Page 53 of The Alpha: Part Two
I tilt my head back to look up at him, and he leans down to brush his lips against mine. I can feel exactly how anxious he is about Mallory being there. He doesn't want either of us near Flores. I can also feel how much he believes what he says. I don't really want to put Mallory through this, but Seth is right. Watching Flores's interrogation and knowing he's confined on the docks is one of the reasons I'm breathing easier. "She can wear my mask. I've been thinking about something else, too. What if Flores decides to keep quiet. He knows he isn't going to live through this, he has to. What if he doesn't give up any more information than he has?"
"Sodium thiopental."
We all look at Mallory.
"Sodium thiopental," she repeats.
None of the men in the room seem to know what that is, not enough to get excited about it, but I do. "That's a great idea!"
Her smile widens.
"What is it?" Ben asks.
"Basically, a truth serum," I explain.
Mallory’s scent flattens. “They would give it to some of us if we refused to talk about our families and friends. We didn’t want them to take anyone else but with that stuff, we had no choice.”
Ben shakes his head. "Why, though? We can smell lies. If he tries to lie to us, we'll just rip out another toenail or something until he decides to tell the truth."
"That's fine if he's talking; but if he decides to keep quiet, there won't be anything to smell. Sodium thiopental will make him talk. He won't be able to help himself."
His face drops into a pout. "But I wanted to do more interrogating."
"We start with the interrogating," Michael hums. "And switch to the truth serum plan if we need to. Can you get it at the hospital?"
My excitement dies. No, I can't get it at the hospital. It's a medical facility. There's no need to keep something like that.
"I can get it," Alpha Minos says. "The council has a pharmacy for things like that. Nothing but a phone call. Jackson can pick it up and bring it to the docks. He has a mask too. We were a pride of lions this year."
I look back up at Seth. "I'm not wearing a mask. And I'm giving him the injections this time."
His lips tighten into a thin line, but he nods. "Okay."
~
Two lions and three foxes follow us into the unit after Michael opens the door and declares it safe enough to enter. The smell is… overwhelming. But it's supposed to be. After a brief discussion, we decided that everyone else but me would wear black ski masks. The idea was to add to the fear we hope to instill.
Inside of a minute, it becomes very obvious that Kaleb's assumption about Flores being delusional was accurate. He doesn't register anything but black forms surrounding him until he sees my face.
"Desir'ee," he calls, relief written on his swollen face. "You came to help me. I knew you would." His words are thick in his mouth. Nearly a week of dehydration after having some of your teeth ripped out has that effect.
"Did you?" I ask, stepping around the puddle of mess that has collected on the floor at his feet.
"Help me up so we can go home. Eijah is getting the car." He strains against the bindings on his wrists impatiently. "Come on, help me out of this. Elijah will be here any moment."
"She's not helping you," Devon says flatly.
"Who is that?" Flores hisses. "Who have you brought with you, Desir'ee?"
Michael clacks the pliers aggressively from his position near Flores's head. "Don't say her name again."
Flores flinches at the sound of the pliers, but his face twists into as much of a snarl as it's capable of in its current state. "I should have had you and your brother taken care of a long time ago. I kept giving you chance after chance to join the movement, but all you ever wanted was a home." He stops to laugh. "A family. Just like Elijah. What can a family do? Drag you down. Use you up. I thought breaking the three of you up would make it easier to make you fall in line; and getting rid of Elijah's nephew should have been enough to keep him in line." He laughs again. "Weak. All of you."
Michael pulls the ski mask off and leans over Flores's face. He smiles down at him, twirling the pliers around where Flores can see them. "We've got some more questions for you."
Flores screams for Elijah, and Devon answers him in that same monotone voice. "Elijah isn't coming."
Flores's eyes frantically move around the room, and with each dark, faceless figure or animal mask staring back at him he becomes even more frantic. "Desir'ee. Help me. Get me out of here."
