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Chapter Fifteen
Adreax
“We can take them by surprise as soon as one of them comes into the room. Take a hostage, you know?”
Herod and I hunched over in a corner of the cell, our backs turned to Tayla and Alec as we planned our great escape. Every once in a while, I looked over my shoulder, only to discover Tayla still staring daggers at me. Oh well. If I wasn’t good enough for her, then so be it. I had bigger problems to worry about.
“So, how do we get them into the room?” I asked, trying to adjust myself so my side would stop burning where my wound stretched and pulled.
It was his turn to look over his shoulder, and a sliver of a smile crept onto his face, turning one half of his face into a wicked sneer.
“No,” I said firmly before I even knew what he had in mind.
Whatever we had planned, we were leaving Tayla out of it. She didn’t want to help us, and that was fine, but we also would not cause her any unnecessary harm on our way out.
“Don’t be touchy,” Herod cautioned in a low voice. “All we need is for her to scream and get their attention. You know those guards won’t come if we make a commotion, but if she screams, they’ll be down here to investigate in no time. They wouldn’t want to lose their prize, especially not if they thought we were about to take her for ourselves.”
My stomach churned at his suggestion and I placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping him tightly until he turned back to face me.
“Leave her out of this,” I warned.
Herod tilted his head, a knowing look upon his face. “You’re protecting the girl now?”
“No, it’s not like that,” I insisted. “But she’s going to have a hard enough time dealing with the Patrol on her own, and hurting an innocent woman will not be part of our plan. That will only cause more problems for us later on. Trust me.”
Herod rolled his eyes at me, and I wanted to punch him, but I restrained myself. I also would not let that woman come between us again.
“Fine. What else do we have?”
We put our heads together again and tried to work out a plan to get a guard into our cell. There were only a handful of reasons a guard would open that door, and that made things more difficult. Using Tayla as bait would be the easiest option, but there was no way I could allow it to happen. I didn’t need to give her any more reasons to hate me.
That thought struck me, and it lingered, rolling around my mind like a loose marble. Why did I care if she hated me? What difference would it make at this point? Was there more to this than I was willing to admit?
“Ahem,” Herod cleared his throat beside me loudly, drawing my attention back to what he was trying to tell me.
“Hm?”
“I was just saying that those fire alarms up there might be the trick to getting that door open,” he repeated, pointing up to the ceiling above our heads.
I looked up carefully, scanning the room for the security camera that I knew was up there somewhere, and then identifying the alarm. Herod was right. If we could set the alarm off or trigger the fire-retardant spray, the Patrol would have no choice but to evacuate the cell. At least, if they wanted any of us alive. I had my doubts that they cared if Herod and I lived, but I was almost certain they wanted Tayla alive, and that boded well for us.
Still, it was a risky proposal. Fire retardant was a dangerous chemical, and not something to be trifled with. If the Patrol guards were too slow to unlock the door, there was serious danger of us all suffocating in this room. But even that would be better than the suffering and torture that was sure to ensue if we stayed in Patrol custody much longer.
“How do we do it without them seeing us?” I asked.
“That’s easy. All we have to do is put something over the lens up there. Your shirt will do.”
Before I could protest, Herod reached over and started pulling my shirt off over my head. I grit my teeth to fight through the pain, feeling my bandage tug on the fabric, and wishing I had something strong to drink to dull it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tayla watching me. The distrust was still visible in her expression, but she couldn’t keep her eyes off of my chest. It’s just the wound, I kept telling myself. She is just staring at the bloody mess. Nothing else. But that didn’t tame the feeling charging through my heart that told me her eyes were roving elsewhere.
Shit. Even I was thinking my excuses about Tayla were bullshit. Every time I turned around, I swore I could feel something between us. I kept telling myself that it was just the tension she was creating, but maybe… maybe it was something else.
Maybe it was something I was projecting into the room.
“You two, come help me,” Herod demanded, looking to Alec and Tayla.
“With what?” she snapped, settling back against the wall and making it evident that she did not intend to help him with whatever it was he had planned.
