Her mouth hung open. She couldn’t even suck in a breath. Would the virus still upload? Even if it did, it wouldn’t do any good if she were locked in a jail cell. She stared at the precious piece of plastic in his monstrous hands. The sooner the buzzing of the fatality signal could sound, the better—if it would ever sound at all.
“Valle, get this to Elias.” He held out the headset. “I want to know everything about it by the time I get back.” He jerked his head to another guard. “Get to headquarters. Tell them I want every guard mobilized and ready for orders within the hour.” He began to pull her down the hall—away from the headset.
“Wait!” she shrieked.
Moret didn’t stop.
“If you recognize me, you know who I am and what I can do!” She fought against every step he took, but it didn’t slow his progress. Valle was nearly at the door to the mainframe. “I have information you’ll want to hear!”
Moret lurched to a halt. His onyx eyes studied her. “And you’re suddenly ready to switch sides?”
She cleared her throat and chose her words carefully. “I’m not Niotian anymore. I was exiled. They took everything from me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Tell me what you know.”
Nora met his gaze. “I’ll tell you everything, but I need that headset for proof.”
He remained silent for a moment before looking at the young guard next to him. “Take her to medical and have her scanned. She’s hiding something.”
“What? Wait!”
A young, lanky guard stepped forward and grabbed her other arm.
“I was at the hotel! I saw what Kalos did for you,” Moret said. “You expect me to believe you’ve switched sides when he’s in our prison?”
He knew about Tobin. What could she say that he’d believe?
Think, Nora, think!
“I’m not loyal to Nios. I’ll trade sensitive information for his release!”
“You’re in my house, now,” Moret called over his shoulder. “I don’t need to negotiate.”
She craned her neck for one last look at the headset. It was over. They would soon know her plan. Tobin was as good as dead, and Henry, Charlotte, and even Josephine were now in grave danger.
Valle pounded on the door and inspected the headset in his hands. He seemed to trip on his own feet and fell into the wall, then slid to the floor. The young guard holding her arm grunted.
Then Nora heard it—the quiet high-pitched tone.
Commander Moret leaned on the wall.
It was happening.
Nora jerked her arm free and sprinted toward Valle. Screams, both from the guards in the hall and from others in the distance, rang out. Something caught her foot mid-stride and she tumbled to the ground, her head hitting the floor so hard it cleared her sinuses.
Warm blood gushed from her nose and a cut above her eyebrow. She clawed at the floor to get up, but Commander Moret kept his iron grip around her ankle. Even though he was shaking and his face was turning an unnatural hue of purple, he showed no intention of teleporting away. Guards fled out the door at the end of the hall.
She’d never find the headset if Valle got away with it. She kicked hard, and then again. Finally, on her third kick, Moret let go with a roaring yell.
She sprang up and flew to Valle, who was staggering along the wall. She yanked the headset from his hands
And he pulled his gun.
Nowhere to hide. She dove away from him, then ran deeper into the hall. His eyes swam as he tried to aim.
“You have to teleport out!” she shouted. “You need to get to the closest zone!”
After a moment, his arm dropped, and he dashed to the door.
As the door slammed shut, she rose, wiping blood from her face. The hallway, once full of guards, was now empty. Screams continued in the distance, but her immediate surroundings were eerily quiet.
She strapped the headset to her ear, praying that it still worked. When the menu popped up as if nothing had happened, a giddy laugh escaped. No point in hiding the headset now. She pulled up the maps and ran for the outer hall.
Chapter 39
Blood trickled down Tobin’s nose and dripped onto the floor. The skin around his wrists stung from the shackles holding his arms above his head.
This was why he hated Tavians.
They never fought fairly. They always went for the low blow. The thug that had replaced Jasper wasn’t any smaller than Tobin, but even he used a rod and stunner to subdue him. So now he waited for his fate, strung up like an elk in chains outside the cells in the cavern. Only his toes touched the ground below him, which didn’t give him much agility in fighting, but it was better than nothing.
From where they’d hung him, he could see Jasper’s silhouette leaning against the wall in his cell. He must be loving this, but at least he kept his mouth shut.
A sound, barely more than small game moving through the forest, came from the hallway. Jasper jolted upright. He must have heard it, too.
Tobin twisted his wrists and pulled himself into a position where he could better defend himself.
A moment later, Annabel crept out of the hall, clutching a wooden box with both hands.
“Annabel!” Jasper hissed. “What are you doing? Cyrus will be here any minute.”
She tiptoed along the wall, giving Tobin a wide berth. “I got held up,” she said. “Remington Sacarro is upstairs demanding to speak with you, and then there was Captain Valle—”
The heavy metal gate clanged from down the dark hallway. Sharp, sure-footed footsteps followed.
Annabel froze. Jasper gripped the bars. Neither of them said a word before she thrust the box through the bars at Jasper and grabbed the iron rod next to the keyring—the one the guard had used to beat him into submission.
Tobin raised a swollen eyebrow. It had taken all the guard’s strength to wield it against Tobin. Even strung up in chains, he could take it from her with one swing of his legs.
“Talk to her, Bishop,” Tobin said in a low voice. “I don’t want to hurt her, but I’m not sure what she thinks she’s going to do with that rod.”
“Let me out. I can handle this,” Jasper whispered.
“You’re hurt! If Cyrus sees you out of your cell, he’ll kill you! We don’t have a choice anymore.” She whirled toward Tobin, grasping the rod in both hands.
Tobin eyed Jasper. He’d better do something before Tobin was forced to defend himself.
“Relax, I’m not going to hurt you,” she said to Tobin over Jasper’s angry pleas. “I’m trying to help you.”
She shoved the rod into a link and heaved. Nothing. The chain clanked as she twisted the rod around and pulled again with all her weight. Adjusting, she pulled at it again until it bent.
Tobin gaped. Was this some kind of mental game they played with prisoners?
“Annabel, stop!” Jasper yelled. “You have no idea what he’s capable of!”
“He’s coming.” She eyed Tobin tentatively before wrenching the rod through the link again. “This is our only chance.”
The link bent until it separated.
“You’re going to get yourself killed!”
This couldn’t be a mind game. Jasper’s face was so white, he looked like he might pass out—Tobin had never seen him that way before.
Annabel rehung the bar, her hands fidgeting as she kept her gaze on the hall opening. “We don’t have much time, so I’ll make this clear. In a moment, my brother will get here with the intention of starting your slow and bloody death.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes,” she replied, shrinking away as the footsteps got closer. “I’m giving you a chance to change that.”
Was she saying what he thought she was saying? He pulled at the chain again, and the space between the link grew. “Why?”
The steps were almost there. Annabel’s gaze darted around the cavern. “Let’s just say that our interests have aligned for the moment. The guards won’t be disturbing Cyrus fo
r quite a while. If you can get yourself out of this mess, you could perhaps mount a successful escape. You’d have time.”
She was asking him to kill her brother. Even if he would do what she wanted, who was to say he wouldn’t do Nios a favor and finish off the entire ruling family? He examined the weak link before he looked to Jasper.
Sunken shoulders, head hung low.
Apparently he thought this little plan of hers was as stupid as Tobin did.
Cyrus appeared moments later with a black bag in his hand. He jerked his head back when he saw Annabel. “What are you doing here?”
She cleared her throat. “What he did to our district was personal.” Her voice quivered, and she looked anywhere but directly at Cyrus.
Tobin frowned. Between Jasper’s wide-eyed glare and the fear in Annabel’s voice, the pieces were beginning to fall into place. They needed him to do the dirty work. As much as he hated to be a pawn, Annabel was right. Their interests, where Cyrus was concerned, had aligned. He slowed his breathing and focused on Cyrus’s every move to prepare for the fight.
Cyrus set his bag on the floor and grabbed a set of brass knuckles out of it. Tobin steadied himself on his tip toes. Even the slightest hit from those would hurt—bad. “I’d stand back, Annabel, this is going to get messy.”
She backed into the wall.
Cyrus circled Tobin slowly, fitting the brass knuckles to his right hand. He paused for a moment, and Tobin caught his slight lean to the right.
Completely right-side dominant. That’ll make it easier.
Easier, but not easy. Even if the chain snapped, his hands were bound by the shackles. Surprise would be key.
“Allow me to introduce myself.” Cyrus lunged.
Tobin wrenched the chains down with all his strength, but they didn’t give way. A second later, Cyrus’s fist pounded into Tobin’s side—the same side where Jasper had kicked to break his ribs. Tobin’s knees buckled, and he gasped for air. At least two ribs were broken again, for sure. He spun on the chain like a fish caught on a line.
“I’m Cyrus. This is my home, and you have caused a considerable amount of trouble for me.”
Cyrus circled behind him while he scrambled to get his feet underneath himself again. Too late. A shuffle, quick step, and another devastating blow. He sucked in but couldn’t get any air. The chain continued to stretch with his weight, but it held. If he wanted to live, he would have to fight back strung up.
“Annabel,” Jasper hissed. He jerked his head at the opening. Annabel wrung her hands but stayed put.
Tobin pulled himself up to his feet and coughed. The tinny taste of blood flooded his mouth. He couldn’t sustain many more hits. He clenched his jaw to block out the pain. Time to fight back while he still could.
“It started when you paid me a visit recently—uninvited. I hate uninvited guests. And now our systems are registering all kinds of anomalies, and I can’t help but think it’s more than a coincidence that this is happening when you’re in my dungeon, waiting to die.”
Anomalies in their systems? Henry? Tobin steadied himself. If Henry was planning something, it probably meant that Nora was involved, too.
He tried to clear his throat, wincing at the pain. The blows to his side had been too much. The link needed to break if he wanted any chance of defending himself. It stretched as he pulled downward with all his force, but it wouldn’t break.
Cyrus removed a dagger from his belt. Its brass curves glistened in the torch light. “See this dagger? Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s been in my family for generations. Go ahead, look at it. You’re going to be intimately familiar with it over the next couple of days.”
He twisted, keeping his gaze riveted to the weapon. He pulled away from Cyrus as he neared, and the shackles around Tobin’s wrist moved. The link had opened completely; a stiff jerk would release him. He glanced at Jasper, who had also seen the weak link give. His black eyes settled on Tobin, and he nodded.
“Yes, I said days.” Cyrus beamed. “You didn’t think I’d let you off that easily by killing you today, did you?”
Tobin smiled, blood spilling over his lip. He was going to enjoy killing this sadist. He flexed his arms down, feeling the give of the metal. A single curve was all that kept the chain anchored to the wall. He took slow breaths. The pain was blinding, but oxygen reached his limbs. He was in control of his body again, but it wouldn’t last long. He watched the glint of the dagger, barely listening to Cyrus’s ramblings. His ears honed into Cyrus’s slow, even footsteps.
“Let’s provide a demonstration, shall we?”
A step—heavier than the rest—then a shuffle.
He was moving in.
Tobin spun, arms out at Cyrus’s head level. The metal shackles crashed into Cyrus’s jaw, and he flew backward, his head leading the way.
Tobin stretched his arms. Breathing became easier.
Annabel plastered herself to the wall, and Cyrus scrambled to the bars of a cell, then climbed them to stand. Blood dripped from a deep gash along his cheek where the shackles had made contact. He traced the wound with his fingers before scowling at Tobin. “You’ll pay for that.”
Tobin smiled. He had been in this situation before, and he knew what the wide-eyed expression of fear looked like. Cyrus was terrified.
Cyrus sprang forward, thrashing the dagger at him.
Predictable. Emotional. Stupid.
Tobin whipped the chain forward with a baseball swing and ripped the other side of Cyrus’s face open. With a cough, a tooth popped from his mouth and bounced off the rocky floor. He stared at it for a moment without breathing. Fear was taking over.
His gaze flew to the cavern opening, and Tobin moved to block his path. No escape.
Tobin whipped the chain from overhead and wrapped it around his wrist, forcing him to drop the dagger. The pressure in his chest was nearing unbearable, but he couldn’t stop now. He stomped on the dagger and kicked it away.
Still caught in the chain, Cyrus punched with his free left hand and landed a feeble punch on Tobin’s thigh. Nora could hit harder than that. Tobin chuckled. The tables had turned.
Cyrus swung wildly with his left hand, but Tobin bobbed out of the way with a single step.
Who taught this guy to fight?
If it wasn’t getting harder to breathe, he might have asked.
He yanked on the chain, throwing Cyrus to the ground. He landed on his elbow and bellowed as if he’d been stabbed.
Tobin rolled his eyes. This guy tortured people for fun, but he couldn’t handle a little bruise?
Tobin strained to suck in a breath. His lung might have collapsed, and if that was the case he needed to get out of here fast. His hands were numbing and stiff.
Time to wrap this up.
He grabbed the other end of the chain and wrapped it around Cyrus’s neck.
Cyrus bucked with surprising strength, and Tobin fell backward. He rolled to his side, gasping for air. For a moment, he couldn’t move. Blood drained freely from his mouth. He clawed at the ground in front of him.
“Annabel!” Jasper yelled.
Cyrus crawled away, pulling at the chain around his neck.
Tobin propped himself against the wall, breathing slowly and eying the dagger on the ground in the shadows. He probably couldn’t get to it before Cyrus. Best to stay put and hope he could stun him with the chain again before making a move to the dagger.
“Annabel, you have to let me out of here,” Jasper pleaded.
She shook her head, keeping her focus on Cyrus. “This has to happen. It’s the only way.”
“What?” Cyrus roared at her as he rose from the ground. “Did you have something to do with this?”
Her mouth hung open. “I would never—the thought of conspiring with the Niotians—it flies in the face of everything we’ve worked for!”
She was a horrible liar, but she had distracted him. A couple breaths reached Tobin’s lungs, giving him strength.
“I’ll deal with you in
a minute,” Cyrus said to her.
Tobin clenched his fists and whipped the chain as hard as he could from the ground. Cyrus jumped away, and his gaze fell to the dagger, a cruel grin spreading across his face.
Time’s up.
“Get me the keys,” Jasper yelled, hopelessly yanking at the cell door. Annabel nodded and crept along the wall.
Tobin might have developed a new level of respect for Jasper, but that didn’t mean he trusted him. Tobin’s only hope was to kill Cyrus and escape before Jasper got loose.
One last chance.
He threw his hands up to whip the chain.
He’s right-side dominant.
Instead of bringing it straight down, he anticipated Cyrus’s jump to the right. The chain landed squarely on top of Cyrus’s head, dropping him to his knees. His wide black eyes stared out blankly.
So predictable.
Tobin pulled himself up along the wall, but his muscles had lost all feeling.
Stupid ribs.
This was his window, but there was no way he could make it to the dagger. He wrapped the chain around Cyrus’s neck and pulled as tightly as he could despite Cyrus flailing below him.
Annabel scurried to Jasper’s cell, the keys jingling in her hand.
“Don’t do it,” Tobin croaked.
Jasper glared at Tobin before he snatched the keys from Annabel and jammed one into the lock. A quick twist, and the lock clicked. The gate burst open and slammed into the wall behind it.
Tobin tightened his grasp. “Don’t come any closer.”
Of all the useless threats.
A guard like Jasper would know how empty it was, but it was all Tobin had left.
Cyrus reached out, but Jasper kept his gaze on Tobin as he strode straight for the dagger.
Of course.
It’s what Tobin would have done. He tried to drag Cyrus with him and stomp on the dagger, but his ribs clamped down.
And Jasper was much faster.
Tobin let go of the chain and dove for the dagger, but Jasper was already there.
“If you’re smart, you’ll stay out of this!” Jasper snarled.
Tobin glanced at the shackles around his wrists. He couldn’t be any more involved, but he gladly rolled away.
The Seers Page 31