Then again, this ain’t no regular tongue.
Based on how we left things, I feel confident that The Ivory won’t just kill us the second we land. But we’ve also been gone for weeks, so who knows what kinds of shambles this place is in now.
Lachlan the helicopter pilot circles the island a few times before he feels comfortable enough to land. We don’t see anyonewaiting for us on the roof with guns, which is a good sign. But that doesn’t mean they’re not on their way, or staying hidden.
Once we touch down, we have exactly two goddamn seconds to hustle our asses out of the helicopter and get inside the mansion, at which point we need to find the panic room. Lex said he saw something when he was hacking into the prison servers… A connecting network that readIvory Mans. Panic.He’s just guessing this means there’s a panic room in the mansion, and that’s where he can potentially take control of any security systems they have. Maybe cut the power.
Andhopefullyfind his computer The Ivory confiscated.
We’re working on straight long-shots right now, but it’s better than nothing. I wish we weren’t going into this shit completely blind, but it’s the nature of the beast. None of us have been inside the mansion before, so we don’t really know what to expect.
We would’ve liked to land on the prison, but at this point that’d be like landing on top of a box-fort.It’s not in a position to have anything heavy touching it.
Seeing it from above is staggering. Even more so after being gone for so long. The night of the storm started to feel like a faint hallucination, after all the trauma—the prison splitting in half with me inside it, escape and fireworks and almost drowning then fearing that I’d lost the love of my life… It was by far the most fucked up night of my life.
And I’ve had no shortage of fucked up nights.
It barely felt real, especially after weeks in paradise. And yet seeing the state of the prison reminds us that it definitely was.
The bird goes down in slow motion, Lex and I squeezing each other’s hands numb the closer we get. As soon as we’re on the roof, we nod at Lachlan and jump out.
He’s supposed to wait for us as long as it’s safe for him to do so; lock the doors and duck down out of sight. But we all agreedthat the second he feels threatened even slightly, he’ll bounce, and we’ll be on our own.
No hard feelings. We get it.
Lex and I take cover, checking that the coast is clear before we run for the only door we see. Unfortunately, it’s locked.
“Great,” I sigh. “Now what?”
“Hang on, lemme think…” Lex stares off into space.
I love watching his brain work, but right now I’m seriously freaked out that someone’s going to run up on us with guns. Sure enough, that’s more or less exactly what happens.
The door whips open, right in front of us. And we just freeze, standing still and staring at a guy, who’s staring back at us.
Like a T-Rex… He can’t see us if we don’t move.
I’ve never seen this man before, but he has a vaguely familiar face. I can’t put my finger on it…
He glances at the helicopter, then back at us, gaze narrowed. “You’re not the Governor…”
I gape at him, completely baffled. “Uh… no. We’re not…?”
He continues to stare at us for another few heavy freaking moments, and my heart is jumping up into my throat.
I don’t think this is one of the Warden’s men. For one, he’s not killing or capturing us. Also, he seems to have a different kind of accent.Maybe German, or… Russian?
Before I can think on it too hard, he spins and storms back inside without a word. Lex and I share a look, following him slowly into the mansion. Inside the door is just a staircase that goes down, and we listen to him stomping down it before we do the same, much slower.
“Who the hell was that?” I whisper to Lex.
“I don’t know. Why’d he ask us if we were thegovernor?” His forehead lines.
“I don’t know,” I mumble as we reach the top floor. “This is already weird as shi—”
Lex slaps his hand over my mouth, shoving me around a corner just in time, as two large men come storming up the stairs.Rightpast us.
As soon as the coast is clear, I peek after them. “That’s one of the Warden’s personal security guys. I recognize him.” When I’m sure they’re fully out of sight and earshot, I slap my hand over my heart. “Fuck… What a rush!”
