Page 122 of Siege of Shadows

“This is a delicate operation,” she answered. “We had to keep the circle small. But we need to get you out. Saul attacked Oslo only an hour ago. But we didn’t anticipatehowhe would infiltrate.”

I was almost afraid to ask, but I did anyway. “How?”

“With an army,” Howard said. “Traffickers, gang members, criminals. People on the outskirts with access to powerful military and Sect-grade weaponry.”

Jin was right. Saul really had been attacking and gathering up all those groups.

“Not just them.” It was almost imperceptible, but I could hear Eveline’s breath coming out of her in a shudder. “There was one... with powers. That girl, the one we met in the tunnels. There are dead bodies attacking with Saul’s army, and she is the one controlling them.”

“Jessie Stone.” My fingers naturally curled into fists as I spoke her name. “She’s one of the special soldiers helping Saul. We think she was created as part of the second phase of Project X19.”

“Project X19?” Howard repeated.

“Some secret project of doom we’ve been looking into. Saul and part of the Sect are involved. Phase II was called the Silent Children Program. There’re supposed to be two more like Jessie—the rest of the Fisk-Hoffman kids that supposedly died in that fire. Engineered Effigies.”

“They really engineered...” Howard caught his words.

“Gabriel and Talia are the names of the other two,” I said. “They could be there too. If you managed to capture one of them, you could interrogate—”

“We have to focus on the chaos in Oslo,” Howard said. “People are already dying, Maia.”

Rhys. My throat closed up as I thought of him struggling in that nightmare thanks to the orders of his father.

“Saul infiltrated the city and took over the defense center,” Howard continued. “It won’t be long until their APD is down. The place is a war zone now, but once the phantoms come in, there won’t be much we can do. We need therealEffigies.”

“And I’m betting that’s exactly why we’ve been locked up here without so much as a word,” Chae Rin said. “Damn it!” I heard the slam from her fist against the wall and the grunt of pain immediately following. “Okay,” she said. “I really need my powers back.”

“We’re working on that. Your next inoculation is coming in just under four hours. Once you cross the four-hour mark, you’ll start to feel your powers return rapidly. There’ll be one, at most two people coming to your cell. Check underneath your tray.”

There was another surface underneath the bottom of the tray. I lifted off the first layer. A small syringe.

“It’ll knock them out temporarily,” Howard said. “But you’ll have to be fast. And you’re only going to have one shot. After that, one of us will tell you where to go.”

We had a plan. In four hours, we’d strike. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late. Howard and Eveline couldn’t use even a secure connection for too long at the facility when you never knew who could be around the corner. But the girls and I could talk. Belle explained how to hold the syringe while concealing it, which tissue to hit for maximum effect.

“It’s a bit creepy that you know this,” Chae Rin said.

“It was part of my training,” Belle answered, annoyed. “It’s small enough to fit inside your palm. You can use a napkin to hold it.”

“Then what? We force them to take us to Saul?” Lake sounded skeptical. “I don’t see how that would even work.”

I picked up the syringe and inspected it closely, turning it every which way. “Have a little faith, I guess.”

But only one hour had passed when my earpiece picked up the sound of a door opening to one of the cells.

“What’s happening?” I said. “Are you guys—”

“What is it that you want?” I heard Belle ask whoever had entered her room. “My inoculation isn’t scheduled for another three hours.”

“Director Prince Senior’s orders. Your interrogation over the attempted murder of Naomi Prince starts now,” said one agent, and though his voice grew farther away, I could still hear him when he said, “Congratulations. You’re first. Take her to the interrogation cell. And prep her for the Surgeon.”

First I was on my feet. Then I was at the door pounding it with my fists. There was no point; it was soundproof. I knew they couldn’t hear me yell, but Belle could. Her earpiece would have picked it up.

“Belle, fight them! Use the syringe!”

She didn’t. She couldn’t. First, from the sound of their voices, it was clear there were more than two of them. If she attacked, she’d give us all away, and we’d never see the other side of these cells—until it was our turn to be “interrogated.” But I was well aware of how liberally the Princes interpreted that word. And I knew all too well the horrors the Surgeon was capable of.

“Belle, it’s okay!” I cried, and the other two girls agreed with me. “Save yourself!”

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