Page 75 of Kiss, Kill, Thrill Me, Daddy

Once it’s open, we’re greeted with what appears to be a hospital waiting room. There’s an empty desk, a magazine rack with ... gay porn? Why? Doesn’t matter. The room is larger than the one we’ve been in for the last eight hours. It’s bright and airy, unlike the cold room with black walls. Stunning artwork peppers the walls, each piece appearing to have been precisely placed. There’s a portrait of a man wearing a black suit, a gun in one hand, a syringe in the other. I’m assuming the drug is the agency’s truth serum Abi dosed me with, those first few months.

On the other side of the desk, sliding glass doors line the walls. Past each door is a hospital bed, machines making various noises, and a black chair. The first room on the left must be where Abi was staying, because the bedding is a disheveled mess. A sheet hangs down to the floor, and a bloodstained blanket is crumpled at the foot of the bed.

“Alright,” Meadows says, turning to face us. “There aren’t many places he could’ve reached if he stayed on the surface. We can check each hallway, and all the hidden rooms.” His eyes focus on Brody, who’s standing in front of me, then he points behind us and motions someone forward. Looking over my shoulder, I realize our entire party has tagged along, hoping tohelp find Daddy. Fee pushes through the crowd until she’s standing at Brody’s side.

“Where do we start?” she asks.

“I think we should break into groups,” Meadows says. “We’ll cover more groud, and hopefully we can find him before the painkillers wear off.” He flashes a quick smile at Brody. “Then again, if they wear off, we’ll hear him screaming from a mile away.”

Scotty pushes past me and raises his hand like a child at school. “Why do we need to split up? This is just an old Walmart. It’s not like he could have gone far.”

Brody snorts a laugh. “Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Meadows nods and places his palm against the wall. Blue light appears in the concrete, and once it fades, the wall in front of us lowers into the ground. Where concrete once stood, there’s now a metal gate with what appears to be an elevator behind it. Meadows slides the gate open and steps inside.

“There are five levels. Believe me, we’re going to need to split up.” Meadows points at Brody, then at Fee. “You’re the only ones who know the access codes, so we’ll break into three groups. Frost, I want you on level five. I’ve already got my men on level three, so I’ll take the fourth floor.” He looks at Fee. “Florentine, you take the first two. Focus on areas he used to visit. He’s on a pretty heavy cocktail right now, so he might be looking for familiarity. We need to check every nook and crook.”

“Florentine?” Mom asks.

Fee looks over her shoulder and flashes a smile. “My maiden name.”

“It’s really pretty, Fiona,” Mom says. “It suits you.”

Fee winks at her. “Maybe one day, it’ll suit you too.”

Mom blushes, and as they continue giving each other fuck-me eyes, Brody turns around, pointing at me, then Scotty.

“You’re with me.”

Fee slides her hand into Mom’s. “Lindsay is with me.”Looking over her shoulder, she adds, “You can come, too, if you want.” She’s talking to Dad, but he shakes his head.

“Do you mind if we tag along,” Dad asks Meadows. As soon as the man nods at Dad, Dad holds his hands out on either side of him. “Boys?”

Behind him, Bennet and Benji shuffle forward, each with worried expressions on their faces. This is a lot for me, and I already knew about Abi’s history with the agency. They’ve been thrust head-first into an underground labyrinth with Goddess knows what inside. Both their hands are trembling as they latch on to my father’s. The way he coddles them like they’re five years old is a bit much, but I’m really glad they’ve got someone looking out for them, now that Nito’s out of the picture.

“Alright,” Meadows says. “Let’s roll.”

CHAPTER 16

TATUM

Brody leads us through the lower level with ease. The hallways twist and turn intricately, and Brody confidently takes each fork in the road as if he knows the layout by heart. I’m not sure how much care or concern was placed in the underground lair’s layout, because there’s not much rhyme or reason to any of it. One hallway is lined with offices. A left turn later, there’s a vast armory locked behind glass walls. We pass a cafeteria, a coat closet, and, finally, what appears to be a library. We stop at a dead end, but Brody draws a star-shaped design on the wall. A keyboard appears, and Brody types the word “Periwinkle,” for some reason. The wall slides back, and the sound of scraping concrete makes me wince. Walking past where the wall once stood, we’re led into a large warehouse, the lights unbearably bright and reflecting off the glossy white walls.

There are eight beds on either side of the open-spaced area, and Brody leads us down the center of the room. Between each bed is oversized machinery, with monitors displaying numbers and words I don’t understand.

“Wow,” Scotty breathes, slowly turning and exploring the room with wide eyes. “What is this place?”

“Somewhere I don’t like to hang around too long,” Brodyanswers with a nervous laugh. There’s a desk at the end of the room, and Brody’s heading toward it. “Broussard is calling it Project Stepford.” He points at a monitor behind Scotty. Looking over my shoulder, I see what appears to be a man’s face, but there’s no real life to him. No hair. No emotion. No life inside his eyes. It almost looks like a mask.

“What the fuck?” Scotty whispers.

“Robots,” Brody answers. “They’re building an army of assassins.” Behind the desk, he flips a switch on the side, and the floor rumbles around us before a set of white tiles slide open, revealing a staircase. I don’t know where the hell these people got their funding. This must have cost millions.

“Tatum?”

I look up, surprised to see Brody giving me a sympathetic smile. He opens a desk drawer and pulls out a flashlight before tossing it to me. I manage to catch it, though I don’t know how as I’m absolutely useless when it comes to the art of sport.

“Scotty and I are going to check the armory. You’re down there,” he says, pointing at the stairs.

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