Part 26 (1/2)

”Lilith won't settle for us just getting her out,” Ethan told them. ”She won't leave that place unless we can take everyone with us. You should know that before we go in.”

The two exchanged a worried look, but then Ellie sighed and nodded. ”We'd better connect with the rest of our group and organize something as fast as we can. We're going to need all the help we can get.”

I woke in chains.

Lifting my head slowly, I tried to focus, to get my bearings, but it wasn't easy. I was upright, I realized slowly, my wrists and ankles spread and shackled to the wall at my back. I was still wearing the clothesgiven to me by my mother.

My mother.

My heart twisted a little at the memory of her, because I was terrified that I would never see her again.

But I had no time to dwell on that regret at the moment.

Instead, I let my gaze scan the room. The wall at a right angle to minebrick. No windows. The one across from me, also brick, and in its center ”James.”

He was shackled just as I was. His s.h.i.+rt had been torn open, and I saw welts crisscrossing his chest and tiny streams of blood trickling from them. They must have given him something so he wouldn't bleed out, I thought.

”How much did you tell them?”

He met my eyes. ”Nothing.”

I searched those eyes of his, and was reminded sharply and painfully of the last time I'd looked deeply into Ethan's eyes. So similar, physically, and yet so very different, too. I felt relief, not heartache, when I thought of Ethan now. Relief at knowing he hadn't betrayed me the way I feared he had. His brother had been working without his knowledge. All of that was clear to me now. Oh, Ethan had indeed lied to mehe had broken his promise and told his brother our plans after vowing he wouldn't.

But that was a far cry from conspiring against me, from plotting my recapture and even my death.

”I told them nothing. But you don't believe that, do you?” James asked.

”Why would I believe anything you have to say to me? You've already proven yourself a traitor against your own kind.”

”But not against my own brother.”

I stared hard at him, trying to read his thoughts.

”If I'd told them what they wanted to know, do you think I'd still be here?” he asked.

I shrugged as best I could with my arms stretched in a V above me, and held in place by manacles and short lengths of chain. ”Maybe,” I said. ”Or maybe they left you here to see what you could get out of me.”

”They don't want to get anything out of you, Lilith. You won't be questioned, and you won't be tortured.”

”No? And how do you know that?”

”They're making no secret of it. You're simply going to be executed. They're calling an a.s.sembly on the parade grounds. Everyone here, captives and keepers alike, is going to watch it happen.”

His words, each one of them, hit my nerves like knives plunging into my flesh. Each one made me flinchin pain, tremble in fear, dread what was to come. ”How am I going to be killed?” I asked him, unsure whether I really wanted to know.

”They didn't say.”

I lowered my head, stared at the floor. ”When?”

”I don't know. I heard one source claim it would be before sunrise. Another said tomorrow night. Either way, it's soon. You won't have long to wait.”

Raising my head, I looked for a window, but there were none, so I couldn't judge the time. And then I realized how they would kill me, and I went rigid with fear. I felt my eyes widen. ”They'll stake me out to await the sunrise, won't they?”

James shrugged.

”G.o.d, I don't want to burn alive.”

”I can't think of anyone who really does.”

”Are you joking? Are you being sarcastic about my impending death, James? Has it even occurred to you that you're the cause of it?”

He blinked and averted his eyes.

”Your brother might just love me. Have you thought of that? He'll never forgive you for this.”

”No, probably not. But at least he'll be alive.”

”And he wouldn't have been otherwise? Is that how you justify what you've done, James?”

He shot me a look that should have wilted me. ”Yes, that's how I justify it. If you'd stayed with him, someone would have found you sooner or later. They doubled their efforts to recapture Ethan when you escaped. They realized that more would follow unless they stamped out the spark of rebellion you two ignited. If it had been any of the other operativesanyone but meEthan would be facing the same brutal end that you are.” He looked me up and down, then looked away, turning his head hard, as if he couldn't stand the sight of me. Or maybe it was his own guilt that made looking at me impossible for him. ”I had to capture you to save him. I had no choice.”

”You really believe that, don't you?” I was disgusted. ”Why is it that their brainwas.h.i.+ng works with some people but not others? How is it that you couldn't see any other option? Like turning against them. Like sowing the seeds of rebellion the way I”

I blinked then, as I remembered the few bits of my past that had still been missing. ”As I tried to do. I thought I could ignite a spark and then feed until it became a full blown flame that would devour this place whole. Why wasn't something like that an option for you, James?”

He looked at me with such a puzzled expression that I knew he couldn't imagine it as an option even now.

”I work for them,” he explained. ”I can't work against them. They made me.” ”And they can unmake you. You were created for one purpose onlyto serve. To kill on command. To follow ordersto the point of death, if necessary. I know,” I said. ”I know because they tried to imprint my brain with all that nonsense, too, James, but I wouldn't listen. I wouldn't believe. I wouldn't give in. And you did. Think about it? How much sense does it make that you should obey them without question just because they say so?”

He blinked, shaking his head. ”It's our purpose.”

”Is it?”

He wasn't responding to me anymore. It felt as if a wall had come down between us. He wouldn't look at me, wouldn't listen There was nothing but emptiness in his eyes. I lowered my head and sighed, giving up.

The door burst open then, and several keepers came inside. And I knew, with a gut deep horror, that they had come for me.

Chapter Twenty.

The keepers, four of themtwo men and two womenarmed with tranq guns, marched straight to me. But only one met my eyes, and I remembered her. She was Callista, the one who had always been as kind as she could without being discovered. And now I knew why that was. She was not truly one of them, never had been. She was a Sister of Athena, working here undercover, to learn the DPI's secrets.

I met her eyes, felt her anguish, and, I hoped, let her know that I knew who she was. Then I quickly lowered my head again, not wanting to risk anyone else seeing any hint of a message pa.s.sing between us.

Callista was blonde, blue eyed and small in stature. Her movements were quick and sharp, and I sensed a strength in her that wasn't readily apparent. The other woman had straight brown hair, very bad skin and no hint of such inner power.

”Shouldn't we drug her again?” one of the men asked.