"Isabelle,” I say again. She might be losing it, for real.
"Fuck you," she screams. "I don't even have the code." She starts laughing, deep belly laughs as she curls into a ball. "I forgot the code."
Shit.
A piercing sound chimes through the air, like a dog whistle, but louder. It hurts like a bitch. What the hell is that? I look toward the metal bars, but I don't see the men. Isabelle stops shuddering, screaming, and yanking her hair. She's calm and peaceful on the ground with her eyes wide open. I don't know if she's conscious. What I do know is I can't cover my fucking ears because of these cuffs.
The sound is slicing down my spine, hitting every single nerve ending in my body. It's like getting stabbed with a thousand knives at the same time.
"What the hell is going on?" one of the men yells.
"Can you hear me?" I ask Isabelle, gritting through the words.
She doesn't move. She doesn't blink. Is she fucking dead?
I drop down to my knees from the weakness shattering through my muscles. I've studied the theory of high pitched ultrasonic sounds deranging nerves in the human body but haven't experienced it first-hand. It can cause permanent damage and psychosis.
The lights go on outside of the cell, and it's all stone wall and brick surrounding the area we're in. There are three men total, all holding their ears, hunched over.
"Tell her to shut it off," a fourth man turns the corner. His mouth is muffled by the black material covering his face, but he seems unaffected by the sound torturing the rest of us.
"This isn't her, you fuck," I yell, though I can hardly hear my own voice now.
The cell door opens, and the new guy stalks forward, heading for Isabelle. I try to push myself to my feet fast enough to stand in front of her, but my muscles are like putty. He grabs her by the back of her head and pulls her up to her feet. He's tearing at her hair, pulling it out of the style she spent an hour fixing it into before dinner last night, which seems like days ago at this point.
From the corner of my eye, I've noticed two of the three men have gone unconscious, and I'm probably not far behind. The third is vomiting in the corner, groaning with pain.
"Shut it off," the man says to her. "Now, Isabelle. Don’t go thinking I didn’t figure out what the fucking hippie bracelet was you’ve been wearing day and night. I felt the wires beneath it earlier when I touched it. Just as I had assumed. It’s your cute little version of pepper spray, right?”
At first, I’m confused by what he’s saying, but the way he says her name does something to me. It strikes a different nerve, one that burns.
"You have to be fucking kidding me," I exhale through the nearly inaudible whisper I'm capable of.
"I'll end him right now, Isabelle. Shut it off."
With a trembling arm, she reaches to her wrist and pinches the bracelet in the center, making the sound stop suddenly. I try to hold my focus on what's going on around me, but everything is spinning and vibrating.
He squats down in front of her and holds his hand under her chin. "Do you know how badly I want this to be over?" he asks her. "What's it been now? Three years since you started this research with Phillips?” He turns to look at her, waiting for an answer. "I don't know about you, but I'm done with the chase.”
"You know nothing about me,” she says. Fear is obviously trickling through her, but she’s doing her best to mask it with her monotone way of speaking.
"Fine." He pulls a rifle out from behind him—the one I bought him. It's pointed at my head. "Last chance, Isabelle.” I hear the click as he cocks his rifle.
29
Harley
I should have known. I should have figured it out. How could I let him of all people by me? I let him into my head. Axel must have known. This was all just another weave of their web.
"I shouldn’t have believed a word either of you said,” I tell Everett. "You knew what a starving person would do to find food, and you used my weakness against me. You’re disgusting human beings.”
"Life isn't always what you think," he says.
"You two were after me the whole time,” I say again. I tried to push those thoughts away so many times, debating between food, shelter and my freedom, but the necessities kept winning my thoughts over. They fooled me, though that doesn't explain why Axel has been beaten to a pulp, but nothing is surprising at the moment.
"No," Axel says. "We weren't."
Everett laughs, but he's still holding the gun up to Axel's head. "Put the gun down, Everett. Don't you think that's taking things a little far just to claim the win? He's your closest friend. You expect me to believe you'd kill him for some stupid information you probably wouldn't know how to use?"
Axel is looking at me with shock, which is all for show. It has to be.
"Look, I don't know the code, okay?” I say. "Kill me. Kill him. I don't care anymore. Whatever you're going to do, just do it already. I'm tired of this shit."
"Bro, I'm sorry," Everett says. "This isn’t what I wanted. I swear to you.”
"Of all people … " Axel says. "I thought we were brothers.”
"You two can quit it with the act. I'm not dumb," I tell them.
"Brothers?” Everett questions. "We were never brothers. We were both stuck in the same foster house, but I was only there as a method to obtain information for research. I have parents, you know that? I have fucking parents. My father made my mother into a bobblehead who stares out a goddamn window all day from a hospital. When she was no longer useful to him, he used me as a scientific tool from the time I was old enough to follow his demands and threats. Your parents might be dead, Ax, but you would have never considered that you were the luckier of the two of us, so I just let you think my parents were dead because they might as well be.”
Axel's eyes are full rage as he holds his focus solely on Everett as if there is a lot he wants to say but will probably leave this earth without speaking a word of it.
In a matter of seconds, Axel whips his arms around, flipping Everett onto his back, retrieves the gun and pins him to the cement.
Krav Maga training …
Axel has the weapon pressed against Everett's head, and my heart stops beating because I truly don't know what either of them is doing or thinking. Everything has been a lie in some form.
Muffled voices from outside of the cell are growing louder, and I'm sure they're picking themselves up after the ultrasonic waves disabled them. I was hoping it would cause a more permanent fix, but I don't have earplugs, and neither does Axel, despite not knowing whether he's one of them.
"They're coming," I tell them. I'm not sure what I should be saying or not saying now. All I know is, I haven't given up any information, and they have no way of knowing how to extract it.
"Axel,” Everett says through choppy breaths. "Do it. Please. You’ll be doing me a favor. Get Isabelle out of here—away from my old man. Get her away from everyone.”
"How could you lie to me all this time?” Axel hisses. "Your old man? What the hell are you talking about?”
Everett chokes. "I was mentally wired to be who I am. You don’t get it, Axel. If you don’t kill me, those men out there will. I’m not one of them, okay? I came after you two—followed their orders, and I’m playing by their rules so we don’t all get killed. One of us is giving them what they want, or we’ll all be dead. Everett reaches his hand over to Axel’s and hands him something inconspicuously. "Do what you have to—get rid of this—and … it’s time for our plan, Ax. Do it now. Please.” I don’t know what he’s talking about, and I don’t see how Axel would believe anything coming out of his mouth. I don’t know what the hell to believe right now.
"Everett,” Axel growls.
"Do it, Axel. Now,” Everett seethes.