Page 64 of Dauntless

“Yeah,” I said coughing, clutching my stomach.

Her hands shook as she struggled to take the chain necklace around her neck. She murmured as her fingers moved over the cross.

The cross—she twisted it into a key!

I swallowed down my excitement as she tried the key on the lock. Once. Twice. A third time and she shook her head. “I’m sorry. Thomas will be back at some point…you can try to talk to him.”

I shook my head. There was no chance Thomas would help me. “Let me try,” I pleaded.

She shook her head. “No…I…I don’t know.”

“Please try a couple more times,” I begged her.

She sucked on her bottom lip. “Oh…all right. One more time.”

For the first time in years, I prayed with all I had for the lock to give.

Click.

Click.

Click.

It didn’t work.

I found a strength I didn’t know I had and stumbled over to the door and put my weight against it. She twisted again, and this time it unlocked. She opened the door, but I knew we weren’t in the clear yet.

“Thomas is in his thinking space upstairs… only Dimitri looks at the cameras,” she admitted. “I can help right now, but this is the end for us too. No matter what you say, I won’t help again. I have no clothes to give you. There is nothing back here.”

I nodded in agreement and wrapped the sheet around me as best as I could manage. This was my chance, and I wasn’t going to lose it.

She turned the lights off in the hall, and I followed her in the dark. Outside the room was freezing and my body shivered with the cold, but I was determined to keep moving. Ahead of us was a short flight of concrete stairs. It led to a steel storm door with the first window I’d seen since I’d been there. Outside of it was the light of day and snow. She glanced back at me. “You’ll freeze. It’s not too late to go back. You were here longer than he planned.”

“Why am I still here?” I asked as she helped me up the stairs.

“The FBI came looking for you,” she answered. “It had been too dangerous to try to move you.”

My heart constricted. Elliott came to look for me and didn’t find me. He must think I’m gone. I pushed away those thoughts. I didn’t have time for that. I needed to get moving. “I should go…you just point me where the road is.”

Her head jerked around from side to side. “I can’t leave you. If Thomas finds you first without me, he’ll be angry with me… I don’t want to go with you. I don’t know what to do or where to take you.”

We walked through the trees and bushes that covered the area until we reached a clearing. It was the far end of a manicured lawn, that changed to rock and sand that led out to the water. If I tried to go in the water, I would die of hypothermia or drown. The house put me in danger of being recaptured. I had to think. My only chance would be to run to the road and try to get to a neighbor, but I would be sick, barefooted, and practically naked. If I made it, it would be a miracle. That and if someone was home and willing to help me. What if they were also members of The Agency? I had to try.

Then Loren had an idea. “I’ll leave you in there while I find out where Thomas is right now.” She pointed to the glass enclosure around the side of the house. It was the patio I had visited with her when I came here with Tove weeks ago. Weeks. It seemed like years. “I’ll grab you a coat and my boots while you wait there. Then you hit me, and I’ll tell Thomas I was trying to help him by bringing you out, but you need to leave fast.”

I shivered hard as I nodded. “Thank you.”

She helped me walk, and I moved as fast as I could through the cold. Even though I was feverish, the snow was freezing on my feet and lower legs. I staggered as Loren half dragged me across the slate and gravel to the sun patio. She opened the door wide for me to go in, and there in front of us was Thomas. He was crouched down on the floor, with a backpack at his feet, hiding, but then he saw us. His eyes widened in surprise. Loren let me go.

“Thomas,” she whispered.

My legs wobbled, and I fell across the floor and hit hard against the coffee table, which broke on impact.

Thomas crawled over on top of me. He covered my mouth and nose with his hand tight. “Get down on the ground and hide. Don’t say a word.” He gritted.

I flayed my arms as I struggled to breathe.

“Mr. Olson,” I heard Trish’s voice call out from a distance. “You back here? I saw you run when I rang the doorbell. You can’t hide. I’ve got a warrant. I don’t need your permission to start my search.” He let me go, and I crawled forward. Dizzy. Something hit the back of my head.

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