I spread my arms wide, and then slowly brought my two palms together, shortening things up. Could Anna get here any faster?
“No.” The camera’s head shook as though it were him while he typed. “It will take the full fifty-six hours to mobilize and travel. You do not need to save that person’s life.”
But it wasn’t just about saving his life—it was everything. What I’d seen Natasha do last night. Freeing that test subject was the only way I could think of to trip her up.
I gave the camera a jovial thumbs-up and mouthed the words Yes I do. I couldn’t do it without his help, though. As much as I wanted to see my Asher or Anna, I was really glad neither of them was with Gideon right now to give him second opinions on my sanity.
There was a long pause while I thought Gideon might have run off to consult someone, or just started ignoring me for my own good. Then the typing began again.
“Mag locks default to open when there’s no electricity. There’s a utility truck doing scheduled maintenance nearby at six thirty tonight. They will have an accident during their repairs and take the transformer down. You will have a window of approximately five minutes when the power is off before the generators kick in. You will need a light, as with the power out everything will go dark.” The cursor paused in place, blinking.
“The time is now five forty-five plus thirteen seconds,” he said, and I looked down at my cheesy electronic watch. It was fifteen seconds slow; I’d have to account for that in my mind. When I glanced back up at the screen, Gideon had skipped a line.
“Sundown is at six forty-five.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Which meant that I’d only have a fifteen-minute head start before Raven woke up.
That was long enough. I could get into the room and out again in five minutes, haul the victim to the garage, give him some keys, and set him free. I might not even be seen, and his escape could be passed over as ingenuity and luck. If Raven hadn’t had any of his blood, or given any of his own, he wouldn’t be able to follow him as he could me. If he broke out of here, drove fast, ditched the car, called 911, and went to a hospital—chances were no one would believe his story but he’d be safe, and the whole testing process would be delayed a day, hopefully buying Anna some extra time.
It wasn’t a great plan, but it was a plan, and I felt better for having one. I turned around to draw the outline of a heart in the air with my forefingers at the camera.
“I will let the others know of your affection.”
I pointed at the camera emphatically, including it.
“Thank you,” Gideon typed on the screen, and then it turned off, and the camera went dark.
* * *
I stood up, set the chair exactly back the way it was before I’d first sat down, slunk out of the lab’s annex, and made my way to the hall, relocking the door quietly behind me. I trotted back to meet Jackson with the keys. I turned the corner—into a surprised-looking, fresh-from-the-shower Celine.
My instinct was to freeze, but the keys were too big to hide in my hand, and if I tucked anything behind my back, she’d know.
I couldn’t get Jackson busted—or interrupt my plan. I had half a second to do what I needed to do, so without thinking I grit my teeth, raced up to her like a crazy person, and punched her in the face. The dark part of me that I’d been denying exalted at the sudden violence.
“Don’t think that you’re better than me just because you got blood!” I shouted to cover for myself.
She sagged into the wall, stunned, maybe more by my actions than by my blow. I’d broken her nose and blood poured down her face, spilling onto her clean towel. She was healing slowly. Estrella may have finally been kind to her, but she’d been stingy. The look of hatred on Celine’s face as she held her bleeding nose was so hot it could have burned me. I was still stronger than she was, and now we both knew it. I strode down the hall, keeping my hand with the keys hidden by my stomach.
* * *
As soon as I turned the corner I started jogging. Not that Celine wasn’t already an enemy, but there’d be no redeeming myself now. Good thing Anna was on her way. The second I opened the door to Hell, Jackson was appeared, and I handed his keys back.
“Were you seen?”
“Seen, but not caught.” I looked down and there were flecks of Celine’s blood across the back of my hand. You’re gonna have to do what I say, not what I do, okay, baby?
“Is it still ‘better that I don’t know?’” he said in imitation of me.
I nodded and wiped my hand off on my skirt.
“You realize that only makes me want to know what’s going on more?”
“I know. I’d feel the same if our positions were reversed.” I still wanted to trust Jackson but I didn’t know how much he’d tell House Grey—or what his true loyalties were to Wolf and, through him, to Raven. We could sort everything out fifty-five and a half hours from now.
He frowned deeply, latching his keys onto his belt one-handed. “I’m not an idiot, you know. I’d understand if you’d just tell me. I may be from the past, but I’m not stuck there.”
I was tempted to say, Your mustache disagrees with you, but I kept it to myself. “I’d honestly tell you if I could, but if I’m going to do something stupid, it’s better for you that you don’t know.”
“That, I can believe.” He shook his head, and then himself, as if he were shaking off a dream. Then he nudged the bucket beside his foot with a toe. “Come on. While you’re still alive, you should earn your keep.”
* * *
It was hard not to keep checking the time on my watch or being paranoid about getting it wet. But doing something was better than avoiding Celine in the halls, even if Jackson kept giving me pointed looks.
At six twenty-four P.M. I stood, and so did he. “Please. Stay here. It’s not safe to follow me.”
“What am I supposed to tell Wolf if he asks me?”
“That I went down to the bathroom. The less you know, the less you can be forced to confess.”
“I’m taking a big chance believing in you.”
“I know.” I leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, right where his wide mustache ended, before running back to the bottom of Hell.
With all the vampires asleep, including Lars, Natasha gone, and Celine cowed—unless she had a gun—I was feeling pretty good. I reached the crossroads, went down the forbidden hall, and stationed myself outside the test subject holding room door. I pulled the lighter out of my bra and flicked it on.
At six thirty Gideon, true to his word, turned all the power off.
I heard the door lock disengage and pushed into the room, lighter first. “Hello? Hello?” I didn’t know how big the room would be, or where the test subject was.
The first thing I saw were huge machines with stickers. I recognized the symbols on them with growing horror.
Radiation. Hot pink atom-like shapes on yellow backgrounds. Of course—being a leukemia survivor meant that Natasha knew all about full-body radiation treatments too.
How many test subjects had she irradiated to make the vampire marrow cells take in early testing days?
I drew back, ready to run away. The machines weren’t on now, but in minutes they could be. Oh, baby. We are not going to be here then.
I turned slowly with the lighter, unwilling to walk in. Luckily I saw the man with my daytimer eyes, hiding at the back of his cage.
Hiding, I realized, from me.
“Hey. Are you all right?” I skirted the machines and focused on my goal. The room smelled like puke and excrement, and I had to get him out of here.
“Who are you? Where are we?”
“I’m Edie. I’ve come to save you.” I tested the cage with one hand. Strong, but I was stronger.
His eyes were wild. “Are you one of them?”
“No. I’m like you—I’m going to turn this light off now, but I’m going to get you free.” I took in the lock mechanism of the cage at a glance and set the lighter down. Then I muscled the
cage apart, hinges breaking—vampire blood was good for something. I picked the lighter back up with one hand and reached in as I turned it on.