“Hands up,” Keres orders.
I raise my hands.
“How did you find me?”
“Lucky guess?” I feel the cold metal of a gun muzzle at the base of my neck.
“Try again.”
I swallow down my nervousness. “Fate sent me.”
Dr. Crazy Pants grunts, then slightly lowers her weapon. “Keep your hands up.”
She searches for hidden weapons. She doesn’t find anything but the recorder I had tucked into my jacket pocket. She takes it then steps in front of me.
“Why are you here?”
“I’ve come to save my family,” I raise my eyebrow at her.
“Family?” Dr. Crazy Pants laughs. “They’re not your family.”
I narrow my eyes. “Yes. They are. And I don’t take kindly to people threatening them.”
“We’ll see about that,” she motions to the front door. “After you.”
I walk through the door. “It’s pretty dark in here. How do you see what you’re doing?”
“I have lights when I need them. It’s not too dark in here right now,” Keres pokes me in the ribs. “Keep moving.”
“What’s down this twenty-foot hallway?”
“Your so-called family,” her laughs echo around the empty building. “Don’t you want to see them before you die?”
“I’m not dying today.”
“Fate has other ideas, dearie,” Dr. Crazy Pants pushes me into the central part of the warehouse.
“Is this the room where they used to make the soda?” I slowly turn and take in the dilapidated room that probably should be condemned. Huge chunks of concrete litter the floor. Trash is piled in the corners. There’s a holding tank in the middle of the room that looks like it’slegiton its last legs.
“How the hell should I know? I’m not a damn tour guide,” Dr. Crazy Pants spits at me.
“Rand? Faylor? Are you in here?” I hear grunting ahead of me and can barely make out two figures chained to the wall. “Is that them chained to the east wall or some sort of decoys?”
“It’s them.”
“Prove it,” I lift my chin in that direction.
Dr. Crazy Pants sighs but drags me over to Rand and Faylor chained to the wall and gagged.
“I want to talk to them.”
“No.”
“I have two important questions for Rand,” I insist.
“Fine,” Keres removes his gag. “You have two minutes.”
“Hey, Rambling Man,” I search his green eyes to see if he’s in pain. “Y’all feeling okay?”
