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He shook his head. “They’ve mistaken you for someone else. I hope when they realize their mistake, they’ll let you go. It’s me they want.”
“What do they want with you?” I knew he’d been hiding something.
“It’s a long story,” he said.
“Well, we’re not going anywhere.” I waved a hand at the bars separating us.
He sighed. “True.” He leaned his head against the bars and met my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“You didn’t kidnap me and drag me here.”
“No, but it may be my fault. They want something from my family, but we don’t have it to give.”
“Money?” I really should have known better than to hook up with my uncle’s secretary, especially after I’d already suspected he was up to no good.
He shook his head. “No. If it were that easy, this would have been settled long ago.”
“Well, what do they want, then? Does it have to do with that woman? The one who said she’s related to you?”
“In a way. She was also taken by them. We thought she was dead.” He shook his head. “They think we have something of theirs. But we don’t.”
“Are they like the Mafia? Or terrorists or something? I don’t understand.”
He shrugged. “Not quite. More like a family row. Sometimes they get a little mad and rough us up a bit, trying to get us to admit we have what they’re looking for.”
“But they took me.” There was no way someone would mistake me for being part of Liam’s family.
“I think they took you to get to me.”
“They took her because they think she’s one of us,” the robed woman said. She had returned and was carrying another, larger bowl and a clean cloth. She also had a key.
“One of you? You mean part of your family?”
Liam said something to her in that language of theirs, and she responded. It definitely didn’t sound like any language I’d heard before. Maybe Liam’s family came from one of those Northern European countries. Maybe it was Danish or Icelandic, or whatever they spoke up there in those frozen Nordic countries. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t want to be rude. If they wanted me to understand what they were saying, they’d speak English.
The robed woman took a step toward the door to my cell.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “I don’t need that. He’s the one who’s been bleeding. Help him.”
The woman shook her head and inserted the key into the door to my cell. “I need to get you ready to see the Master. He’ll be calling for you soon.”
“But Liam—”
“It’s okay. I’ll be fine. Whatever happens, listen to her. Do what she says.”
I had no reason to trust this woman, but I had to admit he had a point. If I could manage to get out of here, I could get help.
“Fine,” I said.
The robed woman stepped inside my cell and shut the door behind her. I glanced at the key in her hand and considered making a break for it now while I still could.
“There’s nowhere to run,” she said. “They’ll catch you before you even make it down the hall.”
“I doubt that.” Even if she hadn’t been shackled, I was confident I could outrun her and anyone else down here. Four years on my university track team and a pile of medals from national competitions meant outrunning a bunch of thugs should be no problem for me.
“Your overconfidence will get you killed,” she said. “When you see the Master, you must be silent. Invisible.” Whoever this Master was, he was clearly someone of whom this woman was utterly terrified.
“Listen to her, Eve, please,” Liam said. He sounded like he was in pain. I resisted my urge to run. If she could get me out of here and Liam trusted her, I’d listen. For now.
