Page 37 of Among the Sins of my Father

Hope appears, rushing over to me. But instead of her presence being calming, it infuriates me more.

“Why didn’t you stop them!” I yell.

She’s confused. Of course she’s confused. She doesn’t know what’s happened.

“Who? Stop who?” She places a hand on my arm, and I reel away from her, much like she’s done to everyone else. She crosses her arms. “What’s going on, Jericho?”

I drag my hand through my hair, tugging on the roots. The pain feels good. “They’ve taken them.” I fall to a squat. Breathing has become difficult.

“Who’s taken them?” She crouches in front of me. “Jericho, you’re not making sense.”

My eyes flick to the screens, but of course they’re scattered over the floor now. “Ette.” Her name comes out as an anguished breath. “They’ve taken Ette. And Berkley. And Atterton.”

The color drains from Hope’s face. She sort of falls backward, landing on her backside. “No.” She shakes her head. “What are you talking about, Jericho?

She scrambles over and shakes me, but I can’t talk. I can’t offer her any comfort. Vomit rises and for a moment I think I’m about to be sick, but I push it back down and get to my feet.

“What are you talking about, Jericho?” Hope clutches at me hysterically. “Where’s Ette? Who has Ette?” Her voice breaks. Her eyes are wide with panic.

I stand and push past her. I can’t go through this again. I can’t have another person I love, people I love, ripped from me.

“Where are you going?” Barrett asks as I shove past him.

My mind is addled. My thoughts muddled. I can’t make sense of any of it. The precision of the hit shows they knew what they were doing, where they were going, who they were taking.

“Jericho!” Barrett yells. “Stop!”

He grabs me from behind and spins me around. I greet him with my fist. He stumbles backward, the surprise of the punch knocking him from his feet.

“Jericho don’t,” he warns. “We’ve got to keep your head in a—”

“She’s gone!” I yell in his face. “They’ve taken her!”

“We need to stay calm,” he urges as he gets back to his feet.

“Calm?” I repeat. “When I find out who took them, I’m going to tear each fucking limb from their bodies.”

chapter fourteen

BERKLEY

“Ette!” I yell into the emptiness beyond the bars. “Ette!”

My hands grip the bar and I push and pull with all my might. I don’t know why I bother. They’re metal, encased in concrete. There’s no way they’ll budge. But I still rally against them as though they are to blame. As though they are the only thing between me and freedom. Me and Ette.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve screamed her name, but she never answers. I know it’s pointless but it’s the only thing I can do. The only thing I can cling to.

The cell I’m in is exactly as it sounds. A cell. Concrete walls, floor and ceiling. No windows. A toilet and hand basin in one corner. A bed with a single blanket and a pillow along one wall. Metal bars form the wall and door which faces out against a concrete corridor. In the hours I’ve been here, no one has walked past. No one has replied to my screaming.

I’ve never felt so alone.

And cold.

I’m still dressed in the over-sized t-shirt I wear as a nightgown. There’s no underwear under the flimsy material. My feet are bare. The strip of material that blindfolded me lies discarded. There’s a slight breeze that whistles down the corridor and slips into my cell, making me shiver. I glance over at the blanket neatly tucked around the mattress of the bed in the corner, but somehow it feels like defeat if I take it.

“Ette!” I yell again. My voice breaks on her name. My throat is sore and raw from all the yelling.

My knuckles are white as I hang on tightly to the bars and press my face against the cold metal. But no matter where I stand, or how hard I try to press my face to the bars, I cannot see more than a couple of meters beyond my cell.

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