Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
T he blade plunged as she swung around, hoping beyond anything else that it would catch their captor by surprise. She aimed for the area between the edge of the mask and his chest, praying it landed somewhere vital. The sickening thought of taking a life hovered dangerously close to the edge of overwhelming her.
Their captor took a step back, the knife slashing an opening in the lower half of the mask, but doing no real damage.
In an instant, his hand came up and slammed into her cheek. Stars burst into her vision, and Gage began shouting. Her arms were pushed down painfully against her body. Sloane wasn’t going to go down without a fight. She bucked her hips, the motion enough to shift his balance. The momentum allowed her hands to break free from his grasp. Sloane knew she only had a second before he would have control of her limbs again, so she swung her hands up towards his face, latching on to the fabric of the mask where the tear had started and pulled.
Nothing could have prepared her for the way her heart would twist the instant she recognized the face.
“I don’t… I don’t under… understand.” She stammered as her breath rushed in and out of her chest. “What is this?”
“Hello, Sierra,” Courtney said as a twisted smile spread across her face. “You know what? All this time I was so afraid of what would happen if you found out it was me. But this feels right. No more secrets between us. God, I’ve missed being able to look in your eyes and call you by your real name.”
“You’re not… a man.”
She laughed. “No, I’m not. But the drugs I gave you in the cave, and the voice modifications would have distorted your reality enough that it might have seemed that way. Consider it a little insurance policy against being profiled as a person of interest.”
Somewhere in the distance, behind the ringing in her ears, Sloane could hear Gage exhausting himself trying to break free of his chains. She wanted to scream. Courtney grabbed Sloane’s face with one hand, twisting her head so that her eyes locked with Gage.
Her mind felt like it was fracturing. “I don’t understand. Please make it make sense.”
“You already know. I’ve been telling you this whole time.”
Sloane racked her brain, trying to remember every conversation she’d had with Courtney. Nothing had stood out as strange. Nothing had made her feel fearful or weary around her.
“I don’t know…”
“And here I thought your job was to listen to the things people were saying to you. I worried that I was giving you too much insight all this time, and yet, you don’t seem to know me at all. We don’t have much time, no. Not now that I’ve taken your fierce FBI protector. I imagine it’s not just her team that’s going to be sounding the alarms soon.”
“Courtney, please. I want to listen. I want to help you if I can. But you have to know that more killing is not the answer.”
“Gage tried to keep you from me. You’re my only hope. I thought the others were the answer, but they weren’t. They weren’t good enough. They didn’t listen to my commands. My parents would never accept them as his replacement.”
Sloane’s eyebrows pulled together. “Whose replacement, Courtney?”
“My brother’s! His death is why I had to do all this. To find a replacement. For my parents to finally forgive me.”
Sloane blinked slowly, pieces of the puzzle falling haphazardly in her mind. “Why would they need to forgive you?”
“I was supposed to walk my brother to school that day. Do you know my mom said she wished it had been me? That her son should still be there with her? And what did my dad do? He agreed with her. Told me how women are selfish, thinking only of themselves, like I had that morning. Do you know how many hours I spent kneeling on dried rice? For weeks after his death I would come home from school, forced onto my knees where my father would preach to me about a woman’s wickedness and how she had to earn a man’s forgiveness.”
Sloane looked over Courtney’s shoulder. In the time that she’d been absorbing the story, it seemed that Gage had been too. His eyes were wide and his mouth dropped open.
Get the key.
Adrenaline flooded her system. It was time for her to put a plan in place. She listened as Courtney continued to ramble, all the while calculating when she could incapacitate her long enough to grab the key from her pocket and get it to Gage.
“He was pure, and I was tainted. I repented for my sins, but it wasn’t enough for my parents. I had to find a replacement. I had to show them that perfection could live in a woman, too.” She laughed, her eyes looking over Sloane’s shoulder unfocused. “My dad used to say that my brother’s eyes were a sign he’d been blessed by God. Meant to live an extraordinary life. Meant to be strong. And wise. And I was the reason he was gone. Because women were selfish. I guess I’ll prove him right in that way. I want to be right so badly that I’ve spent more years than I ever thought possible searching for Adrian’s perfect replacement.”
“Why kill that girl in Virginia? Why kill someone after you’d already found me? You’d been back in Silver Springs for months at that point.”
“I wasn’t sure… I got confused. I had to make sure it was really you. And in that process, because you didn’t know who I was or what I’d done, we became friends. I thought if I took someone else, if I found someone else, it might work.” Her head shook back and forth. “But no. No. That girl was not right. She wasn’t pure. She wasn’t willing to learn to be his replacement. She didn’t quiet the voices. Not like you. Never like you. That’s why I left that picture of you with her. She wasn’t worthy, but you are.”
Sloane’s vision spun. Her legs were shaking from the adrenaline pumping through her system, but she did everything in her power to ignore it.
“What about Elias?”
“What about him?” she laughed. “He was nothing more to me than someone I could use, Sierra. As soon as I heard him talking at the shelter about his programming skills, I knew I’d need to tap into his knowledge to get into the Montgomery Defense system. It was easy enough to make it seem like he was the one trying to hack into their system. But he got back from his trip yesterday and had too many questions tonight, so I had to take care of him before you got to the shelter.”
Sloane’s stomach lurched. “You killed him too?”
“God, no. I could never do that to Ellie.” Courtney looked offended at the idea, and Sloane almost laughed at the insanity of everything that was taking place. “She’s a fantastic boss. I imagine the two of them are probably just coming around from what I injected them with. Dr. LeMott really does need to be more careful with leaving his medical bag unattended when he visits the shelter. In any case, they should be fine. But by the time anyone thinks to check on them and lets them out of their cages, we’ll be long gone.”
Their cages? Her eyes widened. “They’re at the animal shelter?”
“You think I was about to waste energy dragging them around? Fuck, if I didn’t want to give you little protector the punishment she deserve for keeping you away from me for so long, I wouldn’t have hauled her here either.”
“Courtney, please. You have to see how wild all this seems. I want to help you. We’re friends, like you said. I can talk to your parents. I can explain what happened and we can get you the help that you need. But you have to let us go. Like you did for Ellie and Elias. You can choose to let us go.”
Courtney shook her head. Her eyes drifted over to Kimi’s body. “Do you know how many towns I had to travel to, running after each time I failed to find his replacement? How hard it was to try and find someone who fit all the criteria over and over again? And then I stumbled into this beautiful little college town in Washington, and there you were. Working at that charming cafe. You were the answer, and she took you from me. Imagine how surprised I was after all these years when I returned to the one place my family never wanted to come back to, and there you were again. A gift from God. He smiled upon me, and I knew I was on the righteous path. The FBI stashed you in what should have been the perfect place. But fate had other plans for us. And who am I to turn away from fate?”
“There isn’t an us, Courtney. I’m not yours to use. I never was. I never will be.”
“You’re lying to yourself! You’ve been listening to the lies he’s been feeding you.” She pointed to Gage, who continued to pull wildly at his chain. She needed to figure out a way to get that key. “You were meant to complete this for me. That’s why all the other women never worked out. Because it could only be you.”
Courtney brought her hands up and captured Sloane’s arms in her grasp. “My plan worked. My brother was a pure soul. I was so worried you’d fuck it all up, but Mae told me what I did had worked. That you couldn’t let anyone else touch you. You kept yourself pure, and you are still the perfect replacement.”
“I was never pure! I wasn’t a virgin when you took me, Courtney. And I’m not pure now. Gage and I are together. In every way. This plan of yours isn’t going to work. Your parents aren’t going to accept a replacement for your brother, you have to know that? I’m sorry they treated you so horribly that you thought bringing them someone you’d taken against their will and tortured would make them love you like you deserved to be loved. It won’t. You’re sick, Courtney. You need help. I can get you that help. Just please. Please let us go so we can help you.”
Pain flashed across Courtney’s face. Sloane saw tears fill her friend’s eyes and for a moment, she thought maybe she actually had gotten through to some sane part of Courtney’s mind.
But in the next instant, Courtney lunged. Just enough to jolt Sloane, her body reacting awkwardly to the threat. Courtney’s hands slid over Sloane’s throat, and she tried not to fight against the pain. It would take everything in Sloane to not break Courtney’s hold, but her mind was screaming over and over again that getting Gage the keys was most important. Courtney squeezed and the edges of Sloane’s vision darkened.
She let the tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes fall, and just as the sneer grew on Court’s face, Sloane made her move. Her left hand lashed out, plunging into her captor’s pocket to snag the keys. She wasted no time swinging her arm and underhand tossing them at the wall next to Gage.
Courtney’s fury was palpable. She squeezed so hard Sloane felt her throat crushing under the pressure. From the corner of her eye, she could see Gage working frantically to get the lock around his ankle undone. She focused all her attention on the enraged face in front of her, when the glint of silver flashed off to the side of her.
Oh god, Courtney had pulled one of her hands away, the other still clamping down on Sloane’s neck. How could she have forgotten about the knife?
“You just had to be like them in the end, didn’t you, Sierra? Just a fucking whore . You ruined everything!”
Courtney threw her to the ground, her hand raising up to gain momentum. Searing pain in Sloane’s hip nearly blinded her as the knife plunged into her flesh. A scream tore from her throat as she tried everything in her power to get away from the pain.
She couldn’t look at the wound. It was going to overwhelm her, and there wasn’t time for that. Instead, her eyes flashed back up to Courtney, and the shadowy figure now standing behind her. Gage’s hands flashed in front of Courtney’s face. Sloane saw a rope slip down over her head, pulling tight across her neck.
“Sloane! Get out of here!”
Sloane’s eyes flickered to Kimi’s body and she whimpered.
“Red, run, please.” His words ground out as he continued to choke Courtney, who was bucking and thrashing with every ounce of strength she had. When Courtney’s head slammed backwards, catching him in the temple, she knew she had to step in. Gage’s grip slipped on the rope as he stumbled backwards. It gave Courtney the room she needed to spin around, landing another blow to Gage’s head.
Sloane didn’t think. She just acted. Fueled by the most intense flood of adrenaline, Sloane grabbed the knife from the floor beside her and lunged for Courtney. The knife pierced the skin of her neck, and the next second a scream filled the near silent basement. Sloane didn’t let go, pressing in harder until Courtney stumbled away.
She slammed into the concrete wall, rolling until her back was against it. Sloane watched in horror as Courtney reached up, pulling the knife from her neck. A wretched, soul sucking screech gurgled up out of Courtney’s mouth before her hands went limp at her sides and she stopped moving.
Sloane stared at her friend’s body. No. Not her friend. Her captor. Her tormentor. Her nightmare. She couldn’t move. The emptiness behind Courtney’s eyes would haunt Sloane for the rest of her days. She had done that. She’d killed someone.
That realization snapped her from her stupor. Sloane looked over at Gage. She expected to feel his arms wrap around her at any moment, but her heart dropped at his body, laid out on the ground, not moving at all. Was he even breathing?!
Help. She needed to get help. She needed… She needed to get them help!
And that’s when it slammed into her. She needed to pull the wire. Gage had said help would come if she ripped any of the leads out of the main hub of her security system. With her hand pressed against her hip as more blood poured out of her wound, Sloane limped towards the corner where the alarm system mainframe was installed.
She pulled the first wire out, flinching as her vision darkened. But she couldn’t take any chances, she pulled the next wire, and then next, until her breath shuddered in and out of her lungs so violently she could barely stand up.
Turning, Sloane tried to make her way back to Gage. But her legs were too weak. She only made it one step before her body was tumbling down to the ground. What little breath was left in her lungs rushed out as she slammed into the cold concrete.
There was no way to tell how much time passed as she laid there, trying to force air into her lungs to keep the dizziness away. Sloane finally got her breathing back under control, but there was no energy left in her body to stand. The only option she had was to roll onto her back. Slowly, so slowly she wanted to cry, she brought her heels up to her bottom and pressed into the concrete as hard as she could. Her body moved mere centimeters, but she was closer to Gage. And that kept her going.
“Gage?” she cried out, her throat radiating with excruciating pain. “Superman. Talk… t-to me.”
A bang came from upstairs, jumbled shouting, frantic in its pitch, reached her ears. She knew her voice was shot, but as the heavy boots stomped across her living room floor, right above her head, Sloane screamed. Barely a whisper came out.
Her body felt like it was being pulled through quicksand. When her head flopped to the side, she felt her mind shutting down. Her vision dimmed, but it was right then that she saw her only hope: a metal support post was so close to her. If she could just reach out…
Sloane used every last drop of energy she had to bring her fist up and bang against the post. Once, twice… The stomping upstairs stopped.
And then they turned, rushing towards where the basement door was. Her body was so cold, but she needed to be with Gage. Even as she felt the blood still seeping down her leg, she desperately needed to make sure he was going to be okay. The door opened, and the smallest flutter of hope lit up her chest.
“Oh, fuck.” Gunner. Sloane almost would have laughed at the profanity if she wasn’t already finding it impossible to focus her eyes. The room kept spinning, darkness calling out to her. But she had to get to Gage.
“Gage,” she croaked.
“Doc!”
“Yeah, I’ve got him.”
“Sloane? Sloane, try to keep your eyes open, okay? Here.” Warmth registered around her but she couldn’t open her eyes.
“Get pressure on her wound before you try to move her. She’s losing too much blood.” Stone’s voice sounded so close. Had she almost made it to Gage?
Something soft slipped around her exposed thigh, pressing impossibly hard against her skin, and then she was airborne.
“Don’t…” she cried out. “Don’t touch me.” God, her throat hurt. Speaking felt like trying to move her vocal cords through sandpaper.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, we have to get you out of here. Stone and Hawk are going to look after Gage, and I’ve got you.” Gunner’s voice registered in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t understand why he sounded so choked up. Unless he was worried about losing his friend. “I’ve got you, Sloane. It’s going to be okay.”
“Gage…”