Flawed (29 page)

He nodded again, his hair tickling her cheek.

As quietly as possible, Ellyssa grabbed their snowsuits and handed one to Rein. He shrugged the clothing on; the ruffling of the material seemed to echo around them, not even close to being as quiet as she would’ve liked. Fortunately, the visitors were still a few meters away.

Through the material of the tent, barely distinguishable, a soft glow permeated the distance. A flashlight. After a moment, the light extinguished and a twig snapped, followed by hushing.

Rein leaned close. “What are we going to do?” he asked, his voice as soft as the light breeze.

“Wait,” Ellyssa answered.

A few moments later, the sound of footsteps crunched on loose gravel. The Renegades’ stealth left much to be desired. Hushed whispers and more crunching. Rein’s shallow breath. Woody stirred. Trista mumbled.

Then, finally, the announcement of the visitors’ arrival. A powerful beam of light flashed inside the rocky nook.

“We have you surrounded,” said a male; his tone sounded sure. His nerves were frazzled, though. Mike—that was his name.

All at once, there were surprised mumbles, unzipping of bags, swishing of fabric, thumps of movement.

“What the hell?” Woody’s voice carried over.

“We have you surrounded,” Mike repeated again. “Come out with your hands showing first. Leave your weapons inside. I want to see five sets of hands.”

“Do as they say,” Ellyssa said. She opened the flap to her and Rein’s tent and put her hands through.

More thumps and swishes. Someone—Ellyssa thought Trista—zipped her snowsuit.

“Okay, that is enough; come out now,” said one of the females, authoritative. Her name was Ann. “I only see six hands. If four more don’t show within the next two seconds, we’ll open fire.”

Ellyssa knew she was lying. Their orders were to bring them back alive. “Rein,” Ellyssa said, as she slipped her hands through the flap of the tent. His hands joined hers.

“Okay. Keep your hands in view and come out of the tents. Slowly.”

Hunched over, Ellyssa moved into the biting cold, flinching away from the beam of bright light. Rein followed.

“That’s right. Keep your hands where we can see them. Careful now.”

Woody, Trista and Dyllon crawled out to the right of Ellyssa, their arms extended in front of them. Before Ellyssa stood three shadowy figures standing in a triangle formation, the two females and one of the males; the other two males hid behind a rock formation off to the right. Ann, the team leader, stood at the point. All carried rifles trained toward their quarry.

“Who are you?” Ann asked.

“Who wants to know?” Woody countered.

The woman stepped toward Woody. “I’m the one with the weapon. That means I get to ask the questions.”

“Woody, it is fine. I am Ellyssa.”

“Ellyssa,” Ann mimicked. “And you.” She pointed the barrel at Rein, who answered. She went down the line asking the same question.

“Woody, apparently,” Woody said, finishing the mandatory under-threat-of-weapon question with a thickly sarcastic tone.

“What are you doing here?”

Ellyssa took a step toward her.

“Hey! Hey!” Ann said, swinging her weapon toward Ellyssa. “Stay where you’re at.”

Ellyssa couldn’t see the female’s face, the light staying trained in her eyes, but she was growing weary of standing still while being questioned. Questions that would be asked by Dr. Loki in the underground facility where this group hid. A very technical place Ellyssa wanted to see.

“We are not going to hurt you. Apparently, you have come for a reason. Either shoot us or take us to your camp,” Ellyssa said, calling her bluff. “Either way, let us proceed.”

With the muzzle still facing Ellyssa, the team leader stepped back to confer with her friends. A moment later, Ann said, “Okay. One at a time, starting with the loud one at the end.” She indicated Woody with her rifle. “Step forward and move one behind the other. If any of you try anything, I
will
shoot you.”

Ann tried to sound convincing, but her tone hitched toward the end, revealing the lie. From the subtle frown and downward curve of Rein’s mouth, he detected the untruth, too.

Ellyssa’s group moved in a straight line, Woody in front, Rein behind. Their captors escorted them in a jagged triangle formation with Ann leading, Mike midway on the right, and the quiet female, named Loreley, behind and a bit to the left. The other two males had emerged from hiding and trailed far behind all of them.

As they hiked down a game trail, a soft azure washed away the midnight blue as the sun rose and rays streaked across the sky, extinguishing the stars in their wake in a brilliant orange and royal purple. The dark silhouettes of the canyon’s landscape started to define in uneven lines and different hues. The group’s shadows lengthened.

All Ellyssa could tell about Ann was that she had flaming red hair twisted in a tight bun. Mike’s hair covered his ears in a curly orange. And Loreley had caramel-colored skin, black hair also tied in a bun, and blacker eyes. They all wore tactical fatigues and thick jackets, perfect camouflage for the terrain, unlike the white snowsuits Ellyssa’s group wore, easily visible against the reddish-brown backdrop.

Nerves pricking, keeping the captors on high alert, they kept surveying the sky and behind them. None of them were accustomed to being out in the open during the day.

Approximately five kilometers later, they reached their destination, a rust-colored canyon wall on the west side. Mesquite trees and thick brush grew abundantly where the morning and afternoon sun fed the plants.

Ann faced them, her pale face hard with suspicion. Freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks, and bow-shaped lips pursed as she regarded Ellyssa and the rest of her group with pale green eyes. Ann’s thoughts were angry. She wasn’t sure why Ellyssa and her group were there, or why Dr. Loki had organized the team to fetch them. She hated to be exposed when everything they’d worked for could be so easily discovered. “Line up over to the side. There,” Ann said, using the weapon as her pointing finger.

Moving as a unit, Woody led them to file down the side of the cliff, while the two other males, Keith and Gus, the ones who’d trailed behind, kept them targeted, Ann moved behind thick brush and pulled away a heavy, rust-colored fabric. Lying behind it was an entrance to the facility Ellyssa wanted to see. From what Ellyssa could gather, their soon-to-be hosts lived in a place almost as technologically advanced as The Center had been. Maybe two or three years behind.

Woody muttered in amazement at the proficiency with which they hid the tunnel, the way the colors of the curtain blended within the walls of the canyon and the shadows of the indigenous plants. Completely undetectable to any patrols who didn’t know where to look.

“This way,” said Ann. She gestured with her rifle.

“What about our equipment?” Rein asked.

After exchanging a glance with Loreley, Ann directed Keith and Gus with a nod of her head. When the two males retreated down the path that had brought them to the cave, Mike took over their positions and raised his muzzle. Loreley joined him.

“They will bring your stuff back,” Ann said.

Woody watched as the two men left, his face bunched in mistrust. “It better all be there.”

“Now you make threats. You really don’t get the whole ‘I carry the gun, so I’m in charge’ thing, do you?”

Woody’s sharp gaze jerked toward the redhead. “I’m with Ellyssa. If you wanted us dead, you had your opportunity.”

Ann glared at Woody. “As I see it, as long as I hold this,” she said, weighing the gun in her arm, “my opportunities are endless.”

Ellyssa narrowed her eyes as anger, as much a part of her as the beat of her heart, thrummed like a live wire, making her muscles respond in anticipation. Although she knew the redheaded female was supposed to deliver them unharmed, she couldn’t predict the future, and the female was weighing her options.

After years of never coming into contact with anyone from the outside world, Ann feared them and the dangers Ellyssa and her group possibly posed. Ellyssa hoped Ann wouldn’t try anything stupid. She’d hate to end their welcome with the death of one of Dr. Loki’s people, but Ellyssa wouldn’t hesitate if the need called.

“Now, this way.” Ann indicated with her rifle, again.

With Rein’s hand in hers, Ellyssa found herself entering a wide tunnel large enough to accommodate four people walking side by side. White dust motes danced in the filtered, arced sunlight. After letting the curtain fall back into place, Ann switched on the flashlight, shining the beam in front of them.

“Follow the tunnel until I tell you to stop,” Ann ordered.

“This is man-made,” said Rein, his hand running over the sharp cuts made by a pickaxe.

“It took five years to clear out,” responded Mike.

“Shut up,” Ann ordered as Loreley shot the male a death glance.

Mike promptly obeyed.

“Move,” Ann ordered.

Ellyssa and Rein followed behind Woody, Trista and Dyllon. Their three captors trailed them. A couple of meters down, silicon ribbon solar cells were stationed on rollers, for easy movement, and lined against the rocky wall; based on what Ellyssa had captured, their hosts left them out during the morning hours every other day to recharge. Thick cables hooked to the wooden supports at regular intervals and disappeared into the darkness, their source of electricity.

“Wow,” uttered Trista, her soft voice loud in the enclosed area.

“Keep going,” Ann directed when they stopped to marvel at their solar technology.

They had shuffled forward another thirty meters when Ann called for them to halt. The redhead maneuvered around them and shone the flashlight into a gaping hole carved into a section of the tunnel. Five red four-wheelers with black wheel covers were parked inside the earthen garage.

“Do you know how to drive an ATV?” Ann asked Woody.

Dumbfounded, Woody shook his head. “Where did you acquire these?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Her gaze moved from one to the other. “Any of you?”

“I do,” Dyllon said.

“Okay. You and that blonde,” she indicated Trista, “ride together.” She went and stood in front of the group and started to point out all the levers and pedals. “This is the clutch. This is the brake. These are the gears.” She put her foot on a lever. “One click down is first, up is second, so forth. Got it?”

Not waiting for an answer, Ann stared to point and direct again. “You two,” she said to Ellyssa and Rein, “will ride together. And you,” she turned toward Woody, “will ride with Mike. Try anything funny and the dark-haired girl behind you will put a bullet in the back of your head.”

Woody’s jaw clenched. Ellyssa didn’t invade his thoughts, but she still could see the words that slithered around inside him, wanting to strike out.

Ann straddled one of the vehicles and Loreley climbed behind her, leaving the fifth for the two males who had gone to retrieve their stuff.

“Let’s move out.”

As Ellyssa looked over Rein’s shoulder, her arms strapped around his waist like vises, the passage of air swept her hair back and twisted the strands into tangles. The engines roared deafeningly, and the rumble vibrated through her thighs and clicked her teeth together. Headlights illuminated the twisting man-made passage. The destination was a lot farther than she had expected. At least thirty minutes, if not a bit longer, had passed by the time Mike, with Woody as his passenger, slowed and pulled the ATV into a garage-type room dug into the side of the tunnel.

The silence felt out of place after the long minutes of the rumbling noise. Even with the engines shut off and free of the four-wheelers, Ellyssa’s ears rang, and she still felt the vibration in her legs.

Ann took the lead again. “Come on.”

Around the next bend, a thick metal door divided the tunnel from what lay on the other side. Ellyssa had a good layout of the schematic, and was very impressed, to say the least. The others would be just discombobulated. She wondered how Renegades could have accumulated such technology. Ellyssa grew anxious to meet this Dr. Loki.

Ann pushed the orange button on the intercom. “Status good.”

“Roger,” said a male voice.

A moment later, the door slid back on its track and revealed a steel wall.

“What the hell?” muttered Rein. He tore his eyes away from the scene and looked at Ellyssa.

She squeezed his hand. “Just wait. You aren’t going to believe it.”

Ann stepped through the door and went to the right. They followed.

Except for the wall and floors being constructed from steel, the corridors reminded Ellyssa of The Center, sterile and cold. The metal hall twisted and turned. Closed doors led to rooms. People, dressed either in tactical gear or white lab coats, rushed to unknown destinations. Some passersby glanced at them with surprise; others seemed too preoccupied to acknowledge their presence. All the while, Ellyssa and her group soaked in as much as they could.

“I can’t believe this,” Trista said. “Can you believe this?”

“Shut up back there,” came Ann’s answer.

The section of the hall ended at stairs leading down. Without even a glance back, Ann descended. Ellyssa looked over the railing. The steps went down four flights without any stories between.