Untouched The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,13

it sounded genuine.

Kurt was more analytical. “No way to tell without more evidence.” He pointed. “The strap’s broken; he could have just ripped it off of her. The I.D. has her address on it, “ he nodded to me. “This explains how he found her.”

I wondered if I could chance another interrogatory toward Wolfe without attracting the curiosity of Zack and Kurt, but I decided against it. He’d wanted me to find this, to get curious, so I would do what he wanted. Maybe he knew more, maybe he didn’t. All I was certain of was that he wanted Aleksandr Gavrikov out of that containment cell, and that scared me.

“Anything else in here?” It was Zack who asked the question, but Kurt who started shining his light around. The warehouse looked empty, abandoned.

“I don’t see anything.” I shone my flashlight to the corners, but all I saw were metal walls, through and through. I turned and started to say something but stopped and froze in fear as Kurt Hannegan got slapped down hard. The big man hit his knees and an arm wrapped around his neck. I watched his face turn red as he was dragged back to his feet, his portly body interposed between us and his assailant.

“Hi, Sienna,” came a mild voice, a familiar one.

I shone the flashlight at the man who held Kurt. “Reed, what are you doing?”

I hadn’t seen him since the day I killed Wolfe; he had fled from the basement before the Directorate arrived. He was muscular and it showed, even through his leather jacket. His dark skin stood out in contrast to Hannegan’s face, which was turning red. His long brown hair was in a ponytail and he held a gun pointed at me then Zack, in turn.

“Well, well,” Zack said, his own gun out and pointed at Reed. “If it isn’t your old friend.”

“Friend, enemy,” I said, wary, “when they’re pointing a gun at you, what’s the difference?”

“A friend doesn’t pull the trigger.” Reed clubbed Kurt on the head, and I watched the big man’s eyes roll up as he went unconscious. Zack tensed, as though he were about to shoot, but Reed held the gun up in surrender as he let Hannegan sink to the ground, letting him slide to the floor gently. “I have to talk to Sienna.” He looked at me. “I don’t want your boyfriend listening in either, but I’m willing to let him walk away instead of sending him off into the clouds.”

“You can try—” Zack snapped.

“I can do it,” Reed said. “You eager to cross me? I’m a meta, you’re a Directorate agent. Do you want to find out what my power is just so you can try to keep her from having a conversation?”

Zack did not flinch nor lower his weapon. “You want to talk to her? Talk. She’s right there.”

“If I wanted the entire Directorate leadership to hear what I have to say to her, I’d visit your campus.” Reed’s lip curled at the end.

“You should come visit. I’d love to see you out there; it’d be fun to watch M-Squad beat you down and throw you in a holding cell for interrogation.” Zack’s eyes were narrowed, the gun still pointed at Reed. “I’m not letting her out of my sight.”

“I’ll go over to the corner with him, we’ll talk,” I said to Zack, who looked sidelong at me, mutinous. “It’ll be fine. “ I worried when he didn’t blink, but he finally gave me a subtle nod of the head. He kept the gun pointed, following Reed, who joined me in a corner. “All right,” I said when we were out of Zack’s earshot, “what’s so damned important that you had to crack Hannegan over the head?”

“That?” Reed chucked a thumb over his shoulder where Zack was nudging Kurt with his foot, trying to rouse him without taking the gun off Reed. “That was for him driving you back to your house when you went after Wolfe the last time.” Reed’s expression darkened. “It was only because you discovered your power that you even survived.” He glanced back to Hannegan, who had yet to stir. “But you’re still hanging around with him—with them.”

“I haven’t been presented with any other options,” I said, bitterness inflecting my tone. “In case you forgot, right after I killed Wolfe, you freaked out on me and bailed.”

“I didn’t bail on you,” he said. “I got the hell out of there before the Directorate decided to make me a