She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a handful of what looked like metal bracelets. “Enough talking. I have a few last things to finish up.” Her heels thumped on the carpet as she approached us, snapped one around each of our wrists, and then slid another between them, joining us together. I twisted my head to see how they worked, but there was no way I was that flexible.
“Engheim’s bracelets? How did you get those?” Asher asked, moving his arms against the cuffs. The metal bracelets clinked together at his tug, suddenly cold and hard against my skin.
“He’s a Branston man, too. You’d be surprised at how many of the QT staff were. Avery was supposed to join us, but he got cold feet at the last minute.” She shrugged. “Such a shame I had to kill him. He was a brilliant man.”
Footsteps thundered in the hall, and three soldiers sprinted into the room. They wore dark clothes, combat boots, and each had a belt full of sharp, shiny tools I’d never seen before.
“Good. Devon, I need you to finish downloading the rest of the project schematics from the main computer. You two, come with me. There are a few experiments I need to personally retrieve.” She spared us one last look. “The system is programmed to explode in one hour. Are you sure I can’t convince you to join us?”
“Go to hell,” Asher said.
“I’ve already been there. I don’t plan to go back.” Danvers turned on her heel and walked out, followed by two of the commandos.
28
The commando Devon moved to Danvers’ desk, ignoring us as she started typing. And it hit me.
We were going to die here.
The tremors started deep inside until I shook violently, the metal cuffs rattling around my wrists. My parents were going to die here. Danvers was going to escape with the ultraviolet catastrophe machine. Each breath I took felt like knives slicing into my body as the panic attack hit full force.
Asher grabbed my fingers. “Stop, Lexie. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get out of this. I promise.”
The woman at the computer smirked and went back to downloading data. I jerked and pulled at the metal bands, trying to slide them over my hands, but they only seemed to get tighter, rubbing and scraping my skin raw.
“Stop struggling, Lexie. Every time you move, the metal shrinks. Engheim’s design has a serious flaw.” Asher pitched his voice so only I could hear it. “And I need you to calm down so you can do something for me.”
I forced myself to focus on his words instead of the panic screaming inside of me. “What?”
Asher whispered in my ear. “Reach into my pocket and pull out the lock scanner we used on Danvers’ door. Then slip it beneath one of my cuffs.”
I shimmied closer to him, the heat from his body soaking into mine and calming me enough so I could twist my hand into his pocket. My fingers brushed against the thin wire, and I pulled it out slowly, blindly searching for the metal card. It felt like hours, but finally it tugged free of the pocket. Chewing my lip, I concentrated on shimmying it closer to the cuffs. My fingers felt clumsy and stiff at this angle, and I dropped it twice before I slipped it beneath the thin metal of Asher’s band.
“Done. Now what?”
Asher’s breath was hot against my ear. “Pull out my phone and put it in my palm.”
That was a whole other struggle. The way Asher sat, the phone was stuck inside his pocket at a strange angle. My fingers slid right off the slick surface. I shifted to get a better grip, and Devon looked up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, narrowing her eyes at us.
I shrugged. “Just trying to get comfortable. It would be great if you’d unhook us. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Nice try.” She turned back to the computer, and Asher nudged me with his shoulder. I slid my fingers back into his pocket to fish for his phone.
Asher took up chatting with the guard to keep her focus off me. “How long have you worked for Branston?”
She didn’t even bother to look up. “Started there as a kid. Only home I’ve known.”
“And your specialty?”
“Computers. Just like you, Mr. Rosen.”
He shook his head, his voice going hard. “Not quite like me. I’m not betraying my country.”
She smiled. “Don’t you know? Branston runs your country. Along with a few others. It’s a regular United Nations.”
My fingers finally got a grip on the slick surface of Asher’s phone. Hoping our bodies still hid what I was doing, I slowly tugged it free.
I felt Asher shake his head. “My country wouldn’t kill brilliant scientists because they’re in the way. They wouldn’t destroy years of scientific research and discovery just to blackmail people into giving up power.”
I pressed the phone into his hand, and he squeezed my fingers.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re not going to be around to see it, are you?” The woman froze and pressed a finger beneath her ear. “Yes, ma’am?” She nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
Devon glared at us. “Dr. Danvers has found your friends. Looks like they’ll be in the same boat as you.” She typed a few last things into the computer and straightened. “Take it easy, kids. The end will be painless. Hopefully.” With a smirk, she strode from the room.
I thrashed against the cuffs again. “Asher! They found Max and Zella. We’ve got to get out of here.” I tried to hold back the tears burning behind my eyes. Why had we been so stupid? Why had we thought we could stand up to something like Branston? “We should have gone for help. We should have told someone what was going on.”
“Hold still, Lexie. I’m almost there.” I could feel his arms moving as he tried to activate the unlocking mechanism on his phone.
He continued, and I knew he was talking to keep me calm. “We got lucky. Danvers did the one thing that might stop her. The security system is hooked into the regents’ notification system. Their own team is already on their way to investigate.”
“But why would Danvers do that? She had to know they’d show up.”
“Maybe she wanted them to get caught in the explosion, too.” Asher was breathing hard, and I knew it wasn’t because his fingers kept grazing my hips. “Almost there.” His body jerked against mine a few more times, and I heard the click of a lock releasing. “Got it.”
And then he was on his feet. The sudden absence of his heat from my back made me shiver, but a second later, I felt the bracelets fall from my wrists and I was on my feet, too.