Rough Edges

by Shannon K. Butcher

  Randolph laughed as he backed up. “The second I drop her, I’m a dead man.”

  “Cops are headed this way. If you don’t drop the gun, you’re going to be taken down, anyway.”

  He frowned, turning his head slightly as if he heard something. “I thought you were lying about the cops.”

  “They can’t see us from the other side of the hill, but they’re not far. You’ve got a few seconds at most. Drop her and you might have time to get away.”

  Randolph lifted her over his shoulder. She was pale and limp, blood dripping from her head, wetting the gray wig she wore.

  Victor tried not to let the sight cloud his thinking, but it was impossible. The woman he loved was in the hands of an enraged man who was likely under the control of a lunatic scientist. Once Bella was out of his sight, there was no way he could protect her. For all he knew Randolph would let her bleed out or toss her out of his car as he sped down the highway.

  “Let the woman go,” he warned.

  “I like my chances better with her in tow. Tell the cops I said hi.” Randolph turned and sprinted for the strip of woods at the back of the park.

  Victor lifted his weapon, but he had no clear shot. Bella’s head was swaying across Randolph’s spine with each step, making any shot too much of a risk.

  Instead, he holstered his weapon and set out at a dead sprint after him. He’d gone no more than ten paces when an artificially amplified voice boomed across the park. “Stop and drop your weapon!”

  The police had arrived, and if Victor didn’t do as they ordered, he was risking being shot. If he ended up dead, he wasn’t going to be able to go after Bella. The thought of letting her rot in some lab of Stynger’s while they did God knew what to the woman Victor loved stopped him cold.

  All he had to do was survive long enough to follow Randolph and save Bella. Nothing else mattered.

  Victor put his hands in the air and waited for the police to come for him. “Payton, Randolph has Bella. She’s unconscious. She planted a tracker on him. Her gear is probably in her bag on the park bench. You need to get it and follow them.”

  “I’m sorry, but I’m currently being detained.”

  “Get on the ground,” came the next authoritative command from the police.

  Victor turned around to see what kind of odds he faced. There were four uniformed officers here, and every one of them had a gun trained on him. Their pistols weren’t accurate at this range. Neither was his. He’d never even consider shooting one of them—these were good men doing their jobs—but that didn’t mean he was going to stand around and take orders when Bella’s life hung in the balance.

  Someone had to be free to go on a rescue mission. If Payton couldn’t do it, then Victor would.

  “Can you give me a distraction?” Victor asked, moving his lips as little as possible.

  “Are you sure?” Payton asked.

  “She’s hurt. Unconscious.”

  A roar of fury erupted in Victor’s ear as Payton went berserk. Two of the officers here became distracted with what was going on at the bottom of the hill.

  Victor wasn’t going to get better odds than these, so he sprinted for the trees, following the path that Randolph had taken.

  Weapons discharged behind him, but he wasn’t hit. He kept running, praying their aim wouldn’t improve.

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Jordyn answered her mother’s summons with fear twisting in her gut.

  She’d been expecting her punishment, but knowing that it was here, and that she had no choice but to endure it was enough to make her shake and sweat.

  She’d showered, put on comfortable clothes, and pulled her hair back in a braid so that she wouldn’t get vomit in it when the drugs took effect. As sensitive as her stomach had been lately, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d get sick in the White Room.

  Still, no matter what Mother did to Jordyn there, Gage was alive and well. Whatever suffering she had to go through to pay for that was worth the price.

  At least she thought so now. Once the pain started, it would be a lot harder to remember that.

  With shaking hands, she opened the door to the White Room. As its name implied, everything inside was glaringly bright. Sterile walls were broken up only by a window leading to a soundproof observation room. The floor was shiny white tile with a drain in the center to wash down the mess left behind. The ceiling was an array of lights so bright it hurt to look up at them. In the center of the space was a stainless table complete with straps to hold down whoever was unlucky enough to be restrained here.

  Right now that table housed a small boy young enough to still be in diapers. He was sobbing, fighting against the restraints caging his little body. An IV fed into his arm. It was attached to a pump stocked with three different colored liquids.

  Jordyn knew from experience that when injected, each one of them created a new definition of pain.

  Behind the glass, in the soundproof room, stood Mother. A tech sat at the control panel, looking a little queasy himself. Jordyn had never spoken to the man, but she recognized him from all the times she’d been the one strapped to the table. She’d always thought that he seemed to enjoy his job. Until now.

  Outrage slapped her hard, driving away the worst of her fear. What possible gain could Mother get from punishing a child like this? He was too little to have information she wanted. He was too young to remember whatever lesson she thought to teach him. All she was going to do was cause him pain.

  “What is this?” Jordyn asked, her voice shaking more with anger than fear.

  “You defied me,” Mother said. “I’ve tried over and over again to rid you of your rebellious streak, and yet you continue to do what you know will displease me. I thought a different sort of lesson was in order—one that would teach you that your actions have consequences for others, not just yourself.”

  Jordyn’s blood began to chill as the meaning became clear. “You would torture a child to teach me a lesson?”

  “If that’s what it takes, yes.”

  “You could kill him.”

  “I’m aware. But don’t worry. He bears no scientific importance. He’s just a normal child.”

  “You think that’s what worries me? Do you have no soul at all?”

  Mother frowned in displeasure. “Souls are fantasies conjured up by religious zealots. I raised you to know better than to buy into such myths.”

  “That answers my question. Of course the woman with no soul would think they didn’t exist.”

  “Don’t you get lippy with me, girl. I can make this experience far worse for the child if that’s what it takes to reestablish your respect.”

  Jordyn began unhooking the little boy’s IV. “There’s not a damn thing you could ever do that would make me respect you. Torture me, torture my friends, torture innocent children . . . all it does is prove my point that you’re not worthy of respect from anyone.”

  “My scientific accomplishments are groundbreaking.”

  “If you call manipulation and brute force groundbreaking, perhaps. Me? I tend to think of it more as excessive bullying.”

  “How dare you? I bore you, raised you, taught you everything you know.”

  “Not everything. Somewhere along the way I learned compassion—something you wouldn’t recognize if you sat on it. Face it, Mother, I’m a better woman than you will ever be.”

  “Weaker.”

  “Kinder.”

  “Less dedicated.”

  “More caring.”

  Mother’s face darkened to an angry shade of red that nearly matched her lipstick. “Naive.”

  Jordyn cradled the child and kept her voice calm in an effort to soothe him. “Sympathetic.”

  “None of that will serve you well where we’re going.”

  “I hate to break this to you, but I’m
not going anywhere. I’m an adult now. You can’t force me to go with you like you could when I was a child.”

  “You’re my daughter. You’ll go where I tell you.”

  “You know what, Mother? There’s something I’ve been meaning to say to you—something long overdue.” Jordyn pulled in a deep breath to steady her nerves and make sure she was clearly heard. “Fuck you, you heartless bitch.”

  She didn’t stop to think about what she’d done. She simply turned and walked out of the room with the toddler, ignoring Mother’s screaming through the speakers behind her.

  Such defiance was likely going to come back to haunt her, but for now it felt really good.

  Now all she had to do was keep the little boy safe until she could find a way out.

  Fortunately, she knew exactly where to take him.

  Chapter Forty

  Victor met Adam in the back booth of a small diner outside of town. “Were you able to get it?”

  Adam pushed a padded envelope across the table. “I had to break about ten laws, but yes. I got it. If you’d called any later, it would have been in the evidence locker and completely out of reach.”

  Victor looked inside the envelope and saw the tracking signal receiver matching the device Bella had planted on Randolph.

  “Stynger had protocols for checking for tracking devices. There’s no way that made it past her security.”

  “Maybe not, but it was live when Bella tagged him. If it gets us closer, then it’s better than what we have now.”

  “I want my brother back as badly as you want Bella. I’ve been calling in every favor I have, using every resource at my disposal. I’m desperate to get him out of Stynger’s hands, but we have to be careful. If any of this looks too easy, it’s because Stynger is luring us in. It would be just like her to make us think we have a shot so she can be there waiting, goons armed and ready to mow us down.”

  “I’ll be careful. We know she’ll move soon. If we get close, then maybe we have a chance to see the activity on satellite. It’s got to be quite an endeavor to move that many people and that much equipment.”

  “She always did it in stages. Moved slowly over time, at night. She employed various types of trucks, following different paths. Believe me, if we’ve thought of using it against her, she’s already covered it. The woman is smart. Cunning.”

  “You probably know her better than anyone. She’s got to have a weakness.”

  Adam shook his head. “She has a tendency to be a bit overconfident, but not often. There’s a reason we haven’t caught her yet, and it’s not for lack of trying.”

  “I have to try. Even if Bella would normally be able to fight her way free, she’s injured. I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t thinking clearly. She looked confused and disoriented.”

  “I’ll back your play. Payton should be able to join us soon.”

  “I figured he’d be detained for a while,” Victor said.

  “That man has more favors saved up than anyone alive. When I was at the precinct, he was cashing all of them in to get out of there.”

  “Did you bring the gear I asked for?”

  Adam nodded. “I did. Mira’s in, too, but she’s doing it from a distance. I’m not risking her life ever again. I still have nightmares about what she went through with her father.”

  “I understand. Mira’s more use in front of a keyboard, anyway.”

  “She already did a scan for all of Bella’s personal trackers. The ones in her keys, her purse, her dog tags, her car . . . they’re all dead. If she was wearing one, Stynger found it.”

  “Could there be any others we don’t know about?”

  Adam shook his head. “Mira knows them all. I’m sorry.”

  “At least she tried.”

  “What’s your plan?” asked Adam.

  “We go to the place where the tracker Bella planted on Randolph was last detected and see what’s there.”

  “Mira did that.”

  “And?”

  “There was nothing. It was in the middle of nowhere, miles from any paved roads.”

  “Just the kind of place Stynger likes, away from prying eyes,” Victor said.

  “That’s what I thought, too.”

  “Care to join me?”

  Adam grinned. “I was hoping you’d ask.”

  * * *

  Jordyn went straight to Gage’s room, toddler in tow. She didn’t dare let the boy out of her sight for fear of what Mother might do.

  Jordyn had riled the beast. It was only a matter of time before it came back to bite her.

  The boy fell asleep in her arms within minutes, exhausted from crying. His fingers were in his mouth, drool painting his chin. She walked with purpose, head high and forcing herself to look each guard in the eye as she passed so they wouldn’t question her presence with the child.

  When she came to Gage’s door, she shot the guard an expectant look, then glanced pointedly at the knob. “My hands are full,” she said with curt impatience.

  The guard hurried to let her in, shutting and locking the door behind her.

  Gage woke immediately as she walked in. She could see a haze of drugs clouding his eyes, but she didn’t doubt for a second that he was alert enough to do whatever needed to be done.

  His gaze moved to the child. Something in his face shifted, softening his expression. He nodded once as if resolved to something, then eased himself upright. “Friend of yours?”

  “Mother was going to torture him. I decided not to let it happen.”

  “Good choice.”

  She kissed the top of the boy’s head, marveling in the softness of his skin. “One I’ll pay for later, no doubt. Which is why I intend to be gone from here soon. How are you feeling?”

  “Depends.”

  “On what?”

  “Are we walking out or running?”

  “Mother won’t let us leave. We’re going to have to fight our way free.”

  “Weapons?” he asked.

  She didn’t know if she could get her hands on anything conventional, but there was a chance she could come up with something. There were some tranquilizer guns they used on lab animals. One of them might go a long way toward getting free. “I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t take him with me and I don’t dare leave him alone.”

  Gage scooted over on the bed, wincing as he moved. “There’s room here.”

  “You’ll guard him?”

  He nodded slowly, giving her the oddest stare, like he was making plans that involved her somehow. “With my life.”

  “You should get all the sleep you can. You’re going to need your strength.”

  He grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She settled the boy on the bed next to him. His thick arm cradled the child, keeping him from rolling onto the floor. In that moment she knew she’d made the right choice. Gage wouldn’t let anything happen to the toddler. Not even Mother.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can. If you don’t see me in one hour, find a way out without me.”

  “Not going to happen,” he said.

  She nodded toward the boy. “He needs you to make it happen.”

  Gage was silent for a long time, simply staring at her like he was coming to some kind of decision. She was just about to say something when he broke his gaze and looked at her lab coat pocket. “I need your pen.”

  She handed it to him without question. If he wanted to write a note for a loved one, or pen some kind of hate letter to Mother, that was fine with her. Whatever got him ready to move when the time came. “Anything else?”

  “There’s something you should know.”

  “What? There’s not a lot of time to do what I need to do. There are no guarantees Mother won’t come for me to punish me before we get free. If she does, it will be days before I can walk aga
in. I need all the time I can get to find weapons and clear our path.”

  He hesitated for a second, then shook his head. “It can wait. Stay sharp.”

  She nodded. “One hour, Gage. No longer.”

  “I’ll be here.”

  Chapter Forty-one

  Bella woke up with her head splitting into fragments of pain. She tried to reach for her skull to hold the pieces together, but her arms wouldn’t move. Panic cleared away a bit of the fog and forced her to open her eyes.

  Light drilled through her eyeballs and into her skull. The pounding increased until she was barely staving off the urge to puke.

  “I’d rather you not choke on your own vomit,” said a woman. “You have far too much potential to die like that.”

  The whole surface under Bella spun until she was upright, suspended by a series of wide straps. A pair of black high heels on the ends of scrawny legs came into her field of view. She followed those legs upward, recognizing the sticklike figure of a woman Bella knew all too well.

  Dr. Norma Stynger’s bright red mouth curved in a smile. “Better?” she asked with mock concern.

  “Where am I? How did I get here?”

  “Randolph brought you here as a courtesy. I heard you were dead, but I can see that report was premature.”

  “Why am I here?”

  “I understand you’ve been looking for me. I’ve been hoping we might have the chance to meet.”

  Cold dread settled over Bella’s skin. “Where is Gage?”

  Stynger ignored the question. “How’s your head? You took a nasty blow. I stitched you up, but I’m afraid you’ve sustained a concussion. It’s a shame, really. I’d hoped to give you the best odds.”

  “Odds of what?”

  “Surviving the surgery, of course.”

  Bella didn’t need to hear more to understand exactly what the woman was going to do to her. She’d seen it too many times in others—the scar at the base of the skull. The implants that were driven into people’s brains, turning them into little more than mindless puppets. “I’ll die before I let you do that to me.”