Chapter 28 #2
Her phone buzzed—the new one Tony had brought her today because apparently she couldn’t live without it. She wanted to call Maizie and have a ton of security settings added so they couldn’t track her. But honestly, if she was going to get kidnapped again, maybe it was a good idea to let them do it.
Wallace moved to stand across the table from her. “We can’t draw conclusions without proof. Nor can we speculate or come up with a theory. What we can do is look for your friend.”
Eliana nodded, dragging out her phone and looking at the screen.
Part of her wanted it to be a message from her parents.
Carlos seemed to have talked to them more lately than she had.
But until she figured things out, she didn’t want to hash out in conversation what she hadn’t even finished wrestling with in her own mind.
She didn’t want to be rescued or told what to think, even by people she loved.
Right now, it could be a fear reaction, making her want to curl in on herself—but with that recurring nightmare, it wasn’t a peaceful place to be.
For her to build the life she wanted, Eliana knew she’d have to claim her path for herself.
“Wallace and I can walk through this whole place,” Maloney said. “We’ll search every room for her, then we can cross the Shrine off the list.” She nodded as if that decided it.
Tony said, “There aren’t many guests today, probably because of the weather. We could round up all the staff and get that room-by-room search done a whole lot faster.”
Eliana looked at him, tears blurring her vision. “What if she’s somewhere, nailed to a table with her tongue cut out?”
Tony came over, crouched by her chair, and put his hand on her arm. “Let’s try to find her. She might be alive, but hurt and disoriented. We don’t know.”
She bit back the words she wanted to say. No one needed her to presume Carolena was a lost cause, already dead. “She’s been missing since the craziness, right?”
Tony nodded. “That’s right.”
“Maybe she got stuck somewhere. Or she doesn’t know who she is.”
“Let’s get searching.” He stood and held out his hand. “What do you say? Want to go with me, and we’ll try to find her?”
Eliana took his hand. “Okay.”
If she got somewhere quiet, she could call Carlos and tell him that she hadn’t learned anything from Maloney. Then again, she hadn’t known that Sarah wasn’t being genuine either. Hadn’t believed that Faith might try to kill her. She never would’ve believed that Luci would willingly join that group.
The search for answers had only led her to understand how much she didn’t know. It was almost enough to send her right back to Wyoming, where at least the territory was familiar.
But first, she wanted to know that Carolena was okay and that Luci made it home safe.
Lord, I’m asking the impossible, but isn’t that what You do? Obviously, I have no idea what I’m doing, so maybe You could take the lead.
Ten minutes later, Tony walked her to the hall, where he’d gathered all the staff.
He gave out orders for the search, assigning floors and rooms. Then he instructed everyone to check back in with one of the other security guards, who would stay on the ground floor by the elevators and coordinate.
He left himself and Eliana out of the assignments, and even though she wanted to ask why, she kept her mouth shut.
Wallace and Maloney walked away with everyone else.
They probably thought she was supposed to rest and not be involved. Which, after being nearly murdered a few days ago might be a good idea, but she didn’t think that’s what Tony had in mind.
He walked over to her. “Come with me.”
She didn’t ask why, she just followed him to an elevator at the end of the hall, around two corners. “I’ve never used this elevator.” Everyone else was out of earshot. “Where are we going?”
“Downstairs.” He pushed a button, and the elevator doors opened.
Ambiguous. There was a whole lot of “downstairs” below the ground floor of this building. “Are you going to tell me why?” She followed him inside.
The doors closed.
Tony eyed her. “You’re going to think about what happened every time you get in an elevator with me, aren’t you?”
“I’m assuming that I won’t eventually.” At least, she hoped that would be the case. “Just tell me what we’re doing.”
“I’ll let Sylvia do that.”
When the doors opened, the director was waiting for them. A long hall stretched behind her, a security guard at a small desk to one side. A guy she’d never met.
“Eliana, how are you?” Sylvia looked like she wanted to give her a hug.
“I’m feeling a lot better. Just worried about Carolena.”
Sylvia nodded. “That’s understandable. I’m hoping some of our guests down here will be able to tell us where to find her.”
“What guests?” Eliana shook her head. “Isn’t she somewhere in the building?”
Tony didn’t move. He spoke carefully. “We already searched for her. She isn’t at the Shrine.”
“What—”
Sylvia motioned for them to walk with her. “We also know that the other day, someone ordered that group to infiltrate the vault. I’d like you to see if you can find out who.”
“What are you talking about?” Eliana followed Sylvia into a room with a window on one side. Through the window was another small room with a table and two chairs. A young woman paced behind the table.
“She doesn’t know you can see her.” Sylvia turned to Eliana. “Her name is Keri Herbohn.”
Tony crowded into the room behind her.
Eliana’s thoughts stuttered before catching up. Their guests. “You’re keeping them here?”
“It isn’t as if we’re going to turn them over to the police.” Sylvia shook her head as if the idea was silly. “This is Shrine business, and it concerns you.”
“You want me to find out who hired them, or ordered them to come here?” Eliana paced to the window and back. “I don’t interrogate people.”
Tony said, “I’ll go in there with you.”
“No, you won’t,” Sylvia said. “Eliana has to do this alone or that woman will never talk.”
Eliana shook her head. “This is insane. I’m not a cop, and I’ve never interrogated someone in my life. How am I supposed to get her to talk?” She pointed a finger at her boss’s boss. “And don’t say torture.”
Tony shrugged. “We could rustle up some truth serum. I bet Dominatus has something that would work. Maybe something in the vault.”
Sylvia shot him a look. “It would still take Eliana to ask the questions. And it’s because you aren’t a professional at this that I think you might have the best shot at it.”
On the other side of the one-way mirror, Keri Herbohn walked back and forth, still wearing the clothes she’d had on when her team had tried to break into the vault. The woman looked exhausted.
“They’re all here?” Eliana said
“Yes,” Sylvia said. “And only they can tell us who hired them. We’ve been through their lives, all their electronic activity. Everything. There’s no indication of who hired them or how.”
“Did they tell you whether it was connected to the canisters that made everyone fight each other?”
Sylvia shook her head. “None of them will talk. One is on lockdown. We took his shoelaces and his belt, just to make sure he’s safe from himself, but we don’t have forever. This isn’t a prison facility, and this whole situation is hanging by a thread.”
“Just have Tony get one of the guys to talk,” Eliana suggested. “Knock him around a bit or something. He’ll cave.”
Tony shrugged. “That didn’t work either.”
“I’m here to find Carolena. Not to help you guys in a way that makes me complicit in keeping these people hostage here.” Eliana folded her arms.
Sylvia seemed unaffected by the truth. “Help us get answers, and we’ll let them go.”
Eliana knew then that she was nothing like these people. She’d never consider doing what they’d done, not even to her worst enemy. “I’m not an interrogator.”
“They know who you are,” Tony said. “It’s a tool you can use to get information out of them.”
“You just want to know who hired them?” Eliana couldn’t believe she was even thinking of doing this. If she stepped into the hall, she could text Carlos. The police could come in, get these people out of here, and take them to jail.
“That’s all we need to know, and then we’ll let them go.” Sylvia stood straight with her shoulders back and a polite expression on her face. As if this were another normal day.
Meanwhile, the ocean where Eliana was drowning had just tossed her in a completely different direction.
Would the seas calm soon? She needed to catch her breath.
Sylvia held out her hand. “I’ll hold on to your phone for you. While you talk to her.”