Page 36 of Maverick

“It’s like they took a cookie-cutter and made this campus,” said Saint. The others nodded as they let the ropes go and watched as Chipper took off to find a place to sit for a while.

“Yeah, but this one doesn’t have any locks on the outside. It also looks strange.”

“Strange how?” frowned Saint, staring at Mav.

“I don’t know.”

He opened the front doors and pushed, leading into the open entryway. He turned to the right to see the library as a gust of cold wind blew in snow and dead leaves. Something moved in the library, and he slowly walked into the room.

“It’s a fake,” he whispered. “It’s all fake. The books are drapes. It’s nothing but a printed tarp. The furniture is fake too.” He lifted a chair with one hand. It was painted cardboard.

“They used this when they moved the girls,” said Brax. He took off up the stairs to the dorm level and moved from room to room as the others followed. The beds were real but of a lesser quality. On the third floor were the classrooms, but they were completely empty.

“They held those girls here for a while,” said Pax. “I’m going to bet they kept them drugged until they could find somewhere else to take them. This is what, thirty or forty miles from the other place. Far enough to feel different to them. There’s no lake, no trails that I can see.”

“My GPS says it’s Wellington, Maine,” said Saint, frowning at the group. “Why on earth would you build a semi-dummy version of the same structure thirty miles away? Why not just load them up and move them to wherever you were taking them?”

“Maybe that’s just it. Maybe they didn’t know where to take them,” said Pax, looking around the classroom. They walked out and downstairs once again in search of the kitchens. If there was a fully functioning kitchen, that meant that they were kept there long enough to at least have meals.

“Nothing. No appliances, no pot, pans, dishes, nothing.”

“This was a stop-over,” said Saint. He held up a syringe, the needle still on it with the needle cover. He wrapped it in a bag and tucked it in his backpack. “They kept those kids drugged until they could get them to where they wanted them.”

They heard shuffling behind them and turned to see a young woman wrapped in an oversized coat and stocking cap. She held a weapon in her hand, rusted but damn sure loaded. The pistol looked to be older than she was.

“Leave us alone,” she whispered. They all held up their hands, shaking their heads.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” said Mav. “We’re here to help you. We have a company where three girls who were here at one time now live. Do you remember the names Victoria, Chelsea, or Katelyn? Maybe the name Marilisa?”

The girl frowned at him, her brows knitting together. She didn’t appear to be any older than fourteen or fifteen, but it was difficult to tell with all the clothes on her.

“Listen, I swear to you, we don’t want to hurt you. We want to keep you safe. This school and the one a few miles from here was run by the CIA. They were training geniuses to do their work,” said Saint softly.

“They weren’t training us. They were creating us,” she whispered.

“Creating you? Creating you to do their work, right?” She shook her head.

“Are you with them?”

“No. No, we’re not,” said Mav. “My name is Maverick. These are my friends, Saint, Pax, and Brax. Did you know the names of any of those girls?”

“K-Katelyn,” she whispered. Her hands were shaking, and she looked at them, almost pleading for help.

“What’s your name?” asked Brax, taking a step toward her.

“Brax,” whispered his brother. He held up a hand.

“I’m not going to hurt you. What’s your name?” he asked again.

“S-Stephanie.”

“Stephanie. That’s a beautiful name. We don’t want to hurt you. You’re cold, and I bet you’re hungry,” he said calmly. “Are there others with you?”

“No. No, they all left. I-It’s coming,” she stuttered.

“What’s coming, honey?” asked Brax. He didn’t have to ask again. The pistol fell out of her hand, crashing to the floor. They were lucky it didn’t fire. She began seizing, her head hitting the hardwood floors. Brax immediately slid toward her, bracing her head against his thighs.

“Chipper? We need you now!” yelled Mav. “I need you to land behind this damn building. We’ve got an injured girl.”

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