Chapter 14 Allie
ALLIE
Turns out, the Fortress is freaking massive, and Rosie gets really heavy lugging her all over the place. “Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll find it soon,” I murmur to her as I wander down another turn, totally clueless and lost.
It feels like the place was built to confuse the shit out of me.
I pass so many rooms it’s obscene. Some seem like they’re apartments for the staff.
There are multiple gyms, mess halls, a couple of restaurants, and several indoor pools.
I pass enormous rooms filled with computers.
I pass rooms where people are bent over desks doing God knows what with scissors and strange bags of white powder.
Rooms with servers, rooms with hanging plants, and rooms that look like bank vaults.
Nobody bothers me. I walk past a few dozen staff members. Some smile and greet me warmly, but none ask where I’m going. I consider asking for directions, but I have some extra time and I really should explore my new home.
It’s insane. There’s an entire wing filled with trucks.
The cars are apparently on a different level.
One room has six or seven men and women creating paintings.
I watch for a minute until one scowling artist glares over his shoulder and looks like he wants to tell me off but thinks better of it.
Canvases are leaning against the wall. I swear I recognize one from an art history course I took in high school, but that can’t be right.
One door is labeled simply THE TOXINARIUM. Inside are mushrooms growing in thick black soil and cages stuffed with brightly colored snakes. A woman in a lab coat nearly shrieks when she spots me staring at her and frantically waves me away.
It’s endless and incredible. At least until I come across a heavy metal door with a thick lock attached to the side on the far western half of the building.
“What do we have here?” I say, hefting Rosie. My arms are basically jelly by now. I really wish I had a stroller or a wagon. I’ll make sure to request one suitable for lugging her around.
I step up to the door and poke at what looks like an electronic lock. A robotic voice chirps at me as soon as my fingers touch a smooth black pad in the center. “Biometric scan failed. Try again.”
“I thought I had free rein of this place.” I press my thumb to the pad a second time, just in case.
“Biometric scan failed. Administering lethal shock in ten… nine…”
“Lethal WHAT?!” I leap back from the pad and look around.
“…seven… six…”
“Hold on a second! Computer, stop! Override! I mean, you can’t just—”
“…four… three…”
I turn and run, shrieking like a crazy person, Rosie clutched to my chest. She’s loving every second like this is some kind of game. Behind me, the computer continues happily counting down until it reaches zero.
I flinch, throwing myself sideways against the wall.
Nothing happens.
I stand there, bewildered and breathing hard, looking around wildly. Nothing is different about the room. There’s no electric arc, no blackened burned spot, nothing out of the ordinary.
I’m about to go back and investigate when two security team members come jogging around the corner toward me. They’re big men in dark suits and their weapons are unholstered. When they spot me, both immediately put their guns away again.
“Apologies, ma’am, but we had an alarm trigger. Is everything okay?” One of the security men stops to speak with me while the other continues to the door.
“I was just exploring… Mass told me it was fine… then I found that door and it threatened to electrocute me.”
The security man looks like he’s trying not to smile. “What did it say exactly, ma’am?”
“I failed the biometric scan and it was going to apply a lethal shock.”
He sighs, shaking his head, grinning openly. “I apologize for that, Mrs. Cardone. The house AI has a sense of humor. We’re actively trying to train that out of it.”
“All clear,” the other security man says. “Just Lady acting out is all.”
“Apologies again, Mrs. Cardone. Can we help you find something?” The first security man gestures for me to follow him. We walk as a unit away from the big, locked door.
“I was trying to find the solarium. What’s in that other room, by the way?
” I’m shaken and trying to wrap my head around what just happened.
House AI? Sense of humor? I had no clue there was some kind of robot running this place, but it shouldn’t surprise me.
Obviously, Mass has some crazy advanced artificial intelligence. And of course it thinks it’s funny.
“Nothing important, ma’am. I’m not even sure, if I’m honest with you. The solarium’s near here, as it happens. We can escort you.”
“No, that’s okay. Just give me directions. I need to find my way around here myself.”
The guard shrugs, tells me where to go, and the pair of them head off. I hear them laughing together as they walk away.
I’m pretty shaken up but I manage to follow his directions. I’m guessing Lady is what they call the house’s AI system, which kind of freaks me out. I had no clue there was an artificial intelligence running the place. It makes me feel like there are eyes watching as I move around the halls.
Soon though, I find the solarium. It’s a huge, glass-enclosed area that juts off the western side of the building.
The view of the jungle and the beach beyond is breathtaking.
There are red velvet lounges, books in mahogany cases, and a massive cigar humidor.
It’s all very masculine. The place needs more plants and some throw pillows to bring it all together.
I shut the door behind me and look around. I think I’m alone until a young man steps forward from the shadows near a baby grand piano tucked in the corner against the interior wall. I step back, fear spiking in my chest, but he holds up his hands in a calming gesture.
He’s dressed like most of the staff: dark pants, dark shirt. His hair is light, messy, and could use a trim. He’s got a short nose, no eyebrows, and pale skin.
And he looks nervous.
“I’m glad you came,” he says, glancing at Rosie in my arms. She’s starting to get tired, her head lolling against my chest. “I wasn’t sure you would.”
“Who are you?” I don’t go closer to him. I stick near the door in case I need to get out quickly. I’ve never seen this person before in my life. I’d guess he’s in his twenties at most, around my age most likely.
“You got my note. That’s why you’re here. I’m a friend, Allie.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I know, of course you don’t.” He looks annoyed with himself. He glances over his shoulder toward the big windows. “Everything will make sense, I promise. My name’s Ryan Birch.”
“Okay, Ryan. Who sent you? Was it my father?”
He shakes his head. “Not him, but people around him. All I can say is someone friendly with the Five Families wants to get you out of here. Is that something you want too?” He rubs his hands together and paces slightly away.
I consider my options. Stay and become the wife of a psychopath who murdered a man in front of me or go home.
Pretty obvious from my perspective.
But there are problems.
“What if he comes after me? He’s a Dragon.”
“They have plans. That’s all I know. They didn’t tell me anything else.”
“Plans that can keep a Dragon away?” I hug Rosie tighter. This situation feels off. I don’t trust Ryan at all, but I don’t know what else I can do.
“They’re the Five Families. They have connections. Safe houses. I don’t know, that sort of thing.” He sounds frustrated and panicked. “Look, we can’t talk long. They’ll notice I’m missing soon. I came to tell you that there are people on your side and we want to help, alright?”
“I want to go home,” I say weakly, hope keeping me rooted in place, even though that hope is thinner than water.
“I brought you this.” He takes an object from his pocket.
I flinch back, guts flipping, but it’s only an old phone.
“Nothing fancy but it’ll get you online.
Don’t use the house Wi-Fi, they’ll track you that way.
Only touch it when you absolutely have to.
They monitor the cell signals, but those are harder to crack. Go ahead, take it.”
I nod at the piano. “Leave it there.”
He frowns but does as I asked. “I get it. You’re freaked out. I’m honestly over my head right now too. But you seem like a nice person and you have a daughter. I’m going to help you."
“How can you get me out of here? There’s security everywhere.”
“You’re right, but it’s a huge place. I’m working on a plan, but you just have to be patient. I’ll send you a message soon. Watch the phone. Keep it hidden. It’s your only link to me and the outside.”
“Why are you doing this?”
He moves past me to the door. I give him a wide berth, still very worried. I need to get back to the apartment and put Rosie down for her nap. I need to think very hard about what’s happening to me because there are holes all over the place, and I’m afraid one of them is going to swallow me up.
“Because I’m getting paid a life-changing sum of money.” He shrugs and grins. He looks a few years younger when he does that. “Why else go up against a Dragon? The lock code is 0000. Good luck.”
That’s a weirdly comforting answer.
I wait for him to leave before I grab the phone. It’s an old, plasticky Android model, but it turns on without a problem. There are no contacts, no apps, no accounts logged in. I shove it into my pocket as Rosie whimpers lightly, half-asleep.
“It’ll be okay, baby girl, we’re getting out of here, don’t you worry. Mommy’s taking care of it.” I count to sixty before I move out into the hall. It’s empty and silent. I wonder if Lady’s watching or listening.
I decide not to worry about that right now and head back to the apartment.