“Looking for your ex, check.” Julian’s voice was barely a breath of sound.
Madeline wasn’t making any sound at all. Mina elbowed her. “Call out to the agents in there. Tell them who you are and that you have me. Instruct them to let us inside immediately.”
Madeline didn’t hesitate. They were just a few feet away from the imposing gates that surrounded the station, and she called out, “I’m Agent Slate, and I’ve secured the prisoner we sought. Open the gates so that I can immediately confine her to the holding area.” She lifted her ID and a bright light shone on them.
Mina’s eyes watered in the face of that spotlight. This has to work. It has to—
There was a loud screeching as the gates opened. Uniformed men rushed out and surrounded them. Her breath eased out in a relieved sigh when she saw that Garrick wasn’t among that group.
“She isn’t gagged!” One of the men snapped. “She isn’t secure! She can talk, she can—”
Julian slapped his hand around Mina’s mouth, and he jerked her back against him in the same move. His body was tight, scarily muscled, and for a moment, she felt a flutter of fear. “I’ve got her,” he stated coldly. “Satisfied?”
The guards exchanged uneasy glances, obviously not satisfied.
“Her throat was damaged during the fight,” Julian added, voice rough. “A whole lot of agents were taken down and this lady—she didn’t give up easily. So I had to punch her in the throat.”
Hardly a good image. She squirmed against him, trying to make the scene look real.
“We need to get some back-up to the agents at the dock,” Julian blasted when the others just stood there. “Agent Slate and I will take the prisoner inside. You guys get out there and help our team.”
Finally, finally, the men nodded.
And a few moments later, with Julian’s hand still covering her mouth, Mina walked back to the prisoner holding area.
There were cells back there, lots of them. And guards with big guns. She didn’t know if those guns were loaded with tranqs or if they were sporting bullets—silver bullets, wooden bullets, or even your average shoot-to-kill human variety.
Madeline kept flashing her ID at people. Her movements were stiff and jerky, and Mina really wanted to give her another command, to reinforce her compulsion, but with eyes on them, she knew Julian wouldn’t risk freeing her mouth, not right then. They had to wait just a bit longer…
They needed to find Eli.
“Maximum security,” Julian snapped to the guard standing to the left—the guy clutching a really big gun. “Let’s stop screwing around and get her contained.”
The guy—a young fellow with pale blond hair—spun and quickly typed in a security code on the pad near a big, black door.
There was a beep, then a hiss, and that door opened.
“Excellent,” Julian said. “Now keep any other guards back until I have her secure. I don’t want to risk anyone falling under her control.”
Because Mina was looking straight at Madeline when he spoke those words, she saw the flare of the other woman’s lashes. Madeline’s eyes went bright with emotions.
Uh, oh. We are running out of time. Mina needed to give that woman a new command, STAT. They crossed through the doorway, and a few seconds later, the door sealed closed behind them with another beep and a hiss. Cautiously, they walked forward. It was almost like being back in Luke’s Chamber of Horrors again except that—
A low moan came from the right. Her gaze jerked that way. There were no cell bars, just glass. She could see right into that holding room and Eli was on the floor. A very bloody, battered Eli.
Julian shoved her away from him.
Madeline shook her head, opened her mouth to scream—
“You stay silent,” Mina ordered her.
Madeline’s lips clamped closed.
A guard was rushing toward them—a man who’d been sitting behind a bank of screens in the middle of that space. “What in the hell is happening?” he shouted, lifting his gun.
Julian just snatched the gun from him and tossed it away. Then he drove his fist straight into the guard’s face. The guy was unconscious before he hit the floor.
Mina ran toward the bank of screens. The screens showed different security feeds from the facility. She didn’t see guards rushing toward them, so that meant they were still safe.
“Disengage his cell door,” Julian ordered.
She looked up. He was in front of Eli’s holding area. “I don’t know how!”
His jaw locked. “I do.” Then he lifted his hand and drove his fist into the cell door.
Alarms immediately began blasting. Heavy, deafening alarms. Mina jerked in shock and—and a door to her left opened.
Laughter came from that room—laughter that reached her even over that terrible, shrieking alarm. And it was laughter that she knew.
“Hello, Mina,” Garrick greeted her. The jerk sounded…happy. Pleased. “I knew you’d make it this far. I was waiting for you.”