“Do you think she ran or was taken?”
“She wouldn’t know how to handle a helicopter,” I tell him, feeling confident in that at least. It’s a pretty specialist skill, one none of us have, hence Valentine always taking us to the mainland for our missions. “And why would she run?”
That’s rhetorical. I absolutely don’t want to consider the answer to that question any more than I want to consider the possibility that someone hastakenher.
“Maybe she’s on a mission? And Valentine’s taken her to the mainland in the helicopter?”
I shake my head. We’ve never done individual missions in all my time here.
“We need to alert Seytan. She can tell us if Kayla’s absence is sanctioned.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then she can raise the man down alarm.”
“But there’s no body.”
“Do you think I give a flying fuck?” I growl, my anger simmering over into a rolling boil. “She can gather the staff andinterrogate them. I’ll kill them one by one until someone talks. Someone must know something.”
“Let’s go then. I’ll tell the others to meet us at her office.”
“She’ll be in her quarters with the other staff.”
“Do you know where?”
“Yes.”
“Fine, I’ll follow you then. Lead the way.”
I nod and we turn back towards the stairs, our footsteps echoing through the empty hallway. As we make our way down, my anxiety turns into a raging anger. How could no one have seen or heard anything? How could Kayla just disappear like this?
We reach the correct floor, I lead Honey down a different hallway, towards Seytan’s quarters. All of the staff are on this floor, but her suite of rooms are separate from the others. I know the way by heart, having had to visit her many times before.
As we approach Seytan’s door, voices come from the inside, raised in heated argument. I hesitate for a moment, not wanting to interrupt, but then my impatience takes over and I push the door open without knocking.
Seytan is standing in the middle of the room, arguing with a man I don’t recognise. Is he one of the leaders?
They both turn to look at us as we enter, their voices trailing off into silence.
“What is it?” Seytan asks, her eyes narrowing as she takes in our expressions.
“Kayla’s missing.”
Seytan’s eyebrows furrow in concern. “Missing? For how long?”
“A few hours. No one has seen or heard from her since she came back inside with Hatchet,” I tell her, feeling the anger and frustration bubbling up inside me. “We’ve searched the entirefacility, but she’s nowhere to be found. Hatchet is searching the island, but Snow’s just told us the chopper is gone too.”
Seytan’s eyes widen. “The helicopter? That’s not good.”
“No shit it’s not good,” I snap, the anger getting the better of me. “Someone has taken her, or she’s run. And we need to find out which it is.”
Seytan’s expression turns grave, and I can see her mind racing with possibilities. “Okay, I’ll track her chip,” she says finally.
“Clancy, get my laptop. Now.”
The guy – Clancy – rushes from the main living space we’re in, into one of the side rooms I happen to know is an office.
The others, all except Hatchet, file into the living room behind us.
