Manuel stopped in front of Jack. "Because President Fleur is part Iskaydrian."
"Oh."
"Their agents hijacked Air Force One and brought the plane down in Kansas. There were no survivors, but there were no bodies, either. It had to be the work of the Inquisition. Listen, I'm not here to yell at you or-"
Jack interrupted him. "Yell at me? You think all they've done is yell at me?"
"Are those . . . bruises on your face?"
"What do you think? You're the scientist. I'm sure you can figure it out. You're wearing those rings so you can do more damage when you hit me, aren't you?"
Manuel almost sounded concerned. "They beat you."
"What do you want, Mr. Dawson?"
Manuel groaned as he sat on the floor in front of him. He reached out and began raking his fingers through Jack's sweaty hair. "I want you to join the Syndicate and help us."
"No."
"Jack, you're hurting. They're starving you in here. I heard you've been on liquid rations for the past four days. That has to be excruciating. And those shackles around your ankles are bruising. I can see it from here. Your body is falling apart already and your mind can't be in the best state, either. I hate seeing you like this. You know I care about you. I want you to be happy and healthy at my daughter's side. Ellie needs you."
Jack scooted away from him. "She needs a father who doesn't abuse her."
"What are you talking about? I have never laid a hand on her."
"You didn't have to. You abused her by letting these demons get their hands on her. Do you know what they're doing to her?"
Manuel picked at the sole of his loafer. "I haven't seen her since being brought here."
"Well, I have. I saw a picture of her. She's tied to some guy's bed. They said her bruises were from fighting with the agents, but I think they beat her."
"I'm sure what you saw wasn't right. You just think that's what you saw. They would never harm her. That was probably her own bed."
Jack's eyes narrowed. "Sure. And she punched herself in the face, too."
"How dare you? After what you did to her, you have the audacity to say things like that to me?"
He fumbled for words. "W-What do you mean?"
"Your journal. One of our agents got their hands on it and it is now being used in the investigation to find you and Niki in the present. They're painting you as a criminal. I don't know what really happened between you two, but the media is going crazy over this case. It's like we dumped a bucket of chicken guts into shark-infested waters. People all around the world are calling for your head. They want to see you strung up from a tree. I thought you should know that your secrets aren't secrets any longer."
How did he or anyone get their hands on his journal? He believed his journal was safely tucked away in the freezer after he found it there one night. Jack figured it was best to leave it in such a hidden spot, even though he had initially been upset that Mr. Allen had taken it from him. If Mr. Allen had read it, then at least he didn't view Jack any differently. At least, he never acted like it.
"But I didn't come here to blackmail you, Jack." Manuel slowly stood then arched his back as he stretched. "Quite the opposite, actually. I want to extend a hand of forgiveness. I know that boys, young men, sometimes have urges and they don't understand that they are hurting someone-"
Had he heard him correctly? "What the hell? You're defending rapists? My God, you're disgusting."
"Says you, of all people. I'm not defending you. I'm forgiving you. You should at least be thankful for that. I had half a mind to rip you into pieces when I found out."
"It's not . . . what happened isn't what you think."
"Then what was it?" Manuel prodded, his voice turning harsher. "Huh? Was your vivid account in that journal not real? Were you lying?"
"I . . ."
"Didn't think so. If you join us, I won't press charges. We will be able to protect you from the police. You won't be thrown in prison or worse. They believe you killed Ellie. They believe you killed me and a handful of other people."
Jack held his arms around himself. "I know."
"I believe you're still a good kid. We all make mistakes. Let me, let the Syndicate, help you."
"No."
"Are you doing this because you believe you deserve this as some form of punishment? If I can forgive you, you can forgive yourself."
Nothing could have made him accept any kind of deal with murderers. "Never. And this isn't about that. Even if Ellie was somewhere safe, I wouldn't join you. I can't. That's my final answer. You can starve me and torture me all you want, but I won't give in. You can go ahead and kill me if that's what you want to do."
"You'll be begging us to kill you, Jack. There's only so much a human body and mind can take. We are fragile beings. I would hate to see such a bright young mind be destroyed in here."
"Stop pretending to care about me."
Manuel clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I do care, or I wouldn't have come here to warn you about what they want me to do with you, Jack. There is a special place in the Syndicate for Chronomancers who refuse to comply with the Director's orders. Trust me when I say that you do not want to be one of them. Come here."
"No." Jack stood up and turned to run into the back corner of the room. Just as he took a step to get away, Mr. Dawson jumped at him. The sudden pressure on the chain between his ankles sent Jack falling flat on his face. "Stop!"
The man was on top of him in a flash, much quicker than he thought possible. Mr. Dawson pinned his shoulders to the floor then took Jack's throat in his massive hand. "Listen to me."
"No! Get off me. Stop!" Jack gasped when the grip was tightened, cutting off his air.
"You will join us, or I'll bring my daughter in here and cut her into pieces so you can watch. I'll staple your eyelids open so you can watch every cut, every slice, every drop of her blood. And I'll feed her to you. You hungry, Carter? I mean it."
Jack pried at his attacker's fingers, clawing for air as he whispered with his lingering breaths. "You wouldn't. You . . . won't. You can't hurt Ellie. I know you . . . love her . . . too much."
"And how much do you love her?" Manuel released him then stood, cracking his knuckles once again. "Hmm? Enough to save her from me? I lied to you about her. I've seen her many times since coming here. She's not here anymore. She was transferred to a more secure facility in order to further the tests."
After coughing and filling his lungs, Jack rubbed his reddened throat while Mr. Dawson loomed over him. "Tests? What tests?"
"To make our super agents. What, you didn't know? My daughter is special, Jack. Her mother was part Iskaydrian. I am part Avelayan. She's both. It is extremely rare to see a fetus survive the first trimester when it is both Avelayan and Iskaydrian. Something gets mixed up with the chromosomes and it simply dies away. Ellie is the first hybrid to live past age five in recorded history."
He glared up at him. "What tests? What are you doing to her? You're her father! You're supposed to protect her and keep her safe, not experiment on her!"
"I will do what the Syndicate says I will do with her. And I will sacrifice those tests, everything I have been working on for years, in order to teach you a lesson about respect and knowing your place. Join us, or I will kill my own daughter in this very cell. Then I will track down your Time Knight and bring him here where the torturers will have much more fun with him than they did with you. See, they may like being rough, but they won't really violate a kid. Niki's nineteen, an adult. Nothing will be off-limits with him. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
Jack nodded his head then buried his face in his knees.
"Good. Don't make your friend be traumatized for life in sadistic ways that no man should be subjected to because you refuse to listen to reason. Don't let your stubbornness kill Ellie and destroy your best friend. I'm going to leave and let you stew in here a while longer before I send the Director in to speak with you. One more thing I have to do. Stand up."
Without hesitation, Jack stood to his feet as quickly as he could with the shackles binding him. He clenched his fists at his sides and held his breath, knowing what was coming. He would not cower away any longer.
Mr. Dawson stepped up to him and placed one hand behind his neck to keep him steady. "This is for what you did to my daughter."
Jack cried out and fell to his knees when Manuel's fist collided with his stomach. His vision blurred red and he vomited what little liquid was in his stomach. Tears poured from his eyes. He shivered, gasping for air as his lungs felt like they were collapsing.
"You have two days to make up your mind about how you want to do this. Then, I send the people you love into their own private hell and you get to watch them squirm. This has been a good talk, Carter. Very productive. Oh, and this is for you." Manuel dug in his breast pocket and took something small and shiny into his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the object twirling to the floor in front of Jack where it bounced against the filthy concrete. "Remember what you're trying to save, boy."
The door banged shut, leaving him isolated in his pit of pity and anguish.
Trembling and sniffling through his pain, Jack picked up the tiny cotton candy-shaped silver charm with trembling fingers. He rubbed his thumb over the engraved lines of sterling silver that had once brought Ellie so much joy. She wore that bracelet every day of her life, clutching each charm like prayer beads. Now here it was, broken and strewn through time. He held it to his lips as the metal warmed with his breath.
Jack crawled into the back corner where he curled up against the frigid tiles. For a few long minutes, he breathed through his fear, taking it all in from the goosebumps on his battered skin to the twinges of sharp pain reaching up into his ribs. However, the longer he sat there, cowering like a maimed animal hiding from a predator, the more he began to feel something else. It sizzled like passion, yet punctured like fear. It gored like grief, yet floated like peace. It pricked like excitement, yet scraped like fury. Spiral after twisted coil, the melded emotion took root in his chest.
A desperate howl rose from his stomach as he screamed and slammed his fist into the wall. With another cry, he sent his fists into the tiles over and over. His knuckles ached, but his arms told him to keep going. On those tiles, he saw Manuel, he saw the Director, he saw Inquisitor Shay Terringer. He saw the faces from middle school in those woods on the way home. He saw every person who had harmed him.
Once his knuckles were bruised and bloodied, Jack stood from the floor. He glared at the door with a newfound fire blazing in his soul, one that he needed to spread. He vowed that he would find a way out of there. He would save Ellie and keep Niki from harm. On top of that, he would find a way to topple the Zurvan Syndicate and the Inquisition of Purity both. Then he would watch it all burn. They would pay for what they did to him and the people he loved. They would pay for murdering his family. Even though he was detained, beaten, and starved, Jack felt more alive than he had in years.
And in that moment, he gave a name to his new emotion. With a thin grin and an inferno in his eyes, he called it hatred.
Within a minute, the cell door slid open once again. A muscular man with braids in his hair against his warm dark skin entered the room, dressed in a bodysuit of reinforced black leather. Devices blinked where they were attached to his utility belt and the hilts of daggers gleamed where they were sheathed on the sides of his knee-high combat boots. A red bandanna over his left eye stood out, its color matched only by the blood that rolled down his face from a recent injury to his forehead. He was tall, even compared to Jack, and the broad shoulders and chiseled facial features made him even more intimidating.
Jack looked at the man, unafraid. If this was another of the Syndicate's torturers, he would not lie down and let them beat him this time. Now, he would fight. "I'm not afraid of you. I will hurt you if I have to."
"Easy, killer. You Jack Carter?"
"Don't you already know that?" Jack asked, bristling at the intruder.
"I'm not with them. I'm getting you out of here."
"What?"
"Come on. Run with me as fast as you can with those things around your ankles."
"Who are you?" Jack asked.
"Does it matter? We have five, maybe eight minutes while they're in a meeting to get out of here. We can run."
He rubbed at the band around his arm. "What about the arm band? It will shock me."
"Yeah, but only until we're away from this place. It will be painful, but I'll carry you through it. You have to endure it."
"Can't electricity kill me?"
"Yes."
"And that's not a problem to you?"
The stranger flexed his chest muscles as he stepped closer. "It won't kill you, not this amount, but it will be excruciating. I won't lie."
"What's your name?"
"Xander. Whoa!" Xander caught Jack as his legs buckled under him. "Hey, now. It's okay. I'll carry you. I was wanting to get more out than just one, but I can't leave you here like this."
Jack grunted when he was tossed like a pillow across Xander's shoulder. "You're strong."
"I have to be. Quiet now. Here." Xander reached back and handed Jack a squishy yellow sponge. "Bite on this if you have to scream. I can't have you drawing too much attention to us."
With a growing churning of anxiety in his stomach, Jack stuffed the sponge into his mouth just in case he needed it. He held onto his new friend's back, smelling the leather that creaked quietly with every step he took. They exited the cell that had been Jack's torture room for days, and moved out into the white metal hallway where black doors with electronic lock pads next to the them sat silently locked with untold souls hidden away behind them.
The facility was eerily quiet as Xander rushed down the identical corridors, taking corner after corner into the center of the base that extended layers and layers underground. Syndicate agents were nowhere to be found in the twisting hive that smelled of mint floor cleaner and the slightest hint of blood that seeped out from under the locked doors.
The first shock snapped through his arm and into his chest, drawing out a shrill cry from his already tormented body. His face burned red and he choked back tears, but as soon as it started, it stopped. He went limp on Xander's shoulder, exhausted and weak.
"Shh. You have at least another minute before the next one. They use the shock bands to control, not to kill. Breathe. Focus on each step I take. Don't fall asleep." Xander approached a set of double doors at the end of a hallway and took out a keycard from his belt. He slid it through the sensor, causing the locks to click open. "Easy as pie. These agents should look into updating their systems. I want you to see this, what's in this next room. It's a hangar. Pay attention to the fuel source, the power used here. This is what we're fighting against, Jack. Take it all in."
The doors opened to a massive hangar where sunlight spilled in through the tiny windows high up in the rough concrete ceiling. Two massive silver vehicles sat in the middle with hoses and wires connected to them. Generators hummed against the wall where cases of power tools and other supplies were stacked on carts. A single steel door sat against the nearby wall, leading outside.
But Xander carried Jack into the closest vehicle. "Look at this. Look at what could happen to you."
Men and women of all ages were bound to the floor and sides of the vehicle that looked like some kind of large spaceship from the science fiction movies Jack used to watch with Ellie. They were dressed in only thin shorts and sweat-stained white t-shirts. Each of them had their arm or hand locked into a metal sleeve that covered their hourglass tattoos. They collectively groaned as they drifted in and out of fitful sleep-like states. Their eyes never closed, their moans never ceased, and they drooled as they slowly swayed back and forth in their misery. Red pinpricks dotted their arms and necks while bruises and pink welts showed on their calves and thighs. A couple of teenage girls in the back were crying, but no one seemed to care or even hear them
.
Feeling sick, Jack whispered to him. "What is this?"
"This is how they power their vehicles. They call them their Time Skippers. In order to warp massive things like this with multiple people on board, they have to be powered by Chronomancers. This is what happens to the Chronomancers who refuse to join the Syndicate. They are drugged, flogged, and starved into obedience. They have no choice but to do as they are told in here."
This time, the shock coursed through his veins, lighting every nerve on fire. He lost the ability to scream, his voice falling into a low, sustained groan. He shivered when it stopped, leaving him little more than jelly.
"That was a bad one. Stay with me, Jack. We're leaving now." Xander carried him back out into the hangar just as an alarm began to blare through the compound. "Shit. We gotta move. We'll get you back to your Time Knight. He is very worried about you."
Jack took the saliva-soaked sponge from his mouth. "Niki? Did he send you?"
Xander rushed out of the door, setting off a high-pitched ringing alarm on top of the other. Shouting came from side rooms as gunshots echoed down the hallways. "We can discuss all of this once you are safe and your wounds are tended to. Just stay awake and bite down on that if another shock comes. I can't lose you, not now. There's too much at stake, too many lives in danger. The other Sands will be waiting to meet you once you have fully recovered."
"Sands?"
"You will learn in time."
Jack squinted when the bright light hit his eyes that had been kept in the darkness for too long. He choked on the fresh air, but gulped it in for survival. The cobblestones of Venice blurred together below him while Xander stuck to the back streets. They stopped behind a bakery where crates lined the path. "Uh, how much farther?"
"We should be far enough away from the facility that you will no longer receive shocks from that band. Now we just have to get you some help. Down we go." He let Jack slid down from his shoulder then supported him with his arm around his back to keep him on his feet. "Hold onto me. You can't warp by yourself with that band constricting your mark, so you'll have to bond with me just for this once."
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