Page 90 of I Dream of Danger
A button.
Nick looked down, frowning. There were five buttons. Black, white, red, yellow, blue. He looked up at the man, who mouthed red, and he pushed the red button. With a hiss, the doors opened and three figures stepped out of their cages.
“Sophie!” Jon shouted. “Sophie Daniels! Where is she?”
“Sorry, man.” The tall dark-haired man shook his head. “They took her away and she hasn’t come back.”
Jon’s face was frightening, bright-blue eyes like shards of ice.
The woman—short, with frizzy red hair—spoke up. “Are you here to rescue us? Because we really need rescuing. And something really creepy is happening inside the building. If you’re here to rescue us we need to go, right now.”
“Not without Sophie,” Jon said, mouth a grim white line.
Nick held up a hand. “Elle sends us.” There was a low murmur among the prisoners. “We’ve got a van outside if we can find our way to it.”
“Where?” asked a kid. He looked about twelve, with blond dreadlocks, but he must have been at least eighteen. Elle said everyone had had to sign an informed consent release.
“On Samsome Street. Where it crosses Battery.”
“I know a secondary way out,” the kid said. “It’ll take us right there.”
They all looked up as the lights flickered, went out for two seconds, then came back on. They were dimmer now. The building was on the generator.
“Dudes,” said the kid, young face utterly serious, “we gotta go.”
“Not without Sophie,” Jon said, face set, nostrils flaring.
Honey? Could use a little help here.
Checking.
Nick took Jon by the arm and tugged him toward a corner. “Elle is looking for her. But if she’s not here, we gotta go, like the kid said.”
Jon huffed out a loud breath, like a bull. He angrily shrugged off Nick’s hand. “Okay,” he said through gritted teeth.
A siren sounded, loud. Like an air raid siren. The former prisoners looked at them, every single face pale, pinched, anxious. Nick understood completely. They had a stab at evading being treated like rats and then killed, and they were being forced to wait. The red-headed woman let out a sob then stifled it.
Honey?
She’s not here, Nick.
“Gone.” Nick met Jon’s eyes. “She’s not here. Elle looked for her but she’s gone.”
Jon stood, practically vibrating with tension, punched the side of a piece of equipment and turned to the prisoners. “Do we need to take anything?”
The dark-haired man thought then shook his head. “If anything, you should download the data from the server. But that would take at least half an hour.”
“No.” Jon’s eyes narrowed. “Not half an hour.” He placed his top secret 100 petabyte flash drive into the side of a processer and switched it on. The sirens were booming now and the smell of smoke rose in the air. He pulled the drive out. “Done.”
“Wow.” The kid’s eyes rounded. “How did you do that? I mean?—”
You have to get everyone out now. Follow Les, the young kid. He knows how to get out. Go now!
“That’s it, let’s go.” Nick started herding them toward the door, Jon standing guard. He had his rifle up, shouldered, the scope down, out of the way. The scope was a Warren 509 and could pick out rocks on the moon, but was worse than useless in close quarters.
Trying one last time to?—
The voice in his head disappeared. Elle, whose soft presence inside him had been so incredibly reassuring, had winked out, leaving emptiness, coldness. Desolation.
