Take Me Tomorrow (16 page)

“You guys have fifteen minutes left,”
Miles spoke through both of the boys’ watches. Their watches weren’t simple pieces of jewelry.

“Thanks, Miles,” Noah
grumbled, “We have your sister.”

“I know,” he
responded, his voice cracking. “I’m back with Lyn, and the bomb is set.”

“Good,” Noah tried to dismiss him, but his watched beeped in response.

“Just a warning,” Miles spoke quickly. “There’s a patrol truck here. A State truck. No one has gotten out yet.”

Noah flinche
d, his green eyes locking on me. “Thanks,” he said, but this time, it sounded like he was talking to me instead of his watch.

“Let’s find it
, then,” I said.

Lily and Broden spru
ng forward, and they ran down separate aisles. Crinkling echoed around us as Lily pulled open a box and dug through files. Noah didn’t budge. “I have no idea where Rinley’s file could be.”

“That’s why Lily and I came to help,” I said
, beginning to turn, but he grabbed my hand.

His fingers curled against my palm.
“I didn’t want you here,” he said, but his tone wasn’t rushed. His expression hadn’t budged. His eyes were heavy.

His stillness told me what I already suspected from the beginning. H
e had already seen me here. His tomo overdose had shown him my face. Even before we met, I appeared in his visions.

I
tugged on his hand in response and guided him to the next hallway of folders. “Start here,” I ordered, my hand tingling as I let him go. I forced myself to focus. “I’m going over here.” I pointed and ran off to the end of the rack before he could argue. I felt his green eyes follow me for a moment before he began digging. Then, I got to work myself.

Reading, reading, reading. Robert. Reagan. Roger. Even a Rico. But not a Rinley. I couldn’t find a single Rinley. None of the names were organized, files were purposely moved around, and others
seemed to be missing entirely. I didn’t have time to stop and wonder about them, though − who the missing people were or might have been. I had to find Noah’s sister.

“We’re running out of time,
” Lily squealed from the back row.

Broden
swung around the corner. His copper eyes asked if I had any luck, and I shook my head regrettably. Noah, busily flipping through files, moved so quickly that Broden had to grab him to prevent them from colliding with the rack.

“Find it?” Broden asked.

Noah shook his head violently, continuing to read. “Everyone but Rinley,” he breathed. Even his breath sounded panicked. “Everyone, but—” He stopped, but his shoulders moved up.

I glanced at the name on the folder he was staring at.
Liam Tomery. Noah’s older brother that died saving him. Noah’s face paled. “It should’ve been right here.”

A
siren screamed through the intercom.

Lily sprinted up to us, grabbing onto Broden’s arm. “We have to get out,” she exasperated. “
Now!”

Broden
grabbed Noah’s arm, but Noah pulled away. “I can’t,” he shouted. “Rinley—”

“We’ll find another way
,” Broden yelled, pushing Noah in front of him.

The folders fell, scattering pictures of Liam with a bullet hole through his chest across the carpeted floor.

My stomach twisted.

“Let’s go,” Broden shouted.
“Both of you.”

T
he thunder of footsteps echoed over the sirens, and the far door burst open. Three guys ran in, but they froze as they saw us. “Stop right there!”

We didn’t stop.

We hit the exit door with a thud, and Lily pulled it open. The police pulled out handguns, their holsters empty before I could register what they were planning to do with their weapons.

Noah yanked me into the racks as Broden pulled a gun from the back of his jeans and shot into the air. The guards ducked, even though Broden didn’t aim at them. The ceiling crackled, and Broden
jumped through the exit, slamming the security door shut behind him. He disappeared.

Gun
shots exploded, and two men ran by us before crashing into the door. It was broken, and it wasn’t opening ever again.

Noah pressed his fingers to his lips to signal our silence, and then
, he guided me backward. We tiptoed down the hallway as the men tried to break the door down. Noah gestured his head toward the door the men came through. I nodded, and we sprinted for it.

Our footsteps gave us away.

They shouted, but I didn’t hear their words. I only saw Noah, and he had already grabbed the door’s handle. When he opened it, he left, but I was pulled back.

A guard’s hand was around my wrist, and I spun around to kick him. Before my foot collided with him, a fist slammed into the man’s face, and he crumbled to the ground. Noah had punched him.

“Come on,” Noah shouted, pulling me through the door and pushing me toward the stairs. “Run!” The scream was the same one he had when he was on tomo.

We jumped down an entire flight before the guards burst through the doors, shooting and following. I screamed, flinching, but Noah kept shouting at
me, pushing me down the stairs before leaping in front of me. He grabbed my hand and dragged me behind him. He was fast. Really fast.

“N
oah,” Broden’s voice came through Noah’s watch in a thick static. “Noah, where are you guys?”

Bullets echoed through the stairwell, and Noah shoved me down the
last flight of stairs. “Get out,” he shouted, and I collided with a door.

It swung open, and the
afternoon sun beamed down on my skin.

We were out.

I stumbled into a man, and I spun around so fast that I almost didn’t stop from punching Broden in the jaw. I was about to mutter an apology when Broden’s expression stopped me. His eyes were wide, and his reddened face paled. He was looking behind me. He was looking at Noah.

“You’re shot,” he said.

I turned around, barely registering myself as my eyes moved over Noah. Broden was right.

Noah’s left shoulder was dark red, a hole torn
right through the cloth, and he was grasping it. His fingers were covered in blood, and I felt my heart stop. This was why he had been screaming on tomo. But he wasn’t screaming now.

“Noah—”

“We need out,” Noah said, ignoring his injuries.

Sirens were wailing, an
d we could hear officers nearing the Traveler’s Bureau. In a matter of time, the building would be in ashes, and we didn’t have a single file with us. Not even Liam’s.

The door burst open,
and two guards stumbled out. Lily spun out of the way, but Broden began fighting them.

Noah pushed Lily with his bloody hand. “Run.”

She did without hesitating, but I watched, frozen, as chaos erupted around me. Smoke appeared around us, signaling the beginning of the explosion, and Noah grabbed his injury. Blood trailed down his arm. Broden was tossed to the ground. A burly man grabbed my arm before I could react.

“Sophie,
” Noah shouted as a hand collided with his face.

Another man jumped on top of Broden, handcuffing him, and my feet left the ground.
The man tossed me over his shoulder, and I hit his back.

“Don’t fight me
, or I’ll kill you,” the voice shouted to me, but I ignored it. I kicked and screamed and scratched and punched. Any body part I could see, I fought, and the guy barely flinched.

“Noah! Broden!” I screeched as I was carried away from the building, my arms burning.

The ground shook tremendously, and the man dropped me. My cheek hit the pavement, and I covered up my body as the explosion blew up the south side of the building. Fire engulfed the wall that was left, and debris fell around us as the ash flew through the air. I breathed in, and my lungs burned. The sky was black from debris and destruction.

I could hear Broden
− no − my father − no − Noah. Noah was shouting my name. “Sophie.” My mother’s face flashed in front of me. Her gray eyes were wild. Her hair was frizzy, and her hands reached out to me. Still, I crawled away.

“Come here,” someone growled as they grabbed my leg. They pulled
me across the gravel.

I
kicked the man in the face, and blood squirted from his nose. He yelled out in pain, but he continued to pull me toward him. “You little bitch,” he shouted, lifting his hand to smack me across the face, but another hand latched onto his wrist.

“Don’t hurt this one,” the
boy said, “She’s mine.”

There he was – tall and blond – with his
striking eyes reflecting the Traveler’s Bureau as it disappeared in terrifying flames. He stood above me, a familiar smirk on his face, and he reached down to help me up. Anthony.

I flinched, scooting away on the pebbles, but Anthony stepped on my shoe, twisting m
y ankle. I screamed.

Noah shouted
from somewhere in the debris. “Where are you?”

Anthony looked up, the dust seemingly
harmless to his exterior. His eyes flashed with the use of tomo. He saw us, and he came for us. He was in the government truck earlier. He knew.

When he looked down at me, he smiled as if he
was my friend. “Get arrested here or come with me. That’s your choice.” He opened his black jacket, exposing a hidden gun. “I suspect Noah could always use another injury.”

“Leave him alone,
” I screeched as he laid more pressure on my ankle.

“Then
, get in the car,” he growled.

I didn’t have a choice.

I nodded.

He grabbed my
hand and yanked me up. When he pulled me across the parking lot, my leg limped, but he only sped up. The ground was moving beneath us. The air was impossible to breathe. I tried to look around, but I only saw a cloud of smoke. It wasn’t until the headlights broke through the darkness that I saw the car.

The man who had initially attacked me
stood next to the truck. The black door was opened, revealing another man, but it wasn’t someone I recognized. I flinched, digging the back of my heels into the ground, but Anthony shoved my back.

“Get in, Sophia,”
he ordered against my ear, and so, I did.

I Was Dead

I gritted my teeth as the truck skidded out of the parking lot, speeding onto the road. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that the Traveler’s Bureau had successfully gone up in flames, burning all of Topeka’s records as it fell, including Rinley’s. That is, if they didn’t have a digital copy somewhere, which I’m sure they did.
But we didn’t. We didn’t have anything.

I closed my eyes, but they still burned. Every part of me burned. Even my memory burned.
I could see Lily running and Broden getting arrested. Even worse, I could hear the gunshots as Noah screamed my name. He was shot. He was bleeding.

“Don’t cry now, dear,” Anthony cooed from the passenger seat. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I’m not crying,” I spat, opening my eyes, only to glare. The burn from the ash was worth it.

Anthony
turned around from the passenger seat to look at me. As his eyes moved over me, he grinned maniacally. He didn’t have any soot on him. Not a single spec. For being so close to it, I couldn’t understand how he looked so collected, so calm, so untouched.

“You’re a tough one, aren’t you, Ms. Gray?”

I looked away, focusing my attention on the streets. If I knew where we were going, I could escape. Get back to Lyn, or Miles, or anyone that I knew from school. Anyone but Anthony − or Tony – or whoever he was. But the windows were purposely tinted too dark to see out of. I wouldn’t be able to memorize the streets. I had to find another way out.

“I know who you are,
Tony,” I emphasized as I turned my attention back.

Anthony’s eyes lit
up the same way Noah’s did when I defied him. “I’m glad my cousin had a chat with you,” he mocked. “He seemed to like you enough to protect you, but I didn’t think he’d tell you any of that,” he mentioned, his head tilting to the side. “You must be special.”

My cheeks burned. F
or the first time, I was thankful I was covered in ash. “He isn’t the one who told me,” I corrected carefully, refusing to bring up the twins.

Anthony’s smirk fell
, but I bit my lip to prevent myself from talking. I could taste the ash, but my words would taste worse. Anthony had a gun on him. I wasn’t helping anyone if I was dead.

“I forgot to introduce you to my friends,” Antho
ny stated, trying to gain the upper hand in the conversation.

He gestured to the men next to me, one
on my right, one on my left. The man on my right was the burly man that had tackled me. His nose was still bleeding, and his hands curled into fists as if he would strangle me at any moment. The other was a younger man – impeccably serious but strangely familiar now that he was close. He didn’t say a word. Instead, he kept his blue eyes locked on Anthony as if expecting more orders.

I eyed
them, but I didn’t look at them too long. I didn’t want them to think I was planning an escape.

The truck drove on and on,
and I refused to speak. Anthony stopped taunting me as the tomo cleared his system. He answered his phone a few times, but none of the calls revealed details of the incident.
Was Broden in jail? Were Noah’s injuries fatal? Did the others get caught?
Nothing was said, and Anthony was keeping it that way.

I ignored the searing pain in my ankle and glared at my hands. My palm was cracked and cut, but blo
od splattered over my fingers. My throat tightened, and I flipped my hands over to look for an injury that explained it.

The blue-eyed boy
leaned into me. “I’d like to handcuff her, sir,” he said, watching my hands as if I had a way to attack them.

“Pierson,” Anthony scolded him as if he had been defi
ed.

I stifled a gasp.
Pierson. I hadn’t been imaging the strange familiarity. He was Miles’ friend who had watched the door at the Homecoming party, the one who had purposely called the cops to expose the tomo.

“She keep
s moving them,” Pierson said, gesturing to my hands.

I refused to look at him.
Was Pierson still Noah’s comrade? Why would he handcuff me? I needed to be able to escape.

When Anthony nodded,
Pierson handcuffed me carefully, dropping my hands in my lap. Anthony’s smile grew. “We are nearing the mansion,” he said as if he were going to have me handcuffed anyway. “That blood,” he started, “it’s not yours, is it?”

My sto
mach lunged into my throat. Noah.
I remembered how he grabbed my hands and pulled me down the stairwell. It was Noah’s blood on my hands. Noah’s blood
.

I stared at the crimson color.

“Doubt he survived that shot,” Anthony prided as the truck neared a large iron gate with a twisting driveway. At this range, I couldn’t see a building through the windshield. Just a field and winding asphalt.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” I retorted, wincing at my emotional voice.

Anthony lowered his window to type a code into a black box. It opened the gate, and the silent driver raced down the thin road.

“Are yo
u worried about him, Sophia?” Anthony interrogated.

My fingers curled against my pants.

“Because I think you are.”

“I thi
nk he’s out of the Topeka Region by now,” I responded, knowing how impossible it was to deny that I knew Noah.

“With his baby sister?” Anthony mocked. “I know that you couldn’t find her file,” he stated boldly, the truck nearing a giant mansion with an additional gate out front. “And I know Rinley is not what he’s
really after.”

The truck rolled
over a bump, and a man dressed in dark green waved us through. We parked outside the prosperous home. In seconds, Anthony stepped out of the vehicle, and the two other men pulled me out after him. Pierson held onto my shoulder, and Anthony looked at the larger man in disgust. “Go clean yourself up,” he spat.

T
he man glared at me before disappearing into the house. It was large. Four stories high and wider than a hotel. Windows spanned out over every floor, dark green shudders lining the brown exterior with frivolous decorations. A twisting rosebush filled the front lawn, and ivy grew up the left side of the house like a painting. It was beautiful, but I was in trouble no matter who lived here.

Anthony cracked his knuckles and stretched out as if he had been innocently exercising. “Shall we go inside
, then?”

“It’s not like I’m making the calls, Tony,” I
countered.

Anthony nodded at Pierson. “Watch her.” H
e walked inside quickly.

I tensed, and Pierson stood in the sun, sweat collecting on his brow. I looked at him closer now that Anthony wasn’t studying my every move. Pierson wasn’t much taller than me, but he was strong. The veins on his arms protruded out, callouses digging into my exposed skin where he held my shoulder. I hadn’t even realized my shirt had ripped at the shoulder, but Pierson wasn’t looking. He kept his bright blue eyes on the house, glaring
against the sun. He was tan. The color of his eyes looked lighter against his skin, and made him look even younger. I couldn’t imagine how he worked for someone like Anthony or Phelps or whoever had collected me. I couldn’t fathom anything since he knew Noah.

“Lie,” Pierson whispered so
hastily that I thought I was hallucinating.

“What?”

Pierson coughed loudly, gaining the attention of the guards around us. He nodded at them, and they mindlessly went back to work. Without hesitation, he repeated it out of the corner of his mouth, “Lie.”

“About what?”

Pierson widened his eyes at me, opening his mouth, and then, Anthony shouted from the doorway, “Bring her in.”

Pierson
gripped my shoulder until I winced before pushing me forward. I stumbled over my twisted ankle and held back a whimper. The burly man had done more than twist it. I forced my mind to go elsewhere as I tripped over the front steps and entered the mansion. The tiles were pearl white, and they filled the entrance room. A secretary sat at the entrance, prim and proper, with her eyes focused on the computer as if she couldn’t see them dragging a helpless teenager inside the walls of her work. I gaped at her, unsure how she could ignore me, as Pierson walked me to the nearest suede couch. “Sit.”

When I did, I looked around.
Just as the outside was beautiful, the inside was filled with riches. Golden frames held paintings, and silver bowls filled with candies sat on the desks. Glass vases filled with fresh sunflowers were on every mahogany table. The room reeked of their sweet fragrance, reminding me of history class. We had learned about the sunflower and how it used to be Kansas’ state flower before the United States was separated from an international economic collapse. Now that I knew we were actually in Missouri, I wondered what state flower we should’ve had.

I shivered.

Anthony spun around the entranceway as if it were his mansion we had entered. “Phelps likes to keep his house very cool for his flowers,” he said.

“I thought flowers liked heat.
”

“Not once they’ve been c
ut from their stems,” he said, looming over me. “They’re more vulnerable when they’re by themselves.”

I
ignored his childish threat as I glanced from painting to painting. The hallway to my left was filled with them, but the only one I could see clearly was at the end of the hallway. I saw a bridge. A long, dark bridge, lit up by thousands of lights by a sea − or an ocean − or a river. I couldn’t tell, but I had seen it before. The bridge that Lyn had tattooed across her collarbone. It was there, on Phelps’ wall as a decoration, alive and breathtaking. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it.

Pierson followed my gaze
. “The Brooklyn Bridge,” he stated.

I tore my gaze away from the painting.
“What are you talking about?”

I didn’t want him to know I was studying it, but Pierson looked back at me like he already knew. H
is blue eyes were shining, and his lip twitched.
Lie,
Pierson’s voice echoed through me.

I gulped
before looking back at Anthony, “I’m here to talk,” I began, “I thought that’s what you brought me here for.”

Anthony
crossed his arms and leaned back. If he were anything like Noah, then I knew he was surprised. “You didn’t seem to want to talk earlier.”

I shrugged,
“I’m not dying for this.”

A slow smi
le spread across his cheek as he sat down across from me. He was my height now. “What do you want to talk about?”

“What do you want to know?”

Anthony squared his shoulders. “We’re going to wait for Phelps.”

“Why?” I asked innocently, yet my heart pound
ed. If Phelps found me here, he would arrest my father. He might even kill my father. “If we kept this between us, you’d get all of the credit.”

Anthony glared back
. “And what do you get out of it?”

“My name,” I answered quickly, deceiving him as best as I could. “I want to be able to have a job in the future. If I get incarcerated for this—” I paused, thinking of Miles, how he had been beaten and probably worse. I shuddered, concentrating on looking as terrified as possible. “You know what happens.”

Anthony paused for a moment, considering the idea, and I sat in silence, forcing myself not to overdo it.

“You said it yourself,” I noted quietly. “Noah is probably dead,” I stuttered over t
he words, trying not to lose myself in them. “I don’t know him. You must know that since you were around him as a kid.” For once, my lack of childhood relationships was a benefit.

B
elief filled Anthony’s emerald gaze.

“I was in th
e wrong place at the wrong time,” I continued. “He thought my father’s connections could help him, but we refused. Noah used me for his plan.”

“And what is his plan exactly?” Anthony asked, biting my bait without further hesitation. “What is my cousin up to? What’s he after?”
He didn’t know, after all.

“I
want a deal first,” I responded.

A
loud clang echoed through the house. I jumped, turning my torso to see Pierson picking up a pile of candies that had fallen off a counter near him. It was only then that I realized the blue candies weren’t candies at all, but a collection of pills. They had suns etched into them, just as I had heard about. Tomo
.
Phelps had tomo in his mansion.

Anthony cursed. “Clean
that up and get out, Pierson.”

“Yes, sir,” Pierson mumbled, his face unreadable.
He never looked back.

“A deal,” I repeated to Anthony.

“We already made a deal, Ms. Gray,” Anthony responded tersely. “I’m not up for playing games with you.”

“And you aren’t,” I said. “But I want to know where Rinley is.”