djinn wars 02 - taken (28 page)

“I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying she probably has more common sense than I do.”

Margolis smiled. There was no warmth in his eyes, though, and I knew he was enjoying this, liked seeing me completely in his power. Julia had told me that he liked to play the role of seducer and didn’t take things any farther than that, was certainly no rapist, but now I had to wonder whether that assessment had been entirely accurate. And I got it then. What he enjoyed was baiting me. Messing with my head. I certainly wasn’t anything special to him, just another female he might find a way to exploit.

In a way, even though Miles Odekirk’s was not what you would generally call the most comforting presence in the world, I found myself glad that he was here. I doubted Margolis would attempt anything while the scientist was around.

“You may be right about Ms. Rodriguez,” Odekirk said. “But let’s test that hypothesis, shall we?”

A shiver went through me, even though the entire building was slightly overheated, and I’d begun to perspire in the heavy sweater and boots I was wearing. They’d taken my coat away, saying I wouldn’t need it. Right then, I didn’t. But, like Jace, I wouldn’t get far without it….

“Test?”

Margolis jerked his chin at the two guards, and they came over to me and undid the ropes that had held me to the chair. It felt good to stand up, to be able to move my arms, but I doubted they’d freed me out of the kindness of their hearts.

“Building C,” he instructed the guards, and they nodded briefly.

Each of them took me by an arm and marched me out of the room, then down the hallway to the elevator. Margolis and Odekirk followed us, not speaking as we descended to the ground floor. From there we headed outside, the bitter wind literally taking my breath away as it hit me. In that moment, my thick wool sweater felt like the world’s thinnest chiffon.

But I didn’t have time to worry about frostbite, because almost as quickly as we’d gone outside, we entered another building, this one a low, sprawling single-story structure. Something about it felt squat, evil, although I tried to tell myself that was just my fear talking. Buildings couldn’t be evil.

What people did in them, on the other hand….

We moved through one corridor, then turned down another, and another. Overhead, more fluorescent fixtures glowed, and I wondered how much of the colony’s energy was being wasted here on keeping this place lit when everyone else’s power was rationed, and it was strictly lights out after ten o’clock for all the rest of us plebeians.

I told myself it didn’t matter. I knew I was letting my mind run here and there so I wouldn’t let myself worry about where they were taking me, what kind of test they were referencing. About what might lie ahead.

The distraction wasn’t working very well.

After turning down yet another corridor, a short one this time, the guards stopped in front of a large industrial-looking door. One of them reached out to open it, and the other pushed me inside.

The room was big, with high ceilings and a cement floor. It looked as if it might have been a workshop at one time; metal tables lined the walls, but any equipment they had possibly once held now appeared to be long gone. Now the space was empty.

Well, almost empty.

On the other side of the room, not quite placed up against the wall, were two heavy chairs. Tied to those chairs were Jace and a woman I didn’t recognize, but guessed must be Natila. Like him, she looked tired, with smudged-looking shadows under her big blue eyes. Somehow, though, that didn’t diminish her beauty, the perfection of her ivory skin and the fine bones of her face. Her lips were rosy and full, and pale, wavy hair flowed almost to her waist. No wonder Evony had fallen for her, had thought she must be something right out of a dream.

Evony. I realized then that she was there as well, standing off to one side with her hands tied behind her back and two more guards flanking her. They were none other than Mitch and Butch, and, judging by the grins they wore, they were enjoying this immensely.

The guards accompanying me pushed me forward until I was more or less lined up with Evony. She shot me a look of pure venom and snarled, “What the
fuck
were you thinking?”

“I’m so sorry — ” I began, but one of my guards, the man on the right, clamped his fingers on my upper arm in warning.

Margolis stepped forward, lips twitching oddly. I couldn’t figure out what the hell his problem was, until I realized he was fighting to keep back a smile. Like Butch and Mitch, he was probably having a good old time tonight, but didn’t want to look undignified.

Too late for that, asshole.

He said, “We’d been planning to perform this little experiment anyway, but Ms. Monroe’s stunt this evening made us realize it really required an audience. Dr. Odekirk and I agree that it will also be an interesting test of your…love…to see how the two of you react.”

Evony made a growling sound, but I could tell both Mitch and Butch must have clamped down on her arms as well, because she winced and fell silent. The whole time, though, her gaze was fixed on Natila, and I knew the longing and fear on Evony’s face had to be mirrored in my own.

I forced myself to stand still, though, to not react any more than I already had. The bastard looking gloating enough as it was, and I didn’t want to give him any additional satisfaction.

Margolis’ jaw hardened, and he nodded at Dr. Odekirk. “Proceed.”

He stepped forward, saying, “We’ve performed various tests on the two prisoners, both of whom exhibit exceptional powers of healing. After discussing the situation with Captain Margolis, I’ve decided to move on to more traditional, but no less effective, means of gathering information.”

In other words, torture. I wanted to yank my arms away from the men who held them, run to Jace and Natila. But I knew I wouldn’t get more than a foot. I could only stand there, cold dread coiling in my stomach. Jace had already spoken of broken fingers, electric shocks. What the hell were they going to try this time?

Margolis unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt and said, “We’re ready.”

A door on the other side of the room opened, and three more guards entered. The first one held one of Miles Odekirk’s devices, while the other two were lugging heavy buckets with them. Some water slopped over, and a horrible suspicion began to grow in me. No, they couldn’t….

Evony seemed to get it at the same time. Pulling against the men who held her, she burst out, “You can’t do this! It’s — it’s un-American!”

A look of pure irritation passed over Odekirk’s thin features. “Actually, not to be pedantic, Ms. Rodriguez, but the United States utilized this form of interrogation on many occasions. Besides, one can argue that effectively, there is no America any longer, and therefore our actions can’t be labeled un-American.” His gaze flicked over to Margolis. “Proceed when you’re ready.”

The commander nodded. “Oh, we’re ready now. Williams, D’Olivo, go ahead.”

And the guards tilted the chairs backward so both Jace’s and Natila’s heads were angled downward toward the floor. It looked supremely uncomfortable, but I knew their current position wasn’t the worst of it. Not by a long shot. I wanted to be relieved that this wasn’t a traditional waterboarding — neither of their faces had been covered, and they were only secured to chairs and not a slab of plywood or something — but I had a feeling this was going to be bad enough.

Then the two men lifted their buckets and began pouring water onto their captives’ faces. I wanted to scream, to kick back at the guards who held me. But even if I somehow managed to get away from them, there was still Captain Margolis to contend with, or Butch and Mitch, or even the guard who held the djinn-control box. There was nothing I could do to stop the scenario playing out before me.

Jace spluttered, water spraying up and away from his mouth. In her chair, Natila was twisting and writhing, attempting to turn her face to one side so the water would splash off her cheek and not go into her nose and mouth. She was only partially successful, however, and when the man assaulting her realized what she was doing, he grasped her by the chin and held her in place so she couldn’t move.

I wished I could look away. But I had a feeling my guards would do the same thing to me — grab my head and force me to watch, and I wouldn’t allow them to manhandle me any more than they already had. Instead, I looked on grimly, knowing this was horrible, but that Jace and Natila would survive it, just as they’d already survived every other torture Margolis and Odekirk had thrown at them.

But then Jace’s words came back to me:
…take away my breath, my air, choke me or smother me, and I die. Just as Natila, water elemental that she is, can be drowned….

Oh, my God.

I risked a quick glance over at Evony, and although she was straining against Mitch’s and Butch’s cruel grip on her arms, I saw more anger than fear in her face. She didn’t know. Natila must never have revealed to her how she could die.

Natila was gasping, horrible gargling sounds coming from her throat. Margolis looked on, satisfaction clear in every line of his smug features, while Dr. Odekirk was tapping away on that goddamn iPad of his. It was obvious that neither one of them was going to put a stop to this. No, they were going to watch and, if not precisely enjoy it, in Odekirk’s case, then learn everything they could from it.

If Natila died, and he put two and two together….

I lunged forward, breaking the grip the guards had on my arms. Right then I wasn’t even sure what I intended to do — knock the buckets of water away from the men’s hands, I supposed — but it didn’t matter that I had no clear plan. I had to stop this. Not just for Natila’s and Evony’s sakes, but for Jace’s as well.

But Margolis was in the way, and as soon as he saw me tear myself out of the guards’ grasp, he was moving, snaking one arm around my throat and pulling me against him. I struggled, but he tightened his grip.

“Don’t make me,” he murmured in my ear, and I stopped, knowing that he was capable of choking me then and there. After all, who would stop him? Certainly none of the guards, and I doubted Miles Odekirk would lift a hand to save me. After all, to him I was just another djinn-fucker, although I doubted he would ever use such a crude epithet himself.

The horrible choking noises Natila had been making halted abruptly. I saw her slump in her chair, although the ropes that bound her in place kept her from slipping to the ground. The guard who had been performing the waterboarding procedure set down his bucket, and the first flicker of uncertainty that I’d seen in any of these men passed over his features.

“Captain?” he said. “I’m not sure, but I think this one might be dead.”

Evony screamed and struggled to break free of the grip Mitch and Butch had on her arms. Tears streamed down her face, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to get away. Tough she might be, but they each outweighed her by probably a hundred pounds or so.

“I’ll check, Captain,” Miles Odekirk said, his gaze resting on me where I was still being held by the commander. “It looks as if you might be somewhat…occupied.”

By then the second waterboarder had stopped torturing Jace, and tilted him back in place so he was more or less upright. He sat there and blinked, and then seemed to realize what had happened, anguish twisting his features.

“Oh, no. God, no.”

“Do you believe in God, then?” Odekirk asked in mildly interested tones as he stepped over to examine Natila’s limp form. “I have to say that’s rather surprising.”

“You’ll find out the day you drop dead, and He sends you straight to Hell for what you’ve done today.” This was a Jace I’d never seen before, dark eyes blazing, black hair dripping lank against his cheeks and throat, an expression on his face that said he would gladly reach out and snap Odekirk’s neck if he could just be freed for a few seconds.

“Hmm…an Old Testament God, then.” Odekirk laid two fingers against Natila’s damp throat and waited a few seconds. Then he moved those same fingers to her wrist and tried again. “It does appear that she’s dead. Interesting. We’ll need to move her to a morgue — there’s one at the funeral home down on Spruce Street. Then I’ll perform an autopsy.”

Evony screamed again, redoubling her struggles. Not that it made any difference; the two goons holding her only tightened their grip that much further. At the same time, Jace made a sound of incoherent rage and began struggling in his chair, so much so that he lost his balance and toppled to the side, hitting the cement floor with a sharp
crack
. Mitch and Butch began to laugh, but stopped abruptly when the scientist lifted an eyebrow at them.

“Get him up,” Odekirk snapped. “We might as well take these three back to the justice center. Clearly, our security here isn’t as good as I’d hoped, whereas this djinn and the woman were held there for weeks without incident.”

“Are you sure?” Margolis began, but Odekirk sent him a quelling look.

“The evidence suggests that they’ll be more secure there.”

“Right,” the commander replied, and for the briefest second I felt him increase the pressure on my throat before he let go altogether and pushed me toward the two guards who had originally held me. “Keep an eye on that one,” he said, his tone casual. “She’s a bit slippery.”

They flanked me, their grips beyond iron this time…more like case-hardened steel. I knew I wasn’t getting away.

And so I was marched out of there, a weeping Evony right behind me, while I heard them gather up Jace as well and have him bring up the rear. Just outside the entrance to the building, the white unmarked van Julia had described to me was waiting. How it had gotten there so quickly, I didn’t know, but I supposed one of the guards must have radioed for it to come pick us up.

I hadn’t rescued Jace. All I’d succeeded in doing was getting Natila killed, and Evony made prisoner. What the hell I was supposed to do now, I didn’t have a goddamn clue.

Chapter Fifteen