I glanced around in the dim bluelight. Shelves full of metal parts lined two of the walls and half of the wall with the door. A storage closet for maintenance was my first impression, but this chair didn’t fit. And the work table filled with half-completed gadgets meant this could be where the goons had built the anti-stunners.
I looked for air and heating vents but didn’t find any. That would explain why I didn’t know about this room. It also meant the only way out of here was through the door. A gap under it let in daylights and air.
It didn’t take a genius to guess Jacy had ordered my abduction. Although I was unclear on the why. Sloan obviously informed him of my visit to the recycling plant, so Jacy knew I had tricked my tracer. Why would that goad him into doing this?
A couple of hours later I still didn’t have any answers. Or food and water. My stomach grumbled. Finally, the door opened, my two goons and Jacy slipped inside the room. He closed and locked the door.
Clearly unhappy, Jacy studied me for a while.
I stared right back. “What’s going on?” I demanded.
“You tell me. What have you been up to?” he asked.
“I helped lance a boil—that was gross. I stitched a patient’s hand; I disinfected every surface of?—”
“Stop playing around, Trella. You know what I mean.”
Like I would tell him. “This isn’t the right way to ask me Jacy.”
His scowl deepened. “I needed to get you away from the infirmary and Bubba Boom.”
“And you couldn’t have asked me to meet you somewhere else?”
“Would you have come?”
“No.” A wave of pure exhaustion swept through me. “What do you want Jacy?”
“I need to know what you and Logan have been doing for the last few weeks.”
He knew about Logan. Not good. “Why would I tell you?”
“Because we’re on the same side.”
I made a show of looking at my restraints. “Is this how you treat all your cohorts or am I just that special?”
“I know Bubba Boom fed you a bunch of lies. I didn’t realize what he was up to until it was too late. And I couldn’t think of another way to make you listen to reason,” Jacy said.
“So you attack me and tie me to a chair, and I’m supposed to believeyou’rethe voice of reason?”
“Yes.”
I laughed at the pure ridiculousness of the situation. “Save your speech Jacy. I saw you with Sloan and James Trava. I heard you plotting.”
“Did you hear the entire conversation?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Fine. I heard the last ten minutes or so.”
“And Bubba Boom told you about the meeting, right?”
“Yes, but don’t try to twist it back to him. Youwerewith Sloan and Trava.”
“For a good reason. We?—”
“Jacy, I’m not going to believe anything you say. So there’s no sense trying to convince me.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake. I messed up any chance to pretend to believe him in order to get out of here. I could blame my lack of sleep or the side effects of being stunned, but sheer stupidity was the culprit.
