Our doors were shut, blocking him out completely. Each of the girls claimed a car. A blonde I didn’t recognize turned out to be my driver, and Cara settled in beside her.
She didn’t speak to me, but cast me narrowed glances every few minutes. A glass partition separated us, so I couldn’t talk to her. That was okay. At the moment, I despised her. And, I hated to admit, I was scared of her. She’d lied, she’d attacked. She’d won.
Worse, Erik’s ex-girlfriend might very well hold my future in her hands.
Thirty minutes and a bumpy ride later, we were parked in an underground garage that led to a stone-and-glass fortress. Towering, oppressive, eerie, the building practically screamed “keep out or die.” People strolled in and out, and all of them wore black syn-leather and had pyre-guns strapped to their waists.
I didn’t see Erik as the blonde jerked me from the car. She flanked one side, Cara flanked the other, and they escorted me inside. I tried not to cringe at the pain in my arm. I tried not to cry.
What were they going to do to me?
“This is all a big misunderstanding,” I tried explaining yet again.
“Yeah. I believe you,” Cara said dryly. “’Cause I’m an idiot.”
“If you’d just listen—”
She pressed my shoulder, hard, and I gasped. Then she pressed harder and my knees gave out. Neither girl did anything to stop my ensuing fall. I yelped, hitting the ground face-first. Air shot from my lungs in one mighty heave.
I lay there for a moment, stunned. They won’t hurt me, I’d told Erik more times than I could recall. How foolish I’d been. I uttered a humorless laugh as I tried to tamp down another surge of fear. “It’s illegal to treat me this way. I haven’t been found guilty of a crime.”
“We don’t need to find you guilty,” Cara said. “We just need to suspect.”
“Call my father,” I found myself saying. He would protect me. Yes, he’d find out everything I’d done, how I’d lied, but I no longer cared. I suddenly wanted away from these girls, no matter what.
“We’ll call him. Later.”
“I know my rights.” My dad had made sure of it. “I’m a minor. You have to call him if I request it.”
“If we were dealing with a human crime, sure. With Onadyn, all bets are off. Besides that, you are so not a minor. You’re eighteen. Legally an adult.”
“He’s my attorney.” I tried to push myself up, but Cara jammed her foot on my back, slamming me back down. I winced.
“No getting up yet,” she said. “I like you where you are.”
“This is harassment. This is assault,” I huffed, anger pushing past my fear. “Let. Me. Up.”
“Think you’re tough enough to make me?” Cara chuckled and there was a menacing edge to the sound. “If so, you’ll soon learn better. I’ll make sure of it.”
She removed her foot and the blonde jerked me to a standing position. At the wide double doors, she secured me against a wall so that I couldn’t run as she and Cara endured a palm and retinal scan. The entrance opened and I was tugged inside.
People—agents, I’m sure—were everywhere. Behind desks, walking the plain, silver hallways. Few spared me a glance. There were holoscreens, computers, and other equipment I didn’t recognize.
“This isn’t—” I pressed my lips together. Whatever you say can be used against you in a court of law. I felt the heat drain from my skin as my dad’s voice echoed in my mind.
“Say hello to your new home,” Cara told me. “Your weight, height, and body heat have already been logged into the system. You step foot in this lobby or any of the surrounding rooms without permission and you’ll be dead.”
A tremor worked through me.
After several twists and turns, we finally reached a steel door. We lost the blonde somewhere along the way. Cara had to pause for another scan, this one a full body. Red lights pulsed over her seconds before the door opened.
This new hallway boasted several other doors that led straight into prison cells. The knowledge nearly undid me. I was shoved inside the last room on the right. The air inside was sterile-smelling. There was a chair in the center, but that was it.
Another tremor catapulted the length of my spine. My new home, she’d said. For how long?
“Put your face against the wall,” Cara commanded me.
For a split second, I thought about disobeying. In the end, I didn’t. Coward.
The moment my cheeks pressed against the cool metal, she was behind me, removing my laserbands. I felt a tug on my wrists and then, finally, the heat of the bands was gone.
“What’s your full name?” she asked, her voice cold, emotionless.
“Camille Diane Robins.”
“How old are you, Camille Diane Robins?”
They’ll ask you easy questions at first, Erik had warned me. Then they’ll get harder. I had trouble catching my breath, but managed to gasp out, “Eighteen. You already know that.”
She stared over at me for a long while, studying me, and it looked like a war raged in her mind. Finally she nodded, as if she’d made a decision. “I’ll be back for you in a little bit. For now, you can sit here and think about all the ways I’m going to hurt you if you lie to me.”
Oh, I’d imagine, all right. Needles shoved under my nail-beds. Hammers pounded into my knees. All of my hair shaved off. But I couldn’t let that affect me. Today I’d endured the sting of a Lancer. I’d lived through a car chase and a gunfight. I hadn’t cracked to a million pieces when this girl pushed me down. Time to stop being a coward.
“Where’s Erik?” I asked, turning to face her eye-to-eye. A brave move, one I wouldn’t have attempted any other day. But I wanted to talk to him. He’d told me what to expect. Now I wanted him to tell me what to do, and how to get out of here. How is that any better?
She raised one brown brow. “What do you care? What’s he to you?”
“A hero, I guess. He fought to protect me while you were shooting at me.”
Anger washed over her lovely face, vibrating palpably. “You think that makes you special? Well, it doesn’t. He once saved my life, too.”
I blinked at her in surprise. “How can you treat him this way then?”
She didn’t answer. In fact, she spun on her heel and strode out of the room, leaving me alone. Alone to wonder.
Where had they taken Erik? What were they doing to him?