fear in his face.
“Do it,” he whispers. “But I won’t be your experiment either, Prez.”
“Prez?” I stare at him, confused.
His face is impossible to read. “I heard them talk about you. I know you’re just as bad as they are.”
Prez? My stomach drops.
It can’t be. There’s no way. Prez can’t be in on this…can he?
And then, everything hits me at once. Puzzle pieces that didn’t make sense before suddenly fall into place, and my world changes forever. Then my thoughts shift to the present.
Prez is with Dani. Alone.
I lower the gun. If Prez is in on this, I doubt he’s alone.
Behind me, I hear the crack of a gun, and bullet after bullet slams into us before the world goes dark.
29
Dani
We’d driven to the other side of town, then kept going until we reached the woods around the town. After a while, they’re stretching out around us. Prez had taken a random turn and seemed to drive us out into nothingness, just a barely visible, bumpy, dirt path, and with each mile that passed, my gut clenched harder. I was beginning to think he was just taking me somewhere to put a bullet in my head, when around a corner, a building surrounded by a massive fence seemed to come out of nowhere.
Approaching the fence, we didn’t even have to slow down when the gates opened in front of us. We just went straight through and came to the big white doors at the top of a few steps. Then Prez cut the engine and silence surrounded us.
“Come on,” he said, climbing off the bike and offering me his hand.
I take it and start up the steps, him right behind me. My head swivels from side-to-side. This place doesn’t feel like a home, nor does it feel like a medical facility, like with the order. It’s almost like…any office building you’d find in a city. Except, it’s in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a twenty foot fence.
There’s a card slot beside the door, but when I push on the door, it opens. There’s an empty hallway, and I glance back at him, unsure of where to go.
“Last door on the right,” he tells me gruffly.
I nod and keep going. “So what is this place?”
“A safe house.”
It’s probably the safest place I can imagine. Not even the order had to know about something like this. Still, the lingering feeling that I’d be safest with the guys remains.
“And I won’t be here long? As soon as the guys find the rat?” I hate that his answer is so important to me.
“You’ll be free,” he confirms with a nod.
We reach the end of the hall, and the door is just like any other. I release a slow breath, push the button on the side, and stare in shock. It’s…a lab. A doctor is waiting in front of the first table, arms crossed, a grin on his face, and half a dozen men in familiar black uniforms have guns pointed on me.
My heart stops. Horror sends ice racing through my veins. This…can’t be.
Prez shoves me forward so hard that I hit the ground.
Every hair on my body stands on end.
“I brought her. Where’s my money?”
The scientist’s lips spread and he nods his head at one of the guards. The guard turns, grabs something off the ground, then holds out a heavy-looking black bag. No one else moves. No one else reacts. Like this is the most normal exchange in the world.
“You…sold me to them? You’re the rat?” I say, my questions coming out of teeth that chatter together.
Prez doesn’t look at me as he heads for the bag, but the scientist answers, “Don’t you understand, patient six-two-nine-one? You are far too valuable to us to give up, for any price.”
When Prez grabs the bag, the scientist springs forward and shoves a needle into his neck. The big man spins around as the scientist jumps back. I stare in shock between Prez, holding his bag as his expression falls, and the scientist, who watches him, a sick kind of fascination on his rat-like face.
Prez’s eyes are wide as he mumbles, “What the fuck did you--?” Then he crumbles to his knees.
“Put experiment nine-seven-one-three in his new cage,” the scientist says, pushing up his glasses on his nose and setting the spent needle down on the metal table behind him.
Prez collapses to the ground, but his mouth keeps moving, even though no words come out. I feel sick as I watch him. I’d had that