“I don’t make the rules; I just give you the weights to lift.” Ethan rolls his eyes at my nagging. “So how are you feeling?”
“I’m okay,” I grunt, already breathing heavily from the lifting.
“I came and saw you a couple times. You looked like shit.”
“Thanks.” I glare at him, but it comes out as more of a wince.
“You know what I mean. What did they do to you?”
“I don’t really know. They just gave me some drugs and I guess I didn’t react too well to them.”
“You could have died,” he states angrily.
“But I didn’t.”
“Yeah, but you could have. You need to be careful—”
“Did Charlie put you up to this? Because you’re sounding a lot like he usually does.”
“I’m just saying you need to be careful.”
“Well, it’s a bit hard to say no when they threaten to take Charlie away from me,” I blurt out.
“They said that?” He looks surprised as his weight bar that he’s lifting freezes mid-air. His arm doesn’t even shake holding the forty pounds.
“Yes, but please don’t tell Charlie. I don’t want him doing anything stupid.”
“Listen, Holloway, Nico wouldn’t want you to die for him.”
“They can do what they want to me with Charlie here or not. I would rather have him with me than not. If they want to kill me, then what’s the point fighting that?”
“They don’t want to kill you, but accidents happen. You need to stand up for yourself.”
“Arguing with Martha doesn’t get me anywhere.”
“Don’t argue with her, argue with your doctors.”
“Those people don’t care about anything except making a perfect soldier, Ethan.”
“They care about this country and they’re trying to protect America. They’re not bad people.”
“Then why should I argue with them? Shouldn’t I just put my country ahead of me then, too?”
Ethan huffs loudly at my argumentative tone. “They just sometimes don’t know when to stop. You need to tell them.”
“And we’ve come back to the beginning of this discussion where they won’t care what I want. Just drop it. You don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I know more than you think. You guys need to stop thinking of us being the bad guys. We’re all here because we love America and there is nothing wrong with that.”
“I know you’re not a bad person, and I’m not saying the others here are bad. I just know that Martha and Stan are not good people. Just because they tell you to jump doesn’t mean it’s for the reasons that you’ve been led to believe.”
“You don’t get it.”
“You’re right, I don’t and I don’t think you get it, either. Let’s just agree to disagree, okay?”
“Okay.” Ethan looks away and I know he’s frustrated with me. “I’m going to go work on some weapon training. I’ll check on you later.”
“You don’t need to check on—”
“Later, Holloway,” he dismisses me, walking away. His arms are tense and I think I might have annoyed him more than I realized. No one here really knows the full story, and being told something like you might really be hurting your country rather than helping it can’t be nice to hear. Of course he doesn’t want to believe me.
I keep lifting the ridiculously heavy weight in my hands and ignore my protesting arms.
My mind drifts to the last few days I had in medical. Martha came by twice to insist we try again, but I refused and so did Charlie. Ethan obviously didn’t know that part, but I know that when Martha decides to push it and use Charlie’s safety to do it, I’ll budge. I may know she may have wanted Charlie and me together back at The Windmill, however I don’t know why, and I don’t know if it’s a strong enough reason to go through the trouble of leaving us be.
What if they only wanted us together for a certain amount of time? What if that time is nearly up? Back when Charlie and I were on the run together I kept feeling like something was coming for us, and even though the feeling isn’t as strong now, I can still feel it somewhere in me. Something is coming for us again, and since we’re already here, I don’t know what to think. The only thing worse than being stuck here together, is to be stuck in P.A.G.E. apart.
“Just leave me alone.” When Will’s upset voice pierces through my thoughts, I focus on my surroundings. I have kept lifting my weight bar while lost in my thoughts and now my arms protest painfully.
I find Will across the room trying to push passed Talon, but he won’t get out of his way. I narrow my eyes at them when I see Talon grabbing hold of Will’s arm. As I take a step towards them, my path is blocked. I readjust my eyes to just in front of me, expecting to see Ethan and instead I see Frank.
“Get out of my way,” I snap at him, not feeling in the mood to have to deal with him.
“We need to talk eventually, Zoe.”
“Fine, in fifty years, we can talk.”
“No, we need to talk now. There are things you need to know.”
“I already know you’re a jerk, but thanks for trying to give me the heads up.” I push passed Frank, seeing Talon pushing Will.
“Come on, where is some of that anger I saw earlier? Don’t tell me you’re scared of me. Do I need to beat you again? Do you need to cry like a baby before you turn into a man?” He shoves Will again.
My mouth opens to yell at him to stop, but Frank’s hand grabs hold of my arm.
“Let go of—”
“I can make him stop. I can make him back off Parker,” Frank cuts me off.
“How?”
“Don’t worry about how; just promise me if I do this, then you’ll talk to me, today, now.”
I look back at Will, seeing his fists clench. He is starting to get angry.
“Fine, just hurry up.” I cross my arms over my chest and watch Frank walk straight over to Talon and put his arm on his shoulder. He talks to him quietly and whatever is said makes Talon nod quickly at him once before he turns around and leaves immediately. Will breathes out a sigh of relief as he collapses onto a weight bench. I weave my way through the machines and go over to him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I just wish he would leave me alone.”
“I know what you mean,” I mutter as Frank walks beside me.
“I didn’t tell you this, but a sure way to disable your uncle is to kick his left knee. He has an old football injury there and it gets him on the ground and unable to walk for several minutes. That should be enough time for you to leave. A few of them will clue him in that taunting you won’t work. He’ll leave you alone eventually.” Frank crouches beside Will as he talks. “I’m sorry about what you’ve been put through here and in your life. I know it’s not fair, but the wrong thing was done for the right reasons. We need you to protect this fine country. Understand?”
Will looks up at me rather than answer Frank and I shake my head at him.
“Come on, Frank. You either get this conversation with me right now or you lose your chance.” I save Will from having to answer. Frank stands up immediately and leads me away from Will and the weight room.
He takes me out onto the grass between the weight room and the circuit where he sits down in full view of a sunny patch away from the few trees surrounding us, providing shade. It’s the nicest day that we’ve had since being here.
“You know there was a time you used to call me Dad.”
“That’s what you want to talk about with me, Frank?”
“No, actually I thought, given that you’ve had time to think about things, you might have questions for me.”
“Not really.” I do have many questions for him, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of being right.
“No questions about what happened when I died? About why we’re back now? About the situation you’re stuck in now?”
I internally debate whether I should just swallow my pride and ask
the burning questions inside me. It takes about three seconds to decide.
“Fine, why are all you guys back now? What’s so special about this time? Why weren’t you at The Windmill?”
“They weren’t ever meant to bring us back. They didn’t want to break a trust they thought they would have with you.”
“And now?”
“Now they realize you don’t have any trust in them. They now just want to assert their dominance over you. Show the type of power they have and that the things you thought you knew might not be what they seem. It’s to disparage you from trying to escape.”
“They think we can escape from here?”
“They think you will try, and they think you might not all be so lucky to escape with your lives this time. They’re trying to protect you,Zoe—”
“By telling us our lives are a lie? By tricking my mother into loving you? So they foresaw this moment twenty years ago and decided to fill our lives with lies so we would realize they want to protect us?”
“They’ve been protecting you since you were born, Zoe. They have wanted you all safe.”
“What about Will? It doesn’t seem like they cared much about his safety when they stuck that monster with him.”
“Parker is different. Talon isn’t a monster. He went through a lot during his tours and he is a war hero. He saved my life and many others, countless times. The information he obtained during his interrogations were vital to the survival of our country. He gave his soul to the devil for this country. As a result, he’s not completely okay now. The things we saw and did haunt him. His way of dealing with that is to lash out. Stan didn’t know that when he placed him to care for Parker. The first beating was an accident. Talon was in the middle of a nightmare when Parker woke him up. The result was upsetting, but the way Parker healed clued us into what his ability was.”
“And so that gave him the right to use Will as a punching bag?”
“No, I know it’s not right and I’m not condoning what was done. I would have fought for him had I known what was going on. I was deep undercover with you and…” He trails off, wincing.
“And busy seducing my mother. I get it.”
“I was never meant to marry your mother. I was just there to be your dad’s friend and keep an eye on you. Falling for your mom was not part of the plan. Just like your dad bolting wasn’t part of ours. I truly did love your mom. I still do. I hate that I had to leave you both.”
“Why did you leave? Why fake your death?”
“I was following orders. We knew you had foreknowledge of your dad leaving; we wanted to know if you would see me leaving also.”
“So you faked your own death, not caring that as an eleven-year-old, I would lose the only father figure in my life that I knew and loved? Not caring that Mom would be so broken up over your death that she would never be the same woman ever again? Knowing I would lose my mother the same day I lost you?”
“Zoe,I didn’t—”
“I don’t care. You died that day and, as far as I’m concerned, you’re still dead.”
“Look, why don’t we talk about something else?”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“How about that boy you’ve been hanging around with? Nichols? I’m told you both are quite close.”
“You want to talk to me about Charlie?” I gape at him, not believing that he is about to go all fatherly on me about this.
“I just wonder if he is the right fit for you.”
“You don’t even know him,” I say, outraged. How dare he judge Charlie when he hasn’t let me down once, not like Frank has!
“I don’t want to see you get hurt—”
I laugh uncontrollably, finding that statement to be funnier than I know it really is.
“Too late for that. You don’t get to have a say in any part of my life. Charlie is the best guy I’ve ever known and you’re not to ever bring him up to me again.”
Frank nods his head, but I can tell he is biting his lips on whatever he wants to say.
“So have I paid my dues for having you help Will get away from his abusive uncle? Or do you want to have a pointless discussion about the weather now?”
“I’m not holding you hostage here, you may leave whenever you—”
I quickly stand and rush away from him, back into The Mansion. It’s right about lunch time and my half a day is almost up anyway.
I may have gotten a couple answers from Frank, but I’m left with another question. Frank alluded to the same thing Adam had. We were being watched since birth. They already knew about our abilities before it was ever possible for them to know. Adam mentioned tests. Did they run tests on us when we were babies? What the hell did P.A.G.E. do to us?
Chapter 16 – THE SACRIFICE
March 29th
I wake up Friday morning feeling no different than any other day. I go to breakfast with Charlie, sitting with Will and Rose. I try to eat passed the anxiety I’m feeling, which I’m beginning to think isn’t going to go away as long as we’re here with Corby, Stan, Martha and Frank.
It’s when I see Martha approaching us slowly that I realize my anxiety might be caused by something else. I hold my breath, both hoping and fearing she’ll want to speak to Rose. She’s spoken to the others twice since we’ve been here, but only once to me. I suppose that means I’m the one she’ll most likely want to talk to. She spoke to Charlie twice close together while I was in the hospital. While he didn’t speak about what was said, I assume he got something similar to what I did. He was calm when he went to see me afterwards, but Rose said he was angry when he left her office.
Martha stops before Rose and, after her eyes pierce each of us, she finally lands her gaze on Rose. I feel dizzy from not breathing.
“Montgomery, come with me.” She doesn’t bother trying to fake being pleasant. She glares at Rose. I fear that Martha might have plans to do more than talk to her.
Rose doesn’t even blink. She shows no fear as she brings the spoon full of porridge up to her mouth and eats it. Through the food she speaks and I smile when some of her food spits onto Martha’s pants.
“I should be able to fit you in after I’ve finished my food.” Rose smiles exaggeratedly at her and then looks away, almost as if she’s just dismissed her.
As I hold my hand over my mouth, hiding my smile, I hear Charlie cough next to me, trying unsuccessfully to hide his laugh.
Martha’s nostrils flare. I can’t help but picture her as a furious horse right now. “You either come with me of your own will, or I drag you out of here. As I’ve already demonstrated to you, I am a far better fighter than you.”
Rose rolls her eyes, making sure Martha sees it before standing up slowly.
“See you guys later, since Martha plans to make me miss out on train—” Martha roughly grabs Rose’s arm and pulls her away from the table.
“Subtle as ever.” Charlie rolls his eyes, but I feel his body tense next to mine.
We’ve mostly mapped out our plan, the main hole being our tracking devices. We know that if today is the day we’re going to escape then later we’ll be begging Doctor Pratt to remove our devices. If the begging doesn’t work, I shudder to think of what threat we’ll have to use.
“When do we execute the plan?” Will asks nervously.
“We should do it soon; Martha looks pissed.” Charlie glances around the cafeteria, which is filling up by the second.
“Do what soon? We never discussed a distraction that’ll work. They’ll all look too obvious,” I complain, feeling my panic building. We’re not ready, it’s too soon.
“I have an idea.” Charlie quickly stands up before I can even process his words.
“What plan? How can you cause a distraction that won’t look like it was done on purpose?” I hiss at him, aware that anyone who can overhear us will then know whatever Charlie has in mind is planned.
“I could try to start a fire?” Will offers.
His words send shivers over
my body. A fire. As in Charlie trapped? As in my possible death?
“No, I have a better plan.” Charlie’s eyes don’t leave me and he forces me to stand in front of him, his hands then moving on top of my shoulders.
“Why do I get the feeling I’m going to hate this plan?” I groan, my mind thinking ahead to a fight Charlie is about to cause in front of everyone. Is he going to fake break up with me? Am I supposed to know how to properly argue with him?
“I’m about to break a promise to you, and for that, I’m sorry. Just know I might enjoy this, but I fully intended to keep my promise to you when I made it, and that I love you.” He speaks calmly, but his words confuse me. Is this the start of our fight?
“What promise? What are you talking about?” I ask, but any further questions that come to mind are forgotten as he leans in and kisses me quickly. It also prevents me from getting any answers.
He then pulls away. In the daze I’m left in afterwards he dashes between tables and in what looks like a blink of my eye he’s already two tables away from us, moving quickly and with purpose.
“What is he doing?” Will asks me, now standing next to me, watching him rush away from us. I look ahead. Even though there are several people in the direction he’s going, I know exactly who he is aiming for.
“Oh, no,” I gasp, sprinting forward a millisecond after my eyes land on Corby. Charlie is going to pick a fight with Corby, and he is going to lose. Even Will can’t stop him.
“Charlie, stop!” I yell, drawing everyone’s attention surrounding us, but Charlie doesn’t appear to acknowledge my request. He steps right up to Corby and swings his fist hard and fast.
Corby is sitting down, however he moves swiftly out the way before Charlie’s fist makes contact with him. I wince when he instead makes contact with the bench, hard. Bowls, plates and utensils go flying. Several people step away, prepared to let what is about to go down happen.
“Finally worked up the balls to defend your whore?” Corby sneers at Charlie. I just get my hands around his arm when he shrugs me off and launches himself at Corby. They stumble, but remain standing. I gasp, watching Corby maneuver Charlie into a choke hold, his body easily absorbing Charlie’s elbows to his exposed side. Will pushes passed me, but Corby holds out a hand to halt him.
Taken By Choice (Taken Trilogy Book 3) Page 19