Heartless (33 page)

“Oh. Him,” my father cut in, furious. “He got us, too. Met us at the front door of your dorm a couple hours ago. Don’t know how he knew it was us, but he did. He told us he had news about you, and we believed him.” He frowned and rubbed his chin, five o’clock shadow bristling beneath his fingers. “He dumped us here, in a cell. That’s where we found Lucy. She filled us in on the rest.”

“But how did he…” I started to say. Strong had been with
me
all day.

My mother interrupted. “I knew we shouldn’t trust him,” she said. “Didn’t I tell you we shouldn’t trust him?”

“Actually, you never said anything of the sort, dear.”

I smiled. I couldn’t help it then. I always loved when they bickered. And when I smiled, my face didn’t crack. But there wasn’t time to think about that.

“You guys! Stop arguing. Please! There’s more!”

“Apart from the obvious?” asked my father.

“Yeah,” I said. “First, Strong was with me all day. I don’t know how he was with you, too. And second, it’s good I didn’t call you. They want your money!” As I spoke, my mother leaned her head against my knee. I jerked away. “Mom! Don’t!”

“What, baby?” She lifted her head but didn’t leave my side.

“Toxic. I’m toxic. When they did this, they must’ve used arsenic. When they took Lucy, they took her from the hospital. They were treating her for arsenic poisoning.”

My father looked confused. “But she’s fine. Well, except for her pinkie. Frostbite. She thinks she’s going to lose it. And possibly a broken ankle. She’ll need a doctor to take a look at it.”

“What?” I said, embracing only for a split second the relief that followed the news that Lucy was going to be all right. Because I knew her current health didn’t matter if we didn’t all get out of this alive. “She was at death’s door when I left her. I can’t believe she’s not dying.” I sighed, and thought. “But that brings me to my next point. What I need you guys to know is, they
cannot
reverse this. The damage is done to me. I’m done for.”

“Don’t say that, Jolene! Don’t ever say that!” My mother sounded on the verge of breaking down. My father stepped closer to her so the front of his legs pressed firmly against her back. He leaned forward, squeezing up against her body, trying to hold her together.

“It’s true. I promise. Even before, I knew. I didn’t email you to come, they hacked my account. I would have told you to stay away. I knew it was dangerous. But I’m glad you’re here, so I can say goodbye.” I paused, and then stared down at the cord that trailed out from behind me. It was my umbilical cord, the only way I could cling to life. “And then I heard them say, when they thought I was asleep, that they can’t save me. They just want your and Daddy’s money, your access. Lucy’s, too. They want her mother, the ambassador. Mama, I’m afraid they’re going to want to make you all like me. And I can’t let that happen to you. I can’t. I can’t let you end up like me.”

I stopped speaking. My parents wept.

And when you’re frightened, and you feel alone, there’s nothing more shattering than seeing your parents cry.

My resolve faltered. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to be five years old again, sleeping in the bed in between my parents after a nightmare. I longed for them to fold me up between them, to protect me from the darkness. I couldn’t keep on fighting alone.

But then my father stood again. “I love you, Jo. You’re my sunshine. My light. My rainbow. Everything good in my life? It comes from you and your mother. And now that I’m here, you’re not doing this alone. I’m with you, until…” His voice cracked. “Until the end. Every step of the way.”

My mother nodded. “My baby,” she said, and she sniffed. “I’m here with you, too. We’re all in this together.” She heaved a deep, tremulous sigh, and fresh tears flowed from her eyes.

“Okay,” said my father, shaking himself as though he were a dog casting water from his coat. Tears leapt from his cheeks, dotting the ground around him like dew. “That’s enough of that. We don’t have much time. Jo, do you know what their ultimate goal is?”

“No,” I said. “Not yet. I have a stack of their files back at my dorm, but I haven’t read them yet. I figured I could do that after… But no matter what, we can’t help them.”

“Shh,” my mother said, standing up suddenly and eyeing the door. “They’re coming. I can hear their voices.” I heard them, too. Loud and clear.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Look, just let me keep charging here. I need to get as strong as I can for now, to see how far we can carry things. Block me. Don’t let them see. They’ll unplug me. They want me weak.”

My father nodded, then stepped aside so he stood in front of the outlet. “Right. Go back to being comatose,” he said. “We’ll get them talking, see what we can learn, see how long we can stall. But when I give the signal, pull the tape off my hands, okay? I need my hands back. Then we can…”

But I never learned his plan. He stopped talking as the door burst open and Strong and Sondra walked in, dragging Eli and Lucy behind them. I leaned back in my chair, mouth slack and eyes half-open. Strong wore a blanket draped around his shoulders.

Eli looked like he’d been through hell and back again. His face was bruised and bloodied, and I remembered the sounds of the fight in the car when I lay in the trunk. Dark, heavy eyelids, head drooping down, Eli looked as though all the fight had long since been taken from him. My heart sank.

But then I looked at Lucy.

And Lucy looked angrier than I’d ever seen her, and she looked whole. Not sick. Not broken, save her significant limp. But her fury was palpable, and I flashed back for a second to a memory of Lucy slugging a football player whose hands were a little too grabby while they danced one night at a club. I knew from that point on never to get Lucy good and angry—she had a fiery redhead temper, and she could kick some ass when inspired.

She looked inspired right then. Really, truly inspired.

This might work out after all,
I thought. But then I looked at my father, looming over me, and wondered.
But what’s the signal? What’s the plan?

“G
et your eyes off her.” My father, once again painfully aware of my nakedness while doing his best to block my electrical cord snaking its way to the wall, scowled at Strong. “You there, give me that blanket.”

Strong held it out, but stared at me and flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth while my father reached out for the blanket with his tied-up hands, then attempted to spread it over me while he faced the other direction. My mother stepped forward, and together they covered me up to my neck.

“You bastards,” my mother said, and I started at my mother’s choice of words. She
hated
bad language. “You bastards killed my only child. Look at her. She’s comatose.”

I played dead as best I could. It wouldn’t do to let the bad guys know I was ready to fight.

Lucy side-stepped Strong and Sondra. Her pale skin neared purple with rage. She ran to me, knelt before my feet, and tried to look into my eyes. “Jo? Are you even still in there? You look terrible, even worse than before.”

I love you too, bitch,
I thought.

“Actually,” said Eli from across the room where he slumped against the wall. A huge swollen lump glowed red on his temple. “Actually, I think Jo looks a hell of a lot better. Of course, you didn’t see her yesterday, or earlier today. She was…a disaster. But this is better. How’d they fix you?” He sounded honestly curious, ever the pre-med student.

I, of course, didn’t answer. Not that anyone expected me to.

“Oh, right. You can’t move yet, can you? They let you shut down. Assholes.” He glared at Strong and Sondra, but then groaned, holding a hand to his side. “You assholes better be able to bring her back to us.” He sounded only half-hearted, though. He groaned again, his face flushing with pain.

“Eli!” my mother said, old habits dying hard. “Language!”

“Sorry, Mrs. Hall.” He slid down the wall until he sat, barely holding his upper half upright.

I clenched my jaw tighter, willing myself to stay quiet. I didn’t know what sound to make—a laugh and a scream both trembled just below the surface of my self-control, waiting for me to slip up and let them out. Either would be my downfall.

Lucy looked at my dad. “I think he’s got some broken ribs.”

He nodded and glared at Strong. His jaw clenched, and he worked hard to loosen it. I’d seen that jaw muscle clenched many times in high school.
Drinking with friends until dawn? Tight jaw face. Sneaking a boyfriend in through a window? Tight jaw face
. Always followed by thunderous shouting.

But not this time. He heaved a great sigh instead. “Look,” he said, pleading with Strong. “Man-to-man,
mano-a-mano
, please, tell me, why did you do this to my girl? Who are you working for?”

Strong puffed up and looked pleased. “I thought you’d never ask.” He turned to Sondra. “Your turn, Miss Recruiter. Wouldn’t it make more sense to recruit them than to take their money and run? Teach a man to fish, right? Go on. Teach fishing.”

Sondra giggled like a schoolgirl and pushed him playfully. It was then I noticed the gun in her waistband, which flashed when the light hit it as her shirt pulled up. “Adam! That’s not exactly an enticing way to present information to them.” She spoke in her syrupy voice again, and walked to my parents and patted my mother on the arm. “Here, you poor dears. You’ve been through so much. Why don’t you have a seat?”

They didn’t move.

She continued as though they had, as though she was just having a chat with some friends on a quiet Sunday afternoon. “The answer to your question is simple, Mr. Hall. We are the Order of the Adversaries. Sounds intimidating, right? But we’re nothing of the sort.” She laughed, a playful sound that belied her age.

My mother nodded encouragingly, like she was interested, the same way she always responded to Jehovah’s Witnesses who came to spread the good news at our door. My mother was a champion at being pleasant in unpleasant situations. Sondra ate it up, and continued in a singsong voice. She had her script memorized.

“Have you ever felt like the world is going to fall apart, my dears? Our country is divided. It’s ruled either by heathens, or by a religious right that believes only in filling its own pockets. There are murders in the streets, mass shootings by the dozens, and no one lifts a finger. That’s where we come in. We’re ready and willing to lift our not-insignificant fingers to do the job no one else wants. We are preparing for the Great Upheaval.

“We believe in a complete absence of religion, of government, of anyone telling anyone else what to do, how to live, or what to buy. We support survival of the fittest. And to that end, we feel our country
requires
the Great Upheaval.”

“But how?” my father said. “How can we fix things?” He sounded honest, earnest. I was impressed. But beside him, Lucy stewed, glowing red. I wondered how long this could last, and what plan my father was formulating while he let Sondra blather on. Lucy wasn’t going to remain silent much longer.

Nearby, Strong’s eyes glazed over with pure, unadulterated pride, as if he were listening to a prophet speak. His hand floated up to cover his heart. Clearly, they’d both drunk the Kool-Aid.

“Well, that’s where our girls come in. They are our spies, our soldiers. With them, we can achieve infiltration and penetration. Penetration into churches that corrupt, government organizations that neglect. Penetration into fledgling governments with access to nuclear capabilities.” Here, she nodded at Lucy, who responded by sticking out her tongue.

Sondra ignored her. “And penetration into industries with the chemicals and technologies we require to grow our army, extend our reach ever further. With our girls, we’ll have the most loyal, most dedicated soldiers in the history of the world, because we’ve created them! We can control them utterly.”

“But what will they do once they achieve…penetration?” My father covered a disbelieving laugh with a wet, sticky cough. “And why can’t you just recruit normal soldiers? Why all girls?”

“Oh, dear sir, who doesn’t trust a lovely girl? We’ll have beautiful soldiers, ready to perform any duty, and it’s the lust of our leaders that will allow them to succeed. Our process has been less than reliable thus far, but now we feel we’ve perfected it enough to share our methods around the world.” She blushed, and cast her eyes down with shameful pride. “We have offices around the country, you know. And laboratories as well. We’re growing, and soon, when we’ve shared our research and created more and more girls, we’ll be the biggest organization of our kind in the world.”