She heard a hiss of sound that could have been Jake uttering a curse, but she wasn’t sure. “That wasn’t a good idea. They’ll make us pay.”
“They’re reasonable people, Jake. All we need to do is sit down together and talk things over. Let them show you around here, see all the kids they’ve saved, and you’ll know they’re not the monsters my mother and your father thought.”
“There are kids there?”
“Lots.”
“Holy fuck. No wonder you didn’t trigger the detonator.”
“Yeah, even if they’d been the bad guys, I couldn’t have done it.” Another long stretch of silence had Lexi gripping the phone hard. “Jake? Are you there?”
Jake lowered his voice as if he was trying to hide their conversation. “Listen, Lexi. I only have a few seconds. You’ve got to get out of there. Get all the kids out of there. Right now.”
A feeling of doom weighed down on her, sliding down her throat until it sat heavy in her stomach. “Why?”
“Do you really need to ask? Just do it.”
The Defenders were attacking. Lexi hadn’t done what she’d come here to do, so they were taking matters into their own hands.
There was a loud thud and a grunt of pain. She had no idea what that noise was, but panic welled up inside Lexi, making her stomach heave.
Desperate, she said, “Call it off, Jake. Make your dad call it off.”
But it wasn’t Jake’s voice that came back over the line. It was Hector’s. The deep grating sound of his anger was unmistakable. “It’s too late for that now, little girl. We’ve got your man.”
Just as he said the words, Lexi’s head was filled with the sound of Zach’s frantic cry. Lexi! We’re under attack!
Oh, God. It was too late. They had Zach.
She made a choking sound and nearly dropped the phone. Her whole body was numb with disbelief as she reached out for Zach, needing to be near him. As always, the only thing that greeted her was silence. She couldn’t feel him.
Hector went on as if her world hadn’t just spun out of control. “You’ve got a couple of choices. You can raise the alarm, and we’ll kill him and his buddy right now, or you can walk calmly out through that break in the wall, and we’ll let him live. It’s up to you. What are you going to do?”
“Don’t hurt him,” she told him to stall for precious seconds to think. Her mind flew through her options as she spoke. A sketchy plan formed in her head, giving her an idea of how she could protect the people of Dabyr. “Let me talk to Zach.”
“No can do. The man’s out like a light, bleeding all over the goddamn place.”
Oh God. Zach.
Lexi closed her eyes and swallowed hard, trying to clear her head of the image of his broken body lying helpless at Hector’s whim.
She wasn’t going to let Zach die. His people needed him too much.
She needed him too much.
Lexi couldn’t let them kill Zach and whoever was with him, but she knew if she just walked out without warning anyone that there was a good chance even more people would die.
“Why do you want me to come out? Why not just kill me along with everyone else?” she asked, proud of the fact that she could actually form words in the midst of the chaotic jumble of panic and fear rolling around inside her.
“I promised your mother I’d look out for you. I’m a man of my word.”
There was more to it than that—she could hear it in his voice—but Lexi didn’t waste any time trying to figure it out.
“What’ll it be, girl? You coming out, or do I gut him now and let you hear him gurgle out his last breath?”
“I’m coming,” she whispered.
“Good girl. I figured you’d see things our way.”
“What are you going to do to me?” she asked.
“Are you worried we’ll hurt you? You’re one of us. What they did to you isn’t your fault.” Understanding sounded odd coming from Hector’s lips. He was not the understanding type. “We’ll clear up your confusion, and then you can tell us everything you’ve learned about that place. You’re going to be a valuable asset.”
That was it? They wanted information?
Something about that didn’t seem right, but she was running out of time and not coming up with any new options. “And you promise you won’t hurt Zach?”
“No, we’ll let you have the honors of killing him and his buddy yourself once you’re in your right mind again. I have to admit I’ll enjoy the show. I’ve seen how ferocious you can be when you’re angry. And once he no longer controls your thoughts, you’re definitely going to be angry.”
“How will I find you?” she asked.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find you. Just walk out, and we’ll do the rest.”
Lexi would never hurt Zach. Never. But Hector didn’t need to know that. She’d play along and make sure that she did everything she could to keep the people here safe, and then she’d save Zach.
Sure, she had no idea how she was going to do all that, but she was good at thinking on her feet. She’d come up with something in the ten or fifteen minutes it would take her to get out through the broken wall.
Yeah, right.
Before she lost her nerve, Lexi dialed Helen’s cell phone.
Drake answered, sounding surly. “What?”
“It’s Lexi. Can I talk to Helen?”