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I didn’t like that idea, either, but if it would get us to Brandon sooner, I’d tolerate it. The German’s urgency, the dead Randall investigation, the other dead owner of the core, the kidnapping, it was all overwhelming. Right now, I just wanted to get Brandon and bail on it all. Let the German do what he wanted. Marc was right: Let’s get Brandon, get out and let the police deal with the investigation. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Axel nodded. He shared a silent conversation across the room with Marc. It took only a few minutes, but as I was studying the both of them, I understood it. Axel silently told Marc about the change of plans, and Marc wasn’t happy with it, but he was going to let it happen. Marc made a circle like he was giving us space and Axel guided me through a public area and then toward a door marked for employees only.
The hall smelled strongly of disinfectant and fish and salt. It was tiled and there were rows of doors. Axel moved quickly through another door, into another similar hallway. A short walk and another door later, I was in a lab.
The room was white, with the tiles having a few dull spots. Counters held containers of unidentifiable liquids. Smaller glass aquariums filled the room, with small fish and one that was filled with water but appeared empty of any fish. Deeper inside the lab, there was a large aquarium built in the center like a huge hot tub, and inside were two large sea turtles. One had a bandage around a back leg.
“What’s wrong with the turtles?” I asked.
Axel gazed over at them and then shook his head. “Rescues. Injured and brought here from the beach. The aquarium hosts a turtle hospital. These two are new. Not stable enough to join the others in the bigger aquarium.”
I pouted, feeling sorry for the things. “This is the best spot for getting a jump on these guys?”
“We need a secure location with a limited amount of exits and a place where we aren’t likely to be interrupted. If we’re going to lure them into trying to capture you, we need to give them a temptation they can’t refuse.” He showed me a computer terminal near a counter. He pulled out a stool and smacked his hand on the seat. “Now sit and do what you promised.”
“There’s no one else in here,” I said. “How do you know no one will come in?”
“Because it’s my office,” he said. “I’ll be in the next room.”
I glanced around the room again, looking at the turtles, the fancy tanks and chemicals. I had a lot of questions by only one came out. “The sick turtles stay in your office?”
“The ones I rescued, yeah,” he said.
I sought out his eyes and locked in on his gaze. My heart, despite the anger welling there at the people chasing us, found a small spot of warmth just for Axel. During the time we’d been back from Florida and I’d been diving head first into my own misery and working for the other boys, Axel had been saving turtles and working here in his lab. Somehow, that meant something to me. It was something I hadn’t know, but now that I did, I adored him for it. It spoke about him in ways he simply couldn’t have told me. Seeing was better.
I looked at the turtles, who seemed so big in the tank. They floated, fins down, looking unhealthy. Axel rescued them. I wondered if the others knew.
He motioned again for me to sit, and I did. He leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Once we’ve got Brandon, once we’re out of this mess, maybe you’ll come by and help me out once in a while. Unless you really do like construction work.”
“I can?” I asked.
“Soon,” he said. “First things first. Be bait.”
I turned, looking at his face. He was his usual stoic self, but there was a hint of a spark in his eyes, something deeper. I’d read enough faces to tell me there was a plan already in place, and Marc was already well aware. I was to sit still. He wasn’t going to tell me anything else.
Because they didn’t want me to override their plan and ruin it from the start.
Because I wouldn’t like it.
I sat on the stool, staring at the screen, trying to put together their plan while pretending to do as he told me.
I listened as Axel left the room. And then I checked over my shoulder, studying my surroundings, my exits, of which there were only two doors, and one closet. No windows. No place to go, except maybe up in the ceiling. I didn’t like my options if something went wrong.
I didn’t like not knowing the whole plan.
I waited, swinging my legs and purposefully flicking the flip-flops to make sounds against my heels to fill the space.
If they separated from me, these criminals would try to come after me. They’d send in a team to zap me again. Only this time Axel and Marc were waiting in the wings, ready to rush in.
But is that what the German would do in a public place? Maybe this office was secluded but then they’d still have to carry me out, and they’d have to go through security. Maybe they were willing to follow us and keep an eye on what we were up to, but would they be stupid enough to come in after me like this?
I wouldn’t. I’d recognize something was going on if we split up in a strange location.
The problem I had with the whole situation was still gnawing at me from the inside. It wasn’t just this set-up. It was something that had been bothering me since the beginning. One was what Brandon had said right from the start: Why had this German team bothered to drag in Corey? Why were they interested in someone who wasn’t willing to participate, when there were plenty of criminal minds and hackers out there ready and willing and able to break into Corey’s security thing, even if it did take time? I mean, a couple of extra weeks or more wasn’t worth the risk of kidnapping and murder, was it?
Before they had asked Corey for help. Now they’d kidnapped him and were following me to kidnap me again to force him to work. They were taking a lot of chances.
No, something still wasn’t working for me in this entire situation. The urgency didn’t sit with me. It had been weeks since they’d contacted Corey, even before I talked to him since they’d been looking for him.
I tried to remember that day with Corey. I’d been frustrated, and Corey had offered to go on a walk. Outside, in a public place with plenty of witnesses and traffic around Colonial Lake in downtown Charleston, this German man stopped his car in the middle of it all and ran over to talk to Corey. He’d insisted Corey come talk with him in private, despite Corey refusing. He hadn’t kidnapped him then. No urgency. He wanted Corey, and he was willing to negotiate, and then when Corey refused, he had walked away.
Now the story was different. He’d kidnapped Corey. He’d threatened his life and then mine.
The question that came to mind over and over again rushed through me: Why now? What was different? Why did they wait until weeks later to kidnap him? What would make me rush in and do something so risky?
As I sat looking around in Axel’s office, at the turtles, and everything else, I considered that. Why was I here now? Because someone was threatening my life.
Which…could mean their lives were being threatened? Could that be why they were doing this?
Maybe someone else was on the hunt. They’d discovered an enemy, and if they didn’t act quickly their plans would fall apart. They had come for Corey now to secure him and to make sure they would win.
I sat up quickly. It suddenly made sense to me. The German and his gang of thugs might have been okay with going slow before, but since their game changed, they had to move up the timeline. Their only option was to get Corey to the core to give them access. It was something they were willin
g to kill someone over.
Which meant they were afraid of their enemy.
I turned my head to look at the computer screen. My skin prickled, like back when I used to steal wallets at the mall, and I got the feeling security or a cop was watching me.
There were a lot of questions I didn’t have the answers to yet, but one thing I was sure of: we were all in danger, because there was more than one group eyeing the prize, and at least one group was willing to murder to get what they wanted. The question was which one was chasing us right now.
Both?
Axel said they’d spotted two cars following us. Could both be the German’s teammates or was one car a different team? Did the German know who was hunting him?
While I was trying to figure out if I should chase down Axel, or continue to wait like he said, a door opened. I twisted, expecting Axel to come back. Maybe he had realized the same thing.
In the doorway stood a woman. She had a white lab coat on over a pair of slimming black slacks and a light cream sweater. Her deep red hair was pulled back into a bun near her neck. She was slender, with pale skin. Her vivid blue eyes and the small curve of her lips as she entered told me she was proud of something. She spotted me. In an instant, her face changed to mild surprise.
“Oh,” she said in a quiet but very precise tone. “Are you the new intern?”
I thought Axel said he wasn’t disturbed in his office.
Something was off about her eyes. But instead of trying to figure out what, I was trying to think of a logical reason for me to be in Axel’s office and to get her to go away because she was putting herself in the middle of mortal danger. Her question gave me the perfect out. “Yes,” I said, quickly. “Do you work for Axel? Are you who he’s been expecting? He’s in the...turtle hospital. You should go see him.”
“He’s not in the hospital room,” she said simply. She walked in a circle around me, her heels clacking sharply against the tiles. “And he didn’t ask for me to join him. The question is, who are you? And what are you doing here?”
“I’m waiting for Axel,” I said.
