The shaking stopped as she stepped over the line, a soft smile on her face. She seemed for all the world like vintage Jade Clark again, every inch a movie-star’s daughter. As she walked towards the phone, her hair caught the late afternoon sunlight and rippled softly in the wind. She was golden, immaculate. Everyone wanted to be her, everyone loved her, desired her. She was one of the beautiful people.
She didn’t look down. She didn’t look back. No hesitation. Jax was smiling. They were magnets. She could feel the pull of him, the need for him. They couldn’t fight it. It was her place. Her destiny.
Alex closed his eyes and slumped back against Ellis’s grip. He couldn’t watch.
Ellis had won, again.
35
Ana
51:53
Ana woke with a jolt. She sat bolt upright, her hands pulling at her shirt. It felt as though something was tight around her neck. But there was nothing there.
She coughed several times—a dry, rasping cough. Everything hurt. Her head was spinning, her eyes burned. Her throat felt like she’d swallowed sandpaper.
Instinct told her to pull herself together; danger was still here. But her body responded sluggishly. Her eyes wouldn’t focus, darkness pulled at the edge of her vision; she kept coughing in violent bouts.
She was sitting on something soft; it had the downy feel of a sleeping bag. Was she on a bed? Was she back in her room? Where was Alex?
Her mind was slowly pulling itself together, remembering bits and pieces. The smoke, Alex at the door, Ellis coming towards her…Someone had grabbed her and pulled her backwards.She remembered it now, the feeling of strong hands dragging her into the hatch.
The hatch! She was inside the hatch!
Fuck.She jumped to her feet, all senses kicked into gear as she scanned the room, searching for Bates. Where was he? Where? He had to be here, he’d carried her here and left her on this sleeping bag.Where was he?For several terrifying moments she checked every corner, every shadow, picking out shapes in the dark—but there was no one there.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look at her surroundings.
The long, narrow room was dark and had the musty, earthy smell of a damp basement. A string of bulbs lit up the curved corrugated roof above her, giving off a weak yellow glow. There was a small, curtained area with the lid of a camping toilet peeking out behind it. A modest kitchenette was installed at the end wall with a single gas burner; utensils and plates were lined up neatly on a shelf above the counter, with food stacked below in labeled plastic containers. To her right she could just make out a large crate pushed up against the side wall. A chessboard was set out on top, a single chair to one side.
There was no sign of a way in, or out.
Everything was utilitarian and meticulously organized, like some prepper’s underground bunker—built for survival. Ana swallowed nervously.Who was this person?Who built this whole setup? Who spent time carefully lining up their plates in a neat row, right before kidnapping seven teenagers?
Nervously, she scanned the shadows one more time. At the far end, she could only make out vague angular shapes in the weak light. Maybe a desk? A chair? It was hard to tell what was down there, but it wasn’t human. She was alone.
Her thoughts flashed to Alex. He was outside somewhere, withEllis—and if Bates wasn’t in the bunker right now, then he had to be out there too, probably armed. If she didn’t do something soon, before the hour was up, Ellis would make damn sure Alex crossed the line and Bates would be there to finish things off.
There must be so little time left! She had no idea how long she had been unconscious. Quickly, she pulled out her phone.
49:14
For a moment she was disorientated. That couldn’t be right. It was too long—after the bunker and the code. It should have been closer to the end of the hour. Then it hit her like a hard punch in the gut.
It was a new hour.
The timer had restarted. While she was unconscious, someone must have crossed the line. Someone else was dead.
Ellis, Jade, or…Alex? Who was it? Panic hit her.Please not Alex.Ellis would have got rid of him first if he had the chance. Had Alex crossed the line? Was Alex already dead? Was this all for nothing? She couldn’t go on. Not without Alex.
Stop it,she told herself sharply.Alex is alive.
She could feel it in her heart—she could feel him. Alex was fine and she was going to find a way out of this trap. Everything was going to be all right, he was going to be all right.
With a self-control she didn’t know she had, Ana switched her thoughts over to the job at hand. She was in Bates’s secret lair. There had to be something she could do from here, something that would end the game once and for all.
Barely aware she was doing it, Ana’s hands curled into fists. She checked around—a set of free weights were lined up in a neat row nextto the mattress. Reaching for the middle weight, she hefted it in her hands. Light enough to swing. Heavy enough to do some damage.
