“Can’t do that. She’s my insurance. See, you’re supposed to come with us—me and Vasily, I mean. We’re takin’ you to Saul.”
Back when they’d ambushed us the first time in the tunnels, Jessie had tried to get that giant monstrosity to capture me too—no, it wasn’t a monstrosity. It was a person. Or it used to be. Alex. I felt a slight chill shudder through my bones.
“Even with the ring, he’s very busy, you know. Prepping for something hella big. Can’t do everything himself. There’s a plan in place. It’s all about the timing, see? Now it’s time for you to come with us.”
“The problem with that plan,” I said, my voice shaking, “is that Vasily’s still in jail, currently being tortured by a crazy guy dressed like a doctor.”
Jessie sighed. “Seems like. I thought I’d get confirmation by now. Once I did, it’d be easier to take you out of here.”
“Confirmation of what?”
Jessie only shrugged. “But since I haven’t heard anything, I’m taking matters into my own hands.” She cocked the gun. “Now come with me. Very quiet. Or we’ll both have fun watching Mommy’s gray matter fly.”
Rhys’s mother gasped against Jessie’s hand as the girl pushed the gun hard against her skull. Jessie’s eyes were alight with joy and malice.
My trembling fingers curled around my dress. “You wouldn’t.”
The shot was muted thanks to the silencer on the barrel. I was frozen, my mind still working out what had happened, when one of the security guards behind me crumpled to the ground. The other guard looked horrified enough to retch as Jessie rather innocently shrugged and placed the gun back on Naomi’s temple.
“Let’s try this again,” she said. “Come with me. Quietly. I won’t say it again.”
Naomi squeezed her eyes shut, breathing in slowly to keep herself calm. I couldn’t stall anymore. But before I could get my foot off the floor, I heard something rolling into the room behind me.
“What the . . .” The guard stepped to the side to avoid them. They were three metal balls, tiny enough to slip underneath the door, like children’s marbles.
Jessie tilted her head. “What’s that?”
Click. The light that battered the room blinded me for a moment. I covered my eyes, doubling over as the doors busted open. The crack of a fist against bone, the shudder of a body slamming against the wall.
“Hold it!”
It had taken only a moment. The flash was gone, and when my eyes readjusted, Rhys was next to me, holding his gun up at the unhinged girl still pointing a gun at his mother’s head. Brendan shut the door, moving the other guard’s limp body next to the one Jessie had killed.
“She’s crazy,” I hissed, rubbing my eyes.
Rhys kept his gun level. “Yeah, I know.”
Jessie positively lit up at the sight of him. Her body twitched slightly as if she couldn’t contain it. “Hi, Aidan!” She didn’t seem to mind or even notice when Brendan cocked his gun in her direction. “I always said I wanted to meet your mom, remember?”
It was incredible. One minute she seemed determined to kill him and the next she looked as if she wanted to kiss him.
Rhys didn’t move. “I remember.”
“You promised you’d take me. But then, you promised a lot of dumb shit that didn’t end up happening, didn’t you?” Her hand clasped tighter around Naomi’s mouth. “Well, I’m here now,” she sang. “I’m alive, Aidan. Aren’t you surprised? Don’t I look pretty now? The surgeries turned out great, didn’t they?”
“Let my mother go,” Rhys ordered her calmly. “You’re surrounded.”
He nodded at the window behind her, and in the darkness I could see a figure moving, a gun glinting.
“Director Prince Senior is managing things outside. Nobody is any the wiser and we’d like to keep it that way.” Brendan followed suit in training his revolver on Jessie. “It’s over, Ms. Stone. Slide your gun to me and come with us—quietly. Let’s not disturb the people here.”
“It’s over . . . ?” Jessie was enjoying this. She stifled a laugh. “Gonna take me in, huh?”
“Don’t worry.” Brendan smirked. “You’ll be with your friend Vasily in the Hole.”
A shadow passed over her porcelain face. “There’s only one Devil’s Hole.”
It was slight, but I caught it: the twitch of Rhys’s hand, just as Jessie’s pants pocket vibrated.
“Oh, good!” Her eyes were back to shining again. “Finally!”
She lowered her gun, pushing Naomi forward with a shove to the back of her head.
“Mom!” Rhys and Brendan cried at the same time, though neither lowered his gun.
As Jessie began rubbing her neck again, I grabbed Naomi’s trembling hand, pulling her behind me. “You can have this, too!” said Jessie. “You’ve been looking for it, right?”
She slipped her hand into her pocket and threw something small and glittering at the floor. A wedding band. Naomi’s? I didn’t know what she was up to, or how petty theft featured into Saul’s grand plan, but whatever was going on ended now.
“Brendan’s right.” I lifted my right hand, ready to fight. “It’s over. You’re outgunned. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“Well, you got one right. I am outgunned.” In a show of surrender, Jessie bent low and slid the gun right to my feet. “We’ll see about the other thing.”
Shutting her eyes, Jessie breathed deeply, lowering her head.
“Mom, go,” said Rhys, inching toward Jessie carefully. “Go find Dad.”
“Wait, Aidan.” Naomi lifted her hand up. “Something’s not right. She’s—”
Someone stirred behind us.
Someone dead.
“Oh my god,” I breathed, my chest heaving. Rhys and Brendan whipped around, training the gun at the dead security agent with the tiny hole dripping blood out of his head. His corpse was suddenly rising to its feet, his eyes rolling back.
“What the hell?” Brendan yelled. “What . . . what?”
They shot at him, several rounds each splitting the air. The guard twitched and jerked but kept stumbling forward. The same as in the tunnels. Jessie . . . Jessie was—
“Maia. Look at me.”
I turned back around to find Jessie holding up a tiny black phone—the one I’d almost picked up for her in that hallway. It stopped buzzing.
“Listen” was all she said before she clicked the button.
That noise . . . sounds like interference. . . .
That was the last thought I had. My mind went blank.
The door burst open.
“What’s going on in here? Naomi?”
Blackwell. I didn’t register the terror in his eyes as he saw the guns, the dead security guard lurching toward two freaked-out agents and their equally spooked mother. But then, I didn’t register much of anything at all.
The interference. Its hellish screeching tore through my brain as I picked up the gun at my feet and shot Blackwell in the stomach.
“Maia!”
It was a bad shot, or maybe Blackwell didn’t react quickly enough. It hit the left side of his gut. Gasping in pain, he fell back against the doorframe.