her with and the drugged sleep Kelly and Matt had both had. She blew out a shaky breath and shook her head. "I did, for a minute, but I think Joe didn't feel right this morning. He acted different. And we don't know what they did to him while we were asleep." She saw Matt's face shutter and shook her head gently. "I know he wasn't nice to you, Matt, but nobody deserves to die like this."

  Matt frowned and glanced at Joe's body again before nodding in agreement.

  Kelly ran her hands through her hair, holding its length off her neck in a bunch on the top of her head while she tried to focus. First Fred, now Joe. How long before it was Kelly or Matt? They needed to get out of here.

  She paced the length of the cell and back. Matt watched her warily, shifting so he could lean against the back wall of the cell. She couldn't think, and the pacing was ramping her anxiety even higher. She threw herself on the bench and hid her face in her hands. Her feet refused to stay still, bouncing her knees up and down.

  "Kelly." Matt's voice was a low rumble. When she didn't respond, he called her name again, insistent. Kelly turned over-hot eyes to him, and he motioned with his head to the lab area.

  Roger sat on his wheeled stool, rocking, with his head suspended just inches over the desk. Kelly studied him for a moment and exchanged looks of confusion with Matt.

  "He didn't look good when he came out of the bathroom, before," Kelly whispered. A flash of direction came to her and she jumped to her feet, nerves adding an element of urgency to her movements. "Roger? Roger! I have to pee!" She paced near the door of the cage and raised her voice a little more, glancing to make sure the elevator door was still closed. "Roger! Come on, please? I have to go!"

  He lumbered to his feet and stumbled over the stool, banging against the table as he turned to face them. His skin was pallid, his eyes glassy above shadowed smudges. Kelly heard Matt's gasp but she ignored it. She danced in place as though she really had to go. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, but can you hurry, Roger?"

  He staggered to the cage and pulled his keys from his pocket, dropping them on the floor. Kelly groaned and bounced on her toes impatiently. Roger paused and remembered to grab the collar from the wall. He handed it to Kelly through the bars. Her fingers touched his when she took it. He was burning up.

  Kelly quickly donned the collar loosely, continuing her charade of desperately needing to use the toilet. When Roger opened the cage door she dashed to the bathroom without pausing for him to slide the padlock into place on the collar. She closed the door and held the knob, resting her head on the wall.

  "God, what do I do? We need to get out of here!" Her prayer was urgent but not unfocused as it had been earlier in the cage. "Show me what I need to do. Be my safety and my guide."

  She reached over and turned the faucet on, carefully letting go of the doorknob so that it wouldn't jiggle. Unbuckling the collar, she carefully buried it beneath paper towels in the trash basket. She flushed the toilet and washed her hands noisily before shutting the water off.

  Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped out. She offered Roger an embarrassed smile. "Thank you, Roger. I'm sorry, I had to go so bad!" She moved to the front of the cage and waited for him to open it. He frowned and shook his head a little. Kelly wasn't sure if it was meant to shake the fog from his brain or suggest she shouldn't worry about the rush she was in. While Roger fumbled with the key Kelly caught Matt's eye and gave him the slightest of nods toward Roger. She hoped he would follow her lead.

  Roger opened the cage door. When he would have stepped backward to move out of her way, Kelly shoved him into the cage. Matt was ready. He took advantage of Roger's unsteady stumble and propelled him into the bars of the cage wall. Roger let out a groan as his head bounced off the bars and he dropped to the floor. Matt sidestepped Roger's unwieldy form and snapped the cage door shut behind him, pulling the key from the lock.

  Chapter thirty-eight

  Kelly held her finger to her lips, urging Matt to be quiet. They'd escaped the cage, but they needed time to figure out how to get out of the building. She wasn't sure how much time they had, but making a lot of noise was bound to bring others up here.

  Matt nodded his understanding. He moved to the window and peered out. "It's dark out, so I can't see much. I don't see any lights form other houses."

  Kelly nodded, expecting as much. She moved toward a door at the far end of the room, on the wall in front of Fred's cage. She hadn't seen anyone ever open the door—maybe it led to stairs? There had to be stairs, right? Because they couldn't take the elevator down, they'd walk right into the rest of them.

  It was a closet. Kelly closed the door and surveyed the rest of the room. There had to be stairs! She moved quickly to the lab area, passing Roger still laying on the floor of the cage. She glanced down quickly. He wasn't stirring. She kept moving.

  "We need to find the stairs! Oh, crap!" Kelly froze, then turned rounded eyes to Matt. "I need my sketches! I want to be able to give the police a way to find these people!" She held out her hand for the keys.

  Matt frowned and turned to look in the cage. The notebook was on the floor under the bench. "Find the stairs," he directed Kelly. He moved to the door of Joe's cage and used Roger's key to unlock it. Kelly watched for a moment while he studiously avoided looking at Joe's still form and stuck his hand through the bars to reach the paper, dragging it with his fingertips to where he could pick it up.

  A sense of urgency compelled her into the lab area. There, around the other side of a tall cabinet—another door. She turned the knob and opened the door slowly, lifting as she pulled to try to eliminate the reduce from reluctant hinges. It was a dark stairway. Kelly could hear distant sounds of a television, but they were muffled. She breathed a prayer that any doors on lower floors were also closed.

  Matt had moved to the desk where Roger's papers were scattered across the surface. He grabbed a notebook from the top and added it to the one in his hand with Kelly's sketches.

  "I found the stairs, but I can't see where they go," Kelly whispered. Matt nodded. He was still searching Roger's desk. "Matt, c'mon! We need to get out of here!"

  He nodded, but bent down and grabbed a cord from the electric outlet and pulled it out. He found a scalpel on one of the tables and attacked the cord, peeling back the insulation and exposing the wires within.

  Kelly could hear the blood pulsing in her ears. They needed to leave! "Matt! What are you doing? We don't have time for this!" she hissed.

  He glanced up at her but didn't stop. He nestled the frayed area in a wastepaper basket and plugged the cord back into the
wall. Nothing happened. Matt followed the cord up behind the desk with his fingers, then suddenly reached over and turned the desk lamp on. The light flickered on, then off, and Kelly could smell a hint of smoke.

  Matt joiner her at the door and they quickly pulled it shut behind them. It was pitch black on the landing. Kelly felt for the papers in Matt's hands and tucked them into the back of her waistband, then reached out and felt the cool, dusty wall of the unused area. She kept contact with the wall as she crept forward, feeling with her feet for the first step. Suddenly remembering the exercise in the Adventures class, she grabbed for Matt's hand and moved it to her shoulder. "Let's stay connected," she whispered over her shoulder. Her words seemed too loud in the black void of the stairwell.

  As they moved down the stairs Kelly's eyes began to adjust to the dark. She could detect a faint light as they neared where she estimated another landing should be—light sneaking in under another door? She put her foot down on the next step and froze, her heart climbing into her throat as the floor squeaked under her foot. Matt's hand on her shoulder spasmed. They waited an eternity, hardly daring to breathe, but the door remained closed.

  Matt's grip eased, though his hand remained in place. Kelly took another step, carefully lifting her foot from the stair tread that had nearly given them away. She felt Matt stretch to stay in contact, then skip the squeaky stair altogether. They eased past the landing and started the next flight of stairs carefully. Kelly wasn't sure what the second floor might be used for, but she knew the first floor had the television, and was where she had seen other people. Even though she could hear a muffled laugh track from the television, they couldn't afford to make any noise.