Page 38 of Cause Of Death

Dammit, Kieran’s aiming to take my non-existent Oscar away from me with that performance, and I can’t even say it wouldn’t be deserved.

I turn my back on the drama-queen and float up into the corner once more. I wait a beat or two, allowing my hand to reform enough that I can turn the camera to face the wall or ceiling without being spotted myself. To my surprise, when I go to push the device, the entire thing falls to the floor and shatters into multiple pieces.

It’s a fake!

I swiftly dart into each of the other corners, checking them for any potential recording devices, but I can’t find anything. I guess the camera is more for show, to make the victims of the alphas’ abuse even more afraid, and to keep them in line.

Sucks to be them right now, because that knowledge, along with the reuse of the security codes, gives me the feeling that thisoperation isn’t as successful or powerful as they’d like to think they are. Not up against someone like me, at least.

Kieran stands and stalks over to the shattered camera, stomping the plastic casing into even smaller shards. I take a moment to center myself, to plot out a quick plan, before I release my hold on my powers and slip back into my physical form.

“Kieran, quit that for a moment so we can talk. I don’t know how much time we have until someone returns?—”

“We’re alone,” Kieran cuts in abruptly, jerking his head up to stare at me. “I can read people’s signatures, which means I can tell how many people are in this building right now. For the record, it’s only the two of us. Pyotr and his friends fucked off not long after they locked us inside.”

Huh. That will come in handy while we’re in here.

“Okay, so this is what I’m going to do. I’ll ‘wisp out’ again, as Henley likes to call it, and I plan to search for anything that we can use to get a message out. Help is coming, they just need a location to head toward. While it’s not the most…luxuriousof accommodations, it’ll suffice for now.You’re in no state to make a run for it, and we don’t have anything to assist in a speedy getaway, either. I want you to rest, and as gross as this sounds, I want you to flush the toilet a couple of times and use the running water to try and keep yourself cool. We need to keep on top of your heat, and for the moment I think the adrenaline is doing the bulk of the work for us, but that won’t last forever. Don’t drink the water, just wash your hands and face and the new bump on your head. I’ll help you with the rest once I return.”

Kieran grimaces but nods, neither of us liking the prospect of him covered in toilet water, but if it’s on a mains line, it’s probably the most sanitary thing in the room.

“Oh, one last thing. If you sense anyone arriving before I return, pound on the door or something. Hopefully this place isn’t soundproofed, and I’ll be able to hear you.” I instruct.

Ignoring the multitude of aches building inside of me, I once again dissipate, slipping through the holes in the lookout hatch in the door. I quickly do a check inside the empty cells surrounding Kieran’s, but there’s nothing inside them that’s of any use to me, so I quickly abandon the search and head into the main warehouse once more.

The sets are all disturbing, so I do my best to ignore them. Whizzing from one room to the next, I soon realize that, although they’re all designed to record the victims and send the footage out to their paying “customers”, it’s not being done from the sets themselves. Therehasto be an office somewhere, preferably one with a secure server with all of their footage and records on file. They wouldn’t risk sending it out where it can easily be hacked or accessed, as it would defeat the purpose of their operation.

I head over to the side of the warehouse with the torture sets, staring blindly at the ceiling as I consider where they might have installed such an office. It takes me longer than it should for me to notice how the ceiling above the bedroom sets for the younger children is lower than the others, and not just that, but from a distance it also appears to be the length and width of a shipping container.

Or an office.

There’s no sign of an additional doorway inside the warehouse, but the bedrooms are on the same side as the empty storefront, so it’s not too far-fetched to think that the entrance for the potential upstairs space will be located there.

I hesitate for a moment, wondering if I should go back to Kieran and let him know what the state of play is, but I decide against it. It’ll take up too much time going back and forth, andI’d rather just check the space while I don’t have to worry about someone torturing or tormenting Kieran in my absence.

The gods of luck must have decided to smile on me after fucking around with us all. Perhaps it’s merely to give us a false sense of security or something, because behind what appears at first glance to be a storage closet, I find what I’m looking for. Locked with an electronic keypad—a dead giveaway, if you ask me—is a stairway to… well, not heaven. Instead, the stairs lead the way to the hellish den of depravity that houses the abuse and torture of innocent children, young men, and women. The staircase opens up into a fully enclosed space with several workstations set up around the room. I feel the drain on my energy as I become solid once more and approach one of the workstations, jiggling the mouse to wake it up. A login screen appears on one of the monitors, and I send up prayers to any deity listening, that Pyotr and his gang continue to be as lazy with their passwords as they’ve already shown.

They are.

Minus the star and the hash keys, the login is the same six numbers as the electronic door locks. The desktop shows a heap of editing software and other programs, but my gaze spears directly onto the little window silhouette at the bottom left of the screen. As tempting as it is to open up Chrome, it’s likely the main browser used since the icon is both on the screen and pinned to the taskbar.

No, I’m looking for theotherbrowser that most people forget about or ignore. Kimberly has hammered into me time and time again, if I need to be discreet, to open up Edge. It’s not one commonly used despite being installed by default on most machines operating on Windows.

Creating a throwaway email address and sending off an email only takes me a couple of minutes, and I clear the search history and data cache before I close everything down. I’m starting tocrash from the adrenaline rush, and my exhaustion is allowing my heat to ramp back up. But I can’t stop, not now, not yet. I need to get back to Kieran, make sure he’s still hanging on and hasn’t succumbed to his own heat.

Fuck only knows what will happen if Pyotr and the rest get their hands on him when he’s vulnerable and needy. They’ll knot him and bite him without a second thought, locking him to them for the rest of his life.

It doesn’t take me long to venture back to Kieran’s side. When I eventually make it back inside his cell, he’s flat on his back on the cot, one leg bent and an arm slung over his face. I return to my flesh-and-blood form, but it’s a slower transition than usual. I’m exhausted from the constant shifting, and my encroaching heat is also sapping my strength and energy at an alarming rate. I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to recover enough to attempt to take out Pyotr, Gym-Bro, and Low-Tide once they return. I can only pray that they don’t have an entire posse along for the ride. And that I’m able to corner them, alone.

“Good news. While I wasn’t able to find a phone, Ididstumble across their hub of operations and sent an email out. I didn’t want to wait around for a reply, but fingers crossed it’ll flag one of Kimberly’s alerts and they can come and collect us. How are you holding up?”

I sit on the edge of Kieran’s cot, reaching across to brush his hair away from his face. His skin is beaded with sweat, flushed, and warm to the touch.

Shit. This is the last thing we need right now.

“Kieran, talk to me. Is this a result of your heat, or do you think it’s an infection thanks to Gym-Bro’s impromptu and unhygienic surgery on your back?”

Kieran snorts a bitter laugh, finally uncovering his eyes to look at me. His pupils are blown with lust, and he gestures loosely to his sweats.

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