Heartless (34 page)

Suddenly, over against the wall, Eli snorted, and then doubled over, clutching his stomach. I jerked inadvertently, ready to leap to his aid, but my mother pressed herself against me, reminding me to stay put. I was afraid he was dying.

But then he took a deep breath, and with his head between his knees, he let out a giant peal of laughter. We all stared at him, me included, unable to control myself any longer. As everyone stared, consumed by the sight of Eli’s hysteria, he laughed until he cried, and finally, Sondra had enough.

“When you’ve quite finished,
dear
,” she said, fury palpable in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Eli said, gasping for air. “It’s just…you’re anarchists creating
femme-bots
! You’re a giant freaking parody of yourselves.” And then he lost control again.

“Femme-bots?” repeated Sondra. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

Strong appeared at Eli’s side and let loose a kick that landed directly on Eli’s already-battered rib cage. Eli howled and flopped to the ground, writhing like a dying fish on the shore. My mother pressed herself against me again, holding me down with a hip, while Lucy launched herself across the room, knocking into Strong.

Without the use of her arms and her sharp fingernails, though, she was ineffective at best. She bounced off Strong’s brawny shoulder and landed on the ground beside Eli, silent, seething. Her face betrayed no pain, though she’d whacked her head against the wall. She leaned in front of Eli, protecting him from any further action by Strong.

But Strong was done, for the moment. He shrugged, and then spoke to Sondra. “Femme-bots.
Austin Powers
. It was a movie that came out in the nineties. I’d never thought of the association…but…suffice to say, he’s mocking us. We can’t have that now, can we?”

“Oh, dear,” she said, and she reached out and took Strong’s arm. All trace of persuasion was gone from her face, like she’d been shut off and was no longer the Order’s star recruiter. Eli had destroyed that moment of respite for all of us with his outburst, and for that he had paid. “That surely won’t do. Maybe it is better that the Master’s headed here. Maybe he can talk some sense into this boy.” The sticky-sweet side of her voice was gone, replaced by something flatter and more threatening.

“I don’t expect the Master will have much to say to him,” Strong said. “He probably won’t be here by the time the Master arrives.”

Who is the Master?
I wondered.
And when will Dad give the signal? What if I miss it
?

Urge after urge to
attack
surged through my body. I was going to lose control soon.

F
rom somewhere deep within the underground lair, an alarm sounded, and everyone in the room jumped.

“What’s that?” my mother said.

“None of your business,” Strong snapped. He looked startled, though. Concerned. “Be right back.”

He left without another word, leaving Sondra standing awkwardly alone. She looked nervous, and suddenly pulled the gun from the back of her ill-fitting pants. She trailed it around the room, pointing at everyone in turn. “I don’t want any funny business,” she said.

“We don’t, either,” my father said. “All we want is to fix our daughter. Let’s get this done. I want our baby back.”

My father stepped in front of me. It looked like a protective gesture, but his hands were suddenly enticingly close to mine. The tape that bound them had a loosened corner, where he’d obviously been working with his fingers to get it started. I could just reach out and pull the tape off, if I wanted. It might pull some of his skin off, I realized, but that would heal. And then we could get out of there.

But I had to wait for the signal.

“We already told you,” she said. “We need money. Lots of it. Any business connections you have that will help us in our quest. Give us what we want and we’ll reverse the process on Jolene.”

“You’re such a damn…” Lucy exploded with anger, but my mother shook her head at her, so slightly I was surprised Lucy even saw it. But she must have, because she stopped shouting and risked a glance at me.

I winked.

“Liar,” she whispered.

My father thought for a moment, then said, “You know, Sondra, the problem I’m having, though, is this: I agree with Lucy. I think you’re a liar. I think your organization is garbage. And I can’t wait to see the rest of this goddamn place burn. Jolene,
now
.”

The signal!

I reached out and ripped the tape from my father’s wrists. He cried out in pain, but his hands were free within a heartbeat. He ran forward, surging like a locomotive, toward Sondra Lewis.

Sondra’s mouth fell open, but her eyes narrowed. She was ready for him. She pointed the gun at my father’s chest, but before she squeezed the trigger, Eli’s glazed-over eyes lit up and he pushed himself to his feet and launched into Sondra. She flew through the air, and the gun fell from her hands. My father was unable to stop and crashed instead into Eli, who stood where Sondra had been. They tumbled to the ground, and Eli yowled in pain.

Sondra landed on the ground beside Lucy, flat on her back. Lucy jumped to her feet, then pinned Sondra to the ground with a foot against her throat. “Don’t move,” Lucy said. “If you do, I’ll crush your windpipe. One stomp is all it’d take. Try me. Please.” Then she turned and grinned at me. “I
knew
you’d charged long enough! Welcome back to the land of the living!”

Sondra didn’t move. She whimpered, a baby animal trapped by a predator. With no gun and no Officer Strong to protect her, she was reduced once more to just a lowly adjunct professor.

I grinned, my cheeks able to handle it. “Thanks,” I said to Lucy. “What should we do with her?”

As I spoke, I reached to pull the tape from my mother’s hands, but found she’d already done most of the work. “I kept that awful man from taping them too tightly when I struggled. I think he underestimated me,” she said, and then offered me a hand to pull me to my feet.

Against the wall, Eli hadn’t moved since my father had body-slammed him. My father leaned over him, concern etched into his tanned features. I walked over to them, my mother beside me.

“I’m so sorry,” I heard my father whisper.

As I approached, Eli’s face calmed. He managed a pitiful imitation of a smile. “Jo,” he said, his voice thick. “You smell a lot better.”

“You look like crap.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Feel like it too. Where’s the professor?”

“Over there, on the ground with Lucy.”

“Yeah, I have her,” called Lucy. “But could someone come untape my hands?”

“Mom, could you go help Lucy please?”

I knelt down beside my father and Eli. “Eli, can you get up? We need to get you guys out of here.”

“Jolene, where’s your blanket?” My father’s voice was gentle.

I looked down at myself, and then shrugged. “Daddy, does it really matter anymore? You’ve all seen me. And look, I’m so messed up, I look like the Mummy, or some crazy villain from a movie. Please don’t freak out. I need you.”

“I’m not
freaking out
, dear. I just can’t look at you like this. Please cover up. For me?”

“Daddy, my modesty went out the window the minute I woke up naked on one of these stupid tables. Besides, my only concern right now is getting you guys
out
. Now, Eli, can you get up?” My voice was firm.
I
wouldn’t have argued with me. I watched my father think about debating, and then decide against it.

Eli nodded and tried to push himself up. “I think so. Oh, ouch. Okay, something’s broken, but I can walk.” With my father’s help, he was soon on his feet, his wrists were free, and the white-hot pain had left his face.

And then, as the adrenaline of a sudden escape left the living people in the room, we all looked at each other, the door through which Strong had exited, and then down at Sondra, pinned beneath Lucy’s booted foot.

“Well,” Eli said. “What now?”

“Who has a cell phone?” I asked.

“Nada.”

“Nope.”

“They took them. After you called.”

I tried to come up with a backup plan, and as I considered I stared at Lucy. She looked so strong and tough. “Weren’t
you
on death’s door last time I saw you? What happened to your arsenic poisoning?”

Lucy snorted. “Arsenic poisoning? What are you talking about? Eli, what is she talking about?”

He groaned and leaned against the wall again. “That’s what Strong told us was wrong with you when you were in the hospital.”

She laughed. “Ridiculous. I never got past the waiting room. Sondra and that other woman were there waiting for me. Sondra said she was going to take me somewhere to get more help. I was halfway frozen, delirious, so I didn’t ask questions. As soon as they had me away from the public eye, they drugged me. Probably the same way they drugged you last week. I guess Adam carried me to their car, but I was never even seen by a doctor. He probably made it all up to make you feel bad.”

“Um, kids? I hate to break up the sharing session,” said my father. “But I really think we should be going.”

I raised my hand, loving the flexibility of my semi-healed body, even as I could feel the power from the cord cease when I unplugged. “Where, though? That way leads to Strong. And to who knows what else. And for all we know, they could be watching us.”

The voice came from above, below, around. It was Martha. “Don’t worry, dearies. We
are
watching. And we are
not
pleased.”

In the background, I heard Strong’s voice. “Bastards. Let Sandy go.”

“O
h, hell no.”

We all turned to Lucy. She’d pressed her foot even harder against Sondra’s throat, and Sondra began to thrash about on the ground, struggling to break free. Lucy didn’t budge, though. She was statuesque, regal, her chin tilted toward the ceiling, where, somewhere, a video camera was trained down on her. Her body language screamed defiance, and she slowly raised a hand and extended her middle finger.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Beside me, my parents laughed too. All we could
do
was laugh.

On the ground, Sondra started to turn blue.

After a second, when we hadn’t heard a response from Strong and Martha, I looked around. “We need to go,” I repeated. “They’re coming. And I don’t know how many people are here, but I have a feeling it’s not just them. At least, not for long. You heard them talking about the
Master
. I’d rather not be in this room when he gets here.” I pointed at my prostrate professor. “Daddy, help Lucy. We’re taking the professor with us. Wait a sec, are you really even a teacher?”

My father and Lucy yanked Sondra to her feet, each with a tight grip on her arm. She coughed and sputtered, but nodded. “Yes,” she said, her voice tortured and hoarse.

My father nodded. “Yes. So,
Professor
. What way’s out?” He shook her arm, and she groaned.

“Easy!” she said. “I’ll show you, but you have to promise not to hurt Adam! Take me to the police, do whatever you will with me, just promise you’ll let him go.”

Lucy shuddered. “Oh, God, are you guys? Really? That’s disgusting.” She froze there, clutching Sondra’s arm and staring at her with a mix of horror and confusion. “I can’t…I just can’t…” Her mouth gaped.

“Knock it off,” Eli said. “Stop standing there like that matters right now. You know it doesn’t. We need to move.” He left the wall and shoved Lucy roughly from behind. “Move!”

But as he shoved, even though it looked like he only meant to move us all forward, he knocked the normally graceful Lucy off her balance, and she stumbled, losing her grip on Sondra’s arm. Sondra yanked her other arm free from my father, who was busy trying to catch Lucy. My mother yelped, as the sudden freedom from Sondra’s burden sent my father back into her. They all went down, except Sondra, who slipped through the only doorway in the room, still coughing. She was gone before Eli or I, the only two still standing, could react.

“Crap!” Eli said.