38 The Annex
Since he walked out of that interrogation room, everything about him is different.
His chest was heaving; blood speckled up his forearms, veins bulging. Strands of hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. His eyes were empty. Like someone had flipped a switch and turned the lights off inside him.
He hasn’t said a word since. Part of me wants him to speak. I didn’t realize the toll it would take. The interrogation plays through my mind. When Jace started carving into him…I had to leave.
But I saw the end result. The change in Jace. A chill runs through my body.
“You okay?” Luca murmurs.
I give him a sideways glance. “Define okay.”
“I mean, you seem okay.”
I smirk. “Noah already claimed the nervous breakdown quota today.”
“It was not a breakdown.” Noah snaps without looking up. “It’s important that all devices are set back on the chargers after being used. So they aren’t dead when someone needs them.”
I pat his knee.
Luca snorts. “Yeah, and somehow he almost looks prettier than me. Life’s unfair.”
“How is it unfair that he’s almost prettier than you?” I scoff.
He gives me that grin. “No one can be as pretty as me. Well, except you.”
I smile and roll my eyes.
“We’re here,” Noah announces as the van slows to a stop.
Preston opens the backdoors to the van and we all file out. Dry, heated air hits my jaw, the dust making me want to sneeze. The tire tracks can be seen in the dirt access road. I turn. Bleached, decaying buildings surround the area.
Lucian clears his throat. “Redwood Valley is just up ahead. We’ll go on foot from here. From what we can tell, there are three points of entry. My team will take the emergency entrance. Team B will take the front. Isobel, you’ll lead team C through the staff entrance.”
My eyes widen. I’m leading? I glance over at Jace. He’s still staring in the direction of the Annex, his expression blank. I’m not even sure he’s listening.
“Move out.” Lucian’s words snap me back into myself.
“You ready to lead us, cap?” Luca nudges me.
I huff a laugh. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
“It’s your turn to lead.” Lucian joins us. “You have good instincts. I’ve reviewed your mission comms, and you have what it takes.” He puts a hand on my shoulder. “You’re my daughter, Gracie. It’s in your blood to lead.”
I return his smile. Letting the confidence he has in me soak in. I can do this. He pats me on the back and everyone moves.
The annex materializes through the dense trees.
Kellan and Felix fan out in front of me, Luca and Noah flank me, and Jace follows up the rear.
We move as one unit, approaching the staff entrance.
Noah presses a keycard to the door, which beeps and unlocks loud enough that I’m sure Lucian heard it on the other side of the building.
We file inside.
“We’re in,” I murmur into the comms.
“Head on a swivel, Gracie.” His voice comes back through.
The air inside is stale. Fluorescent lights flicker overhead, not enough to banish the eerie shadows, enough to make the hair on my arms stand. The hallway stretches, narrow and clinical. The walls a washed-out green that’s peeled and blistered with age.
Dust coats the floor in uneven patches, disturbed in places—footprints, drag marks— spots of blood that’s hard to tell if it’s new or old. Doors line the corridor, some ajar, some shut.
I catch a whiff of something metallic mixed with antiseptic and fear. Our boots are silent as we move. Clearing each room silently. Most rooms on this side seem to be empty or just storage.
A high-pitched scream barrels down the hallway.
We freeze. I can hear the fear in that scream.
I take off.
“Isobel!” Jace whisper-shouts.
But I ignore him. I run. The door on the right is open, light spilling into the darkened hallway. I move silently as the shattered tube of the light above crunches under my feet. I edge closer, heart hammering, just trying to see who’s inside.
A teenage girl stands in the center of the room. She looks around sixteen. Thin. Rigid. Her hands are shaking. There’s someone else with her—another kid, maybe a year or two older—on his knees, crying.
And looming over them is Delaine and Butch. I grit my teeth. How are they here with Daniel?
Delaine’s voice is smooth, like he’s teaching a child a lesson. Like this is all perfectly normal. I fight the shudder.
“Do it,” he says. Calm. Expectant. A small, sick smile. “You hesitate now, you’ll hesitate out there. And hesitation gets people killed.” He circles her like a predator. His back is now facing me.
The girl’s breath stutters. Her eyes are wide and empty in a way that means she’s already been pushed too far. Seen too much.
My stomach fills with rage.
“Do it, now!” Butch yells, and she flinches. “Don’t make me break another finger.”
I look down at her trembling hands. One finger is bent the wrong way.
I charge into the room, hitting Delaine with the butt of my gun. Butch reaches behind him. I shoot his shoulder, and he stumbles back with a grunt, his grip loosening as the gun clatters across the floor.
The sound snaps the girl out of her trance; she drops, a broken sound tearing out of her throat as she curls in on herself.
Delaine lunges for me with a snarl, and I barely get my arms up in time.
The impact rattles straight away through my bones, knocking me back.
The gun catches my fall, and every part of my body erupts in pain.
His hand comes out of nowhere, connecting with my face hard enough to snap my head sideways.
White bursts behind my eyes. Pain blooms hot and immediate, ringing through my skull.
“Stupid bitch,” he spits in my face.
I taste blood. I slam my knee up, trying to get him off of me. But my strength is not what it was.
I blink and Delaine’s weight is off me. I’m staring at Jace beating him.
I scramble to my feet, just as Luca moves past me to throw a punch at Butch, knocking him back to the ground.
“I think that’s enough,” Noah says to Jace.
Jace’s shoulders rise and fall. “These two touched her. It won’t be enough.”
Luca pauses, then kicks Butch in the ribs.
“Felix, Kellan.” I turn towards the door, “Get these two to transport.”
“Aw, really?” Felix whines. “Can’t we just call some grunts?”
“No, I need to make sure they get back.” I roll my neck, rubbing my side.
Jace’s gaze snaps to me immediately. He’s in front of me in a heartbeat. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” I pat his shoulder and move past him.
Noah has already moved to the kids, lowering himself to their level, voice calm. The girl is staring at me. Her gaze is wide, unblinking.
I wonder if she thinks I’m going to hurt her. I kneel slowly, a few feet away from her. Keeping my eyes on hers. She flinches when I shift forward, but she doesn’t pull away completely. Her lips tremble.
“Hi there.” I keep my voice low. “I’m Isobel. I’m not going to hurt you.” I keep my hands in her vision.
She stares.
“Are you hurt?” I look down at her hand, the broken finger is swollen, skin red and angry.
She nods.
“Iz, we gotta move.” Jace’s voice sounds empty still. All the rage melted away.
I look over my shoulder, shooting him a look.
“Okay.” I turn back around. “Those two guys, that’s Felix and Kellan. They’re good friends of mine. I trust them to watch my best friend in the whole wide world.”
I watch her eyes widen and shoot over to the guys.
“They won’t hurt you, I promise.” I try to catch her gaze so she can see the truth in my eyes. “But you need to let them get you out of here.”
She blinks. I wonder if she even heard me. Maybe she can’t understand me.
“Okay.” Her voice is so soft, I almost miss it.
I give her a small smile. “Great.” I stand, offering her my hand.
She looks at my hand like it’s a foreign object. Then after a moment, she takes it.
“I will find you later, okay?”
She dips her chin once.
“Alright, team lets move. Felix, Kellan, call for backup to get her out of here.”
They both nod and then file back out of the room.
“Gracie. Status.”
My hand grips the gun tighter. Fuck.
“We’re making our way to the control room now.”
“Did you have resistance?”
“Kind of, and some prisoners here. A young girl and boy, Felix and Kellan are escorting them out.”
“Good, we had some resistance in the emergency entrance and the front. Glad to hear the staff entrance is clear. Keep going. Keep the line open.”
“Copy.”
The stairwell echoes with every step we take. The air here is just dust. No one has used these stairs in years. We finally reach the top and step inside.
The hallway is narrower, more administrative. Low ceiling, old carpet matted down. At the far end, a metal door with light cutting through underneath.
“That it?” Luca murmurs.
Noah nods. “Control room.”
My jaw tightens. The cameras have been looping, thanks to Preston and Noah. So he shouldn’t know we’re here.
This is where Gideon said Daniel watches.
We make our way down.
“All is quiet upstairs,” I whisper.
“Copy,” Lucian replies.
There’s no signage. No windows. Most of the office doors are open, with forgotten furniture and papers scattered everywhere.
We stop in front of the door, guns raised and ready.
I raise a hand as Jace prepares to breach.
Three.
Two.
One.
We burst into the room, the door slamming against the wall. Multiple screens are mounted. The camera feed live images of the annex. Hallways, rooms, stairwells. Everywhere.
But the chair in front of the screens is empty.
The hum of the monitors fills the air.
“It was a setup,” I say, my voice low, laced with anger.
Jace’s expression turns thunderous. Luca’s mouth curls in a snarl. Noah steps closer to the screens, eyes scanning.
“It was too easy.” Jace voices my thoughts, “little resistance our way. Gideon must’ve worked it out with Daniel before.”
He slams his fist against a cabinet.
“Let me see if I can check the cameras and see when he left.” Noah moves forward.
Before he can touch the keyboard, the screens flicker and go black. Then Daniel’s face fills the screens. The amused glint in his eyes and that smug smile.
“Took you long enough,” he drawls.