She rested her fingers on Billy’s chestbefore sliding them down and settling them on his waist. She tuggedup his shirt as he bent to kiss her. When he leaned into her, sheshifted one of her hands away to slide a needle out from whereshe’d tucked it inside her sleeve.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and,with her other hand, pulled off the cap. She twisted the needle andsank it into his lower back. He went stiff against her as shepressed the plunger.
He reeled backward, and when his shocked eyesmet hers, she smiled grimly.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“What the…?”
Before he could finish the question, his eyesrolled into his head, and he slumped toward the floor. Lucy caughthis shirt and managed to stop him before he cracked his head offthe cement floor. However, the weight of his body jerked her offthe console. She almost fell on top of him but managed to catchherself before she did.
She settled him on the floor, put the capback on the needle, and tossed it in the trash. A few days ago,when she met with him during lunchtime, she slipped into one of theopen labs and retrieved the tranquilizer.
He turned off the cameras and switched themonto the continuous loop ten minutes before she arrived, so she hadplenty of time to get the needle and drug. And she always camearound lunchtime because there was rarely anyone in the labs. Evenif someone were around to see her, she’d started roaming thehallways of the facility shortly after her return. There wasn’tmuch else for her to do; she wasn’t a big reader, and daytime TVwas a bore.
During this particular travel through theempty labs, she swiped a syringe and filled it with a tranquilizer.She stashed the needle in a trash can in the bathroom beforevisiting Billy and retrieved it after they finished.
Now, she’d used it to knock his ass out.
Maybe she should have kept some of thetranquilizer in case they ran into someone else, but she doubtedanyone would let her get close enough to inject them with it. Billyhad been different.
Turning away from Billy, she studied theknobs, dials, and controls as well as the screens revealing therest of the floors. Those screens were all looping too, but she’dknown they would be. If anyone happened to be watching one of theother monitoring stations on the other floors, they would never seeMelanie get on the elevator.
Every time she came here, she tried torefresh her memory of how the controls worked, but all she requirednow were the cages' controls. And she knew exactly where thosewere. However, she didn’t know which one operated Kyle’s cell.
Lucy stared at the closed doors of theelevator while waiting for Melanie to arrive. She had to time thisright. Melanie had to have at least one of the guards distractedbefore she did anything. Then, she had to hope she got it rightbefore they raised the alarm.
CHAPTER 30
Kyle stopped pacingwhen the elevator dinged. He closed his eyes when his visionblurred and his groggy mind tried to convince him to lie down. Butno matter the pain, he wouldnotrest. He had to keep hismind as clear as possible, and walking helped do that.
After he fractured the glass, these assholesgassed him and took him away. He didn’t recall anything they did tohim, but he woke with an incision running from his groin to hisbreastplate.
Though he’d never felt his organs inside himbefore, everything felt like hands were digging inside andrearranging things. And he suspected that’s exactly whathappened.
They’d been inside him, searching. What theywere searching for, he didn’t know, but they’d done it numeroustimes since dragging Melanie away, and it felt like they’d left adozen spiders in there. And all those spiders were skittering overhis organs and digging deeper into his flesh.
They also cut open his arms from wrists toelbows and searched in there, as well as his legs. He guessedthey’d sliced open his back, too, as his skin pulled whenever hetwisted. They’d put a pair of green scrub pants on him when theyfinished, but they didn’t bother with a shirt.
He didn’t know what they were looking for,maybe the source of the color, but they would never find it. It wasas much a part of his DNA as his blue eyes and blond hair.
He had a feeling he’d become their favoritepincushion, and they’d spend the rest of their lives trying tofigure him out while never getting any answers.
Kyle stared at the elevator doors as hewaited for Melanie’s father and that demented bitch to step out.Besides the guards' regular rotation, they were the only two peoplewho’d come down here since they dragged Melanie away.
When Melanie stepped out of the elevator, heblinked as he tried to clear his vision of the image. Under theharsh lights, her cinnamon hair shone like red fire. He’d neverseen anyone with hair quite that color, but he still couldn’tbelieve it was her.
They’d given him so many drugs he wasn’t surewhat was real and what wasn’t. He pinched himself and winced whenpain shot up his brutalized arm.
Did that mean this was real?
When Melanie stepped out of the elevator, theguard swung toward her. His eyebrows rose, but then his eyes becamesteely, and he planted himself in front of her. Melanie didn’t backdown from his scowl of disapproval. She didn’t care what she had todo; they wouldn’t get her out of here until Kyle was free.
A low growl rumbled Kyle’s chest as the guardpointed at the elevator behind her. Melanie’s eyes darted aroundthe room before settling on him. When they did, her hand flew toher mouth.
Her horror was so intense he knew she wasreal. She wasback. Which meant she’d put herself injeopardy by coming here again.
In a rush to get to her, he staggered as helunged toward the glass and nearly went down. His hand slappedagainst the glass as he stopped himself from faceplanting into it.The guard grasped her arm and jerked her around before pushing hertoward the elevator.
