“Project X19?” Howard repeated.
“Some secret project of doom we’ve been looking into. Saul and part of the Sect are involved. Phase II was called the Silent Children Program. There’re supposed to be two more like Jessie—the rest of the Fisk-Hoffman kids that supposedly died in that fire. Engineered Effigies.”
“They really engineered . . .” Howard caught his words.
“Gabriel and Talia are the names of the other two,” I said. “They could be there too. If you managed to capture one of them, you could interrogate—”
“We have to focus on the chaos in Oslo,” Howard said. “People are already dying, Maia.”
Rhys. My throat closed up as I thought of him struggling in that nightmare thanks to the orders of his father.
“Saul infiltrated the city and took over the defense center,” Howard continued. “It won’t be long until their APD is down. The place is a war zone now, but once the phantoms come in, there won’t be much we can do. We need the real Effigies.”
“And I’m betting that’s exactly why we’ve been locked up here without so much as a word,” Chae Rin said. “Damn it!” I heard the slam from her fist against the wall and the grunt of pain immediately following. “Okay,” she said. “I really need my powers back.”
“We’re working on that. Your next inoculation is coming in just under four hours. Once you cross the four-hour mark, you’ll start to feel your powers return rapidly. There’ll be one, at most two people coming to your cell. Check underneath your tray.”
There was another surface underneath the bottom of the tray. I lifted off the first layer. A small syringe.
“It’ll knock them out temporarily,” Howard said. “But you’ll have to be fast. And you’re only going to have one shot. After that, one of us will tell you where to go.”
We had a plan. In four hours, we’d strike. I just hoped it wouldn’t be too late. Howard and Eveline couldn’t use even a secure connection for too long at the facility when you never knew who could be around the corner. But the girls and I could talk. Belle explained how to hold the syringe while concealing it, which tissue to hit for maximum effect.
“It’s a bit creepy that you know this,” Chae Rin said.
“It was part of my training,” Belle answered, annoyed. “It’s small enough to fit inside your palm. You can use a napkin to hold it.”
“Then what? We force them to take us to Saul?” Lake sounded skeptical. “I don’t see how that would even work.”
I picked up the syringe and inspected it closely, turning it every which way. “Have a little faith, I guess.”
But only one hour had passed when my earpiece picked up the sound of a door opening to one of the cells.
“What’s happening?” I said. “Are you guys—”
“What is it that you want?” I heard Belle ask whoever had entered her room. “My inoculation isn’t scheduled for another three hours.”
“Director Prince Senior’s orders. Your interrogation over the attempted murder of Naomi Prince starts now,” said one agent, and though his voice grew farther away, I could still hear him when he said, “Congratulations. You’re first. Take her to the interrogation cell. And prep her for the Surgeon.”
First I was on my feet. Then I was at the door pounding it with my fists. There was no point; it was soundproof. I knew they couldn’t hear me yell, but Belle could. Her earpiece would have picked it up.
“Belle, fight them! Use the syringe!”
She didn’t. She couldn’t. First, from the sound of their voices, it was clear there were more than two of them. If she attacked, she’d give us all away, and we’d never see the other side of these cells—until it was our turn to be “interrogated.” But I was well aware of how liberally the Princes interpreted that word. And I knew all too well the horrors the Surgeon was capable of.
“Belle, it’s okay!” I cried, and the other two girls agreed with me. “Save yourself!”
“Quiet,” she said suddenly. “You think I can’t take this?”
Her words were followed promptly by a slap to the face. I heard the impact crisp and clear over the comm.
“This one’s got a mouth. The little uppity French bitch,” the agent said. I was sure she’d made them think she was talking to them. She wasn’t.
I kicked the door in frustration as I heard Belle’s tray skid across the floor.
“Take her!”
Belle waited for the agents to leave and the door of the interrogation room to slam behind her. I could hear her earpiece moving, muffling between her fingers, then inside her palm.
“Welcome.” A deep, chilling voice. One I remembered.
It was the last I heard before Belle crushed the earpiece.
30
“WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING,” Chae Rin said frantically for the twentieth time in thirty minutes. “She could still be in there!”
“You guys don’t know. Maybe he’s doing something different with Belle. Maybe he won’t . . .” Lake stopped.
I could tell she was shaking. I almost wish I hadn’t told them what the Surgeon was capable of. And if I remembered Brendan correctly, it wasn’t just torture. Head games. Hours of emotional manipulation. Belle was mentally strong, but even she had her buttons. And buttons were easier to press when your prisoner’s defenses were being battered by intense pain.
“Howard. Howard!” Chae Rin called again. “Eveline! Are you there?”
After a few minutes: “I’m sorry. It’s me, Eveline.” She lowered her voice. “I had to find an empty room. I . . . I heard everything. I know about Belle.” The tremor in her voice as she said the name made that too clear. “I just couldn’t respond.”
“You guys have been gone for, like, years! Where were you?” I yelled.
“Getting ready to deploy,” she said. “Howard’s already down in the hangar. They need reinforcements in Oslo. Thing are getting worse.”
“The APD?” Lake sounded too afraid to ask.
“They’ve started evacuations of the city.”
I crouched down by the door. “We need to get out as soon as possible. We need to free Belle.”
“You won’t get another chance until they come for you. Just make sure that after you get out of the Hole, you follow her directions exactly.”
“Whose directions?” I asked. “Eveline?” I tapped my ear because the sound was shorting out. “Eveline?”
She was gone. There wasn’t anything more I could do but wait, each minute stretching into infinity until my door creaked open again. Quickly, I grabbed the syringe, tucked inside a clean napkin, and held it in my fist.
“Mellie.”
The skin of my lips cracked and thinned as I pressed them together. One of Dot’s assistants entered my room with a security agent in tow. I slid back until I was against the wall, but she didn’t seem to care. Without greeting me, she pulled her hand out of the pocket of her long white lab coat and began opening the silver briefcase she carried.