She’s Actually Priceless #2
It’s quiet as I pad across to the pool area.
Everything is still. The water is inviting, not murky and foreboding like it was the other day.
They must have put something in the water, or a gas in the air, that made everyone else hallucinate or trip.
Bones and I have talked about it since and it’s the only explanation we’ve been able to come up with.
The staff here are not strangers to playing with substances all in the name of therapy.
There’s an eerie silence, but the space is empty. I still check the changing rooms, showers, and toilets. Try the emergency exit, but it’s locked. Search the deserted gym.
I’m a little relieved that she’s not here, but I’m more anxious than ever to find her.
I make my way back up the stairs, my heart pounding with every step.
The adrenaline is coursing through my veins from the rush of fear that comes with the possibility of losing someone I care about.
It’s a relatively new feeling, but I did feel it when Hatchet was trying to drown himself too.
As I reach the top of the stairs and push open the door to the first floor, there’s a faint noise from down the hallway. It sounds like a muffled cry, and hope leaps into my throat. Could it be Kayla?
I break into a run, sprinting down the hallway towards the noise. It’s coming from one of the therapy rooms. I skid to a stop outside the door, panting and out of breath.
I hesitate for a moment, my hand hovering over the doorknob. What if it’s not her? What if it’s someone else? But I can’t afford to wait. I twist the knob and push open the door.
The room is dark, with only a faint glow coming from a small lamp in the corner. There’s the noise again, louder this time, and my heart sinks. It’s definitely not Kayla, but a radio that’s only tuned to static.
Feeling frustration rise, I grab the damn thing, yanking it from the socket and throwing it at the opposite wall with all my strength.
Where is she?
Why have none of the others text to say they’ve found her?
I take a deep breath and try to calm my racing heart. Maybe I missed a room. Maybe she’s in a place no one has thought to check yet. Or maybe someone has taken her and is keeping her hidden. The thought makes me clench my fists in anger.
I continue my search, moving quickly down the hallway and checking every door, every room, every hidden corner.
Most doors are locked, but a few are open and I search each one thoroughly, but Kayla is nowhere to be found.
A fresh wave of panic surges through me, and my grip on reality slips even further, just as it has so many times before.
Never like this though. never this strongly.
Footsteps behind me make me whirl around, but it’s just Honey, his blond hair pulled back in a messy bun and a concerned look on his face.
The tension in the air is palpable, our anger and desperation boiling over.
“Anything?” he asks.
I shake my head, feeling defeated. “No. You?”
He shakes his head too, lips pressed together in a worried frown.
We tear through the open rooms of the hallway like a pack of wild, rabid animals, overturning furniture, smashing windows, and screaming Kayla’s name into the darkness, until we come to the end of the floor.
My phone beeps at the same time as Honey’s, but he gets to it first.
“It’s Snow. Says the chopper’s missing.”
“Fuck!”
“Do you think she ran or was taken?”
“She wouldn’t know how to handle a helicopter,” I tell him, feeling confident in that at least. It’s a pretty specialist skill, one none of us have, hence Valentine always taking us to the mainland for our missions. “And why would she run?”
That’s rhetorical. I absolutely don’t want to consider the answer to that question any more than I want to consider the possibility that someone has taken her.
“Maybe she’s on a mission? And Valentine’s taken her to the mainland in the helicopter?”
I shake my head. We’ve never done individual missions in all my time here.
“We need to alert Seytan. She can tell us if Kayla’s absence is sanctioned.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then she can raise the man down alarm.”
“But there’s no body.”
“Do you think I give a flying fuck?” I growl, my anger simmering over into a rolling boil. “She can gather the staff and interrogate them. I’ll kill them one by one until someone talks. Someone must know something.”
“Let’s go then. I’ll tell the others to meet us at her office.”
“She’ll be in her quarters with the other staff.”
“Do you know where?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, I’ll follow you then. Lead the way.”
I nod and we turn back towards the stairs, our footsteps echoing through the empty hallway. As we make our way down, my anxiety turns into a raging anger. How could no one have seen or heard anything? How could Kayla just disappear like this?
We reach the correct floor, I lead Honey down a different hallway, towards Seytan’s quarters. All of the staff are on this floor, but her suite of rooms are separate from the others. I know the way by heart, having had to visit her many times before.
As we approach Seytan’s door, voices come from the inside, raised in heated argument. I hesitate for a moment, not wanting to interrupt, but then my impatience takes over and I push the door open without knocking.
Seytan is standing in the middle of the room, arguing with a man I don’t recognise. Is he one of the leaders?
They both turn to look at us as we enter, their voices trailing off into silence.
“What is it?” Seytan asks, her eyes narrowing as she takes in our expressions.
“Kayla’s missing.”
Seytan’s eyebrows furrow in concern. “Missing? For how long?”
“A few hours. No one has seen or heard from her since she came back inside with Hatchet,” I tell her, feeling the anger and frustration bubbling up inside me.
“We’ve searched the entire facility, but she’s nowhere to be found.
Hatchet is searching the island, but Snow’s just told us the chopper is gone too. ”
Seytan’s eyes widen. “The helicopter? That’s not good.”
“No shit it’s not good,” I snap, the anger getting the better of me. “Someone has taken her, or she’s run. And we need to find out which it is.”
Seytan’s expression turns grave, and I can see her mind racing with possibilities. “Okay, I’ll track her chip,” she says finally.
“Clancy, get my laptop. Now.”
The guy – Clancy – rushes from the main living space we’re in, into one of the side rooms I happen to know is an office.
The others, all except Hatchet, file into the living room behind us.
“Texted them to join us here,” Honey says quietly as Seytan narrows her eyes at us.
“What’s going on?” Bones asks
“Seytan’s going to track Kayla’s chip. Find out where she is. But the chopper’s been taken.”
“Yeah, saw that message,” he replies, his voice tight.
Clancy returns a moment later carrying Seytan’s laptop and hands it over to her.
She doesn’t thank him, placing it on the coffee table and sinking into the plush velvet sofa.
She busies herself logging on while we all stand around waiting like spare parts.
Maybe coming to Seytan should have been the first thing we did.
Finally, Seytan speaks up, her eyes flicking between the laptop screen and our faces. “Her chip isn’t registering,” she says, her voice tense.
“What? That’s impossible,” I say, my heart sinking with every passing second.
“I’m afraid it’s not. Her chip is being blocked by a signal jammer.”
“What the fuck?” I shout, my anger boiling over. “Who would do that?”
“I don’t know,” Seytan says, her expression grim. “But we need to find her. And fast.”
“How are we supposed to do that? We have no idea where she could be,” Bones says, his voice laced with frustration.
“We’ll have to search the island,” Seytan says. “Split up into teams and search every inch. Hatchet is already out there. I’ll join him as soon as I can. But first, let’s gather the staff and see if anyone has any information. She didn’t get off this island in a helicopter by herself.”
We follow Seytan out of her quarters and down the hallway towards the staff rooms. As we walk, Honey falls into step beside me.
“What do you think happened to her?” he whispers, his voice laced with worry
“I don’t know,” I admit, feeling a sense of helplessness wash over me. “But we’re going to find out. And whoever did this is going to pay.”
Honey nods, his jaw set in determination.
We reach the staff rooms, and Seytan knocks on the door, her voice firm as she calls out for everyone to come out. Gradually, they begin to appear, faces drawn with concern.
“Kayla is missing,” Seytan says, her voice ringing out across the group. “We need to know if anyone has seen or heard anything that could help us locate her. This is not a drill, people. This is serious. We need to find her.”
The staff nod, murmurs of agreement rippling through the group. Seytan then divides them into teams, sending them off in different directions to search the island. Ghost, Bones, Snow and Honey go with them. I stay with Seytan.
“Was anyone missing?” I ask her, when they’ve all gone off.
She nods, her face pale.
“Who?”
“Doctor Callaway. And Valentine.”
“Valentine? You think he’s taken her?”
“He’s the only one who can fly the helicopter.”
“But, why is the doctor missing?”
“I’m not sure. I need to search her office. Something isn’t adding up.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Seytan sighs and leads the way back towards the stairwell.
We climb up to the next floor and make our way down the hallway towards the medical wing.
A sense of unease settles over me as we approach, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
Something about this entire situation is off, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Seytan opens the door to the medical wing and we step inside.
The air is thick with the scent of antiseptic.
The doctor’s office is at the back of the wing, tucked away behind glass fronted doors.
Seytan leads the way, her hand hovering over the keypad that controls the locks.
She punches in a code and the doors slide open with a hiss of air.
Seytan begins rifling through the drawers and I join her, searching for any clues as to why the doctor might be missing. There’s nothing obviously out of place, but when I reach the last drawer, something catches my eye. It’s a small, leather-bound journal, tucked away in the corner.
“Hey, Seytan, check this out,” I say, holding up the journal
She turns towards me, her eyes narrowing as she takes in the book. “What is it?”
“It looks like a journal. Maybe the doctor left some clues in here.”
Seytan nods, her expression serious as she takes the journal from me and opens it, roughly flicking through the pages. A folded sheet of paper falls out.
“What is that?” I ask, bending down to pick it up. She beats me to it.
She unfolds the piece of paper, her eyes rapidly moving from side to side and she skims the information.
“What is it?” I ask again, unable to contain my curiosity and need to know.
“It’s a series of test results,” Seytan says, her voice barely above a whisper. “On Kayla.”
“What?” I say, feeling a sense of horror wash over me. “What kind of tests?”
Seytan scans the information again, turning pale.
Just then someone races into the medical wing, knocking into something and causing a ruckus.
Before we can move out of the office to investigate, Valentine appears in the doorway, out of breath.
“Valentine? We thought you’d left the island. You weren’t at roll call.”
“I was on a video call. Clancy just filled me in. Where’s the asset?”
“That’s what we’re trying to discern,” Seytan tells him.
“Well, what does the chip say?” he snaps.
“We can’t get a read on it. Something seems to be jamming the signal.”
He grimaces. “So this is a professional hit then. They knew what they were doing?”
“Apparently so.”
“The helicopter’s gone. We thought—”
“That I’d stolen her away in the middle of the night? Please. I’m just as invested in this program as you are. More so. Find her. She’s a valuable asset, and we can’t risk her falling into the wrong hands. Have you checked on your little pet project?”
Seytan blanches and shakes her head, before pulling a phone from her pocket and tapping away at it. Somehow she’s even paler when she looks back up.
“Valentine?” Her voice is shaky and her hands are trembling.
“What, Paula?”
“Be careful bringing her in. She’s not just a valuable asset.”
“I’m aware that she’s our daughter. But I’ll treat her the same as the others.”
“What?” I blurt out, unable to keep quiet any longer. Kayla is their daughter? Theirs? As in, Valentine and Seytan? What the fuck is going on?
“Not that.” Seytan holds out the test results to him. When he doesn’t take the sheet of paper, she continues speaking. “I think she’s pregnant. So she’s actually priceless.”
“Then why the hell did you let her go?” He snarls, swiping the doctor’s desk clear in the process.
“I didn’t.” Seytan insists. She’s still clearly shocked, but there’s steel in her voice too. She doesn’t like being spoken to that way. “She was taken. There’s a difference.”
“Yeah, by the looks of it, by the fucking doctor you said we could trust and that insane vermin boy who was supposed to be terminated! Where the fuck is our daughter, Paula?”
“Probably at the mercy of our vermin son.”