Oculus (Oculus #1) (19 page)

“That would be a fatal mistake.” One of the girls, a wiry brunette with a prominent nose, makes a rude noise.

“Yeah,” she said. “And who died and made you the expert? We don’t even know you.” I turn and look at her. She meets my eyes for a second and doesn’t seem to like what she sees there. I hold her gaze for a moment, establishing dominance, before answering her.

“Lots of people died to make me an expert.” She scowls back at me.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean,” she asks.

“You asked me who died and made me the expert. I answered you.” The group takes a collective step back and their body language shifts. They become agitated, afraid, and a few shift to pre-confrontation stances. Unconcerned, I turn my attention to Cade, but I still address the entire group. “I brought you food, blankets, some basic cooking gear. I’ll try to bring you more from time to time. For now, stay out of sight, stay indoors. They’re running patrols through this area and if one of you gets caught, all of you will get caught.”

“What’s your name,” Cade asks. The question seems so unnecessary that it catches me off guard. What’s this desire for everyone to introduce themselves? Not ‘thanks for saving me’, not gratitude for the supplies. Nope. He wants introductions. I try not to roll my eyes and go on with the stupid pleasantries.

I exhale, and my response in an exhausted sigh. “Sic.”

Cade cocks an eyebrow. “Wait. Your name is sick?”

I sigh a second time. “Sicarius. People call me Sic for short.”

I still see a few belligerent gazes as I scan his group and decide I need to give them another reality check. “I need to go. Stay inside. No one goes back. I can tell you The Corp isn’t forgiving. You all left the walls after having multiple seditious meetings. At best, you would end up at hard labor for life. My bet? Some of you would be executed in the square as an example to your fellow citizens.”

The look of disbelief, then horror that ripples through the group shows me that my message has been received. Whether they stay put or decide to go back and roll the dice, I’ve done my part. I can tell Iris with a clear conscience that I’ve tried to help her friends. I leave them and go back to the shack. Locking the place down, I finally am able to collapse on my bunk. Being in bed makes me think of Iris, and as I drift off to sleep, I wish she was here beside me, where she belongs.

I
WAKE TO THE SOUND
of footsteps in the hall and my father’s shouts. “She’s blind!” I lurch forward and struggle to gather my wits. A sleepless night with Sic has left me tired, dazed, and perfectly sore in the best way.

The door to my bedroom flings open and crashes against the wall behind it. “Iris Tierney. You are hereby under arrest, charged with suspicion of sedition against The Corporation. Come with me please.” As one agent makes introductions Fenra style, another grabs me up out of my bed, the same bed I shared with Sic only a short while ago.

“Wait! Wait! Where are you taking me?”

“In for questioning. Chief Ingram wants to speak with you himself.”

“Yeah I bet he does,” I growl as I shake wayward tangles of hair away from my face.

“Now, you just wait one moment! I’m Doctor Tierney. I’m on the Research Board. A top employee. My daughter is no criminal. She’s not done anything seditious or—or
illegal
!” he pleads, alternating between desperation and his attempt to sound stern. It makes me feel awful. We may be caught up in a rough patch lately, but I don’t relish the idea of causing my father any emotional turmoil.

“Dad it’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll get this sorted out, Iris. Don’t worry,” he calls after me.

“Take her,” another voice that I haven’t heard yet, commands. The hands around my arm pull me down the stairs and it’s difficult to tell above the sound of my own heart pounding in symphony with the clunky footsteps of the agents around me, but I hear the agent say “Arbitrium.” My father gasps or maybe I’m imagining things. “If you need me to do it, I can. But you must decide now.” I barely make out the whisper and I can’t even be sure that I’ve heard the agent correctly. My father says nothing as I’m pulled from my home in my pajamas and bare feet. They load me gingerly, almost carefully, into the rear bench of a Security railcar and it only serves to drive my fear into overdrive. I know I haven’t done anything wrong; well, I didn’t do what they are alleging. I only went to that meeting because Ingram instructed me to.

Maybe this is just a ploy. Maybe Ingram is rounding up everyone including me so I look just like the rest. No one will know I was instructed to attend Cade’s meetings in an effort to feed Ingram information. That has to be it.

What is arbitrium-abatrum-abetrim? What did he say?

My mind reels in a hundred different directions and then…

Sic.

The door to the room they deposited me in opens with a
sloof
and footsteps that I know belong to Ingram tap against the floor. His gait is easily recognizable. At least, for me it is.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

“I wouldn’t know now, would I?” I clip, feeling perturbed.

“Now, that’s a rather unceremonious way to greet your employer don’t you think?”

“What’s unceremonious is being double-crossed!”

“Yes. Well, in my defense, I didn’t intend on dispatching the raid to Cade Nielsen’s hidey hole, but…” he sighs dispassionately then clicks his tongue.

“There’s no excuse. You could have warned me. You
should
have warned me. When are you letting me out? I think everyone believes the show you put on at my house.”

“Hmm,” he hums, sending a chill down my spine.

“Ingram,” I warn, doing my best to tamp down the fear and anxiety that has developed in the pit of my stomach.

“You’re quite attractive when you’re agitated. It suits you,” he murmurs while coming closer to me. Leaning in, he inhales deeply and brushes one finger across my cheek, making me mentally markup
‘bathe’
as top priority when I get home. “You even smell beautiful,” he whispers.

“Do I? Hmm, let’s see. What was that fragrance? Oh, that’s right. That would be the scent of another man; the one that I was in bed with all night. I’m glad you like him. If that’s your sort of thing…” It’s an immature jab, but a jab nonetheless. Maybe if Ingram knows that I’m not his plaything, he’ll back off and stop touching and sniffing me every chance he gets.

“Agitation may suit you, but arrogance, however, does not.”

“Can we stop this? When are you letting me go?”

“I’m not. You’re going to stay right here for now.”

“No. You can’t do that! I did nothing wrong,” it’s hard to miss the plea in my voice.

“Get comfortable. Perhaps a shower will help. It will, at least, rinse his stink off of you. I like my women fresh,” he murmurs in my ear then saunters out of the room.

For a moment—minutes—hours, I’m not sure, I sit perfectly still in the metal seat that I’m bound to. Shock and dismay battle for territory in my brain, but it’s a draw.

“Up,” a gravelly voice commands a short time after Ingram has left. The sound of two sets of boots tromping across the room brings my senses to attention.

“What are we doing?”

“You’ll see. Heard you’re a real peach. Thought maybe the guys were exaggerating but they definitely weren’t. This is going to be fun.”

The other man snorts obnoxiously as the agent with the gravelly voice man-handles me. He pulls me to my feet and jerks my arms painfully. I do my best to wrench away from him, but his hands are big enough to wrap all the way around my upper arm. He squeezes my flesh hard enough to make my bones ache and it’s no wonder. I’m all of five feet three inches tall and one hundred twenty-eight pounds. Judging by the sound of his boots against the floor, he has got to be at least two hundred pounds. I can only speculate as to how tall he is but his voice comes from well above my head.

The best thing to do is comply. That’s what my brain keeps dictating but my instinct is to flee. To fight. To run.

Sic.

I should have gone with him. I should be with him now. The moment thoughts of Sic come to mind I try to push them away. Thinking about one spectacular night with a man that I feel as though I’ve known forever stokes an emotional flame within my chest, one that I don’t have the capacity to manage right now.

The stone floor is cold beneath my bare feet and hard enough to bruise my heels as I’m dragged along this way. I do my best to stay upright, but my escort is walking so fast. Being blind and bound with cold, numb feet has done a number on my equilibrium.

My feet tangle up beneath me and I lunge forward, skidding painfully across one knee. The agent beside me doesn’t seem bothered enough to help me up. I bite my tongue cruelly, too stubborn to let out the cry of pain and embarrassment that demands to see the light of day. Metallic warmth disperses in my mouth before I release my tongue from the vise of my molars.

It’s no simple task, but I take a deep breath, swallow the blood down, and get back to my feet, shaking legs be damned.

We walk along for another fifty-eight steps and a scanner prompts on the panel near me.

Sloof!

“In you go,” the gorilla with a death grip on my arm commands. I sniff and immediately note the moisture in the space around me. Feels like the air outside after it rains.