Page 112 of Whispers in the Dark
“I was summoned,” Elias said, voice perfectly neutral. “Apologies. I was conducting off-site observations. Unapproved, I admit. But nothing of consequence. I’m back.”
Maddox nodded slowly. “Monroe wants to see you right away.”
Elias gave a small nod. “Of course. I’ll leave in a bit.”
Maddox didn’t press. They sat in silence for another ten minutes before Maddox yawned and stood, watching Sybil. “I’m tired. I can handcuff you to the wall or your bed. Your choice.”
Elias had remained leaning against the wall, arms crossed, silent. Then, smoothly, without a word, he stepped forward and jabbed a needle into Maddox’s neck with fluid precision. Theman’s eyes widened just for a second before his knees buckled and he crumpled unconscious to the floor.
Sybil gasped.
Elias moved to her, pulled a keycard from Maddox’s belt, and unlocked Alex’s restraints. “We need to move. Now.”
Sybil stared at him, still frozen. “You came for him.”
Elias nodded once. “He doesn’t deserve what’s happening. And you don’t deserve to die here trying to stop it.”
She hesitated, her eyes flicking to the doors. “What about the other subjects?”
Elias’s face darkened. “I will come back,” he vowed, “and when I do, this place will crumble. But right now, if we don’t get him out of here, there won’t be anything left to save.”
She looked at Alex, pale and shaking, barely hanging on. She nodded.
“Gather whatever meds you need. No more than five minutes,” he said. “I have programmed a loop override. They will believe he is still in that bed. I’ve dispatched the guards to Med Bay 24 for a belligerent subject. When they go inside, the airlock will seal. It will take hours before they can get out. Their comms will be dead.”
Sybil stared at Elias before she grabbed vials, injectables, supplies. Her hands shook, but her focus was razor-sharp. She scrawled instructions on how to use the meds on a piece of paper, including it inside the package. “Your father raised you to be a very smart and good man. You fooled them all, but I always believed you were smart.”
As Sybil worked, she watched Elias disconnect the monitors, cap Alex’s IV and remove the catheter collecting urine. Carefully, he wrapped Alex’s naked body in a warm wool blanket. Then he lifted Alex effortlessly, holding him close, and removed the oxygen, supporting his head like something fragile against his chest.
When she finished gathering supplies, Elias was waiting at the door, Alex in his arms. “Let’s go,” he said.
They disappeared into the dark halls of the facility unseen. But not for long. “Dr. Vance, I promised my father. Next time I return, I will be saving those left. And I’ll end it.”
The corridors of the facility were deathly quiet, the hum of fluorescent lights overhead the only sound accompanying Elias as he moved with Alex. Alex was unconscious, shivering, fevered, his breathing shallow and uneven. His weight wasn’t an issue for Elias, but occasionally he convulsed. What mattered now was time. Every second counted.
Dr. Vance trailed behind, clutching a small black med case packed with the only vials she could get her hands on—stabilizers, anti-seizure doses, neural decompressors. Not enough to save him, but maybe enough to hold him together.
At the edge of the facility near the service exit, Elias paused. Sybil could see his every sense was on high alert, reading the rhythm of the facility—the shift schedules, the camera rotations, the proximity of guards.
“Take this.” Sybil thrust the med case beneath one of his hands. “It’s not everything he needs, but it’s what I could get.”
He nodded once, accepting it, and carefully adjusted Alex in his arms.
Sybil looked at him, her face taut with conflict. “He needs a hospital.”
Elias glanced at her, saying nothing.
“Your mother told me about the woman your father trusted. You’re taking him to her,” she said, softer. “To Charlotte Everhart. Your father trusted her. I think he cared for her.”
Elias’s silence confirmed it.
Sybil stepped closer. “Good. He needs a mental anchor. Someone who’ll fight for him when he can’t. You can’t give him that. But she might.”
She turned, unlocking the final door. The cool night air drifted in, thick with the smell of pine and earth. Freedom waited just beyond the trees. “Go. Now,” she urged.
Elias hesitated. “You need to come with me. They’ll hurt you.”
Sybil shook her head. “No. I’m not leaving the others. Monroe will kill them the second she suspects a breach.”
