He named it after himself?
One of the guards roughly pushed the injured man through the entrance to the cube, then shut the heavy door. When it was securely locked, the guard nodded to David.
“My friends, observe.”
The cube filled with white light, almost as if it was water. In seconds, the entire box was solid white, glowing on the stage like a little sun. A short time later, the energy seemed to drain until it was gone. To her surprise, the man was still there.
“Get him out.”
When the guy came through the door, he was happy as could be. “Poppy! You’re back. I missed you. Yeah, it was like another world in there. Is that where you were hiding?”
David flashed her a bemused look, as if breaking the man’s brain was intentional.
The leader spoke to the others but continued to watch Tabby. “He appears fine, but this is only part one of his debt to our society. In a few hours, we will be able to see part two. In the meantime, his sentencing served as a warmup for what we have in store for the next prisoner in the line…”
All the men turned their eyes back to the stage, but David leaned in closer to her. She smelled his nauseating coffee breath as he spoke low enough so only she could hear him. “You will never conduct yourself with such an emotional outburst in front of me. I have a special guest coming up and if you make any sound, speak any words, or express any of that rebellious spirit, I’ll be sure to throw your other friend in there.”
“Other friend?” she asked, afraid the question was wrong to ask.
He stood tall and waved to the stage. “Take off the hood of the next one.”
She craned her neck, anxious to see who David meant. As she watched, she realized it wasn’t even necessary for them to remove the hood. She’d recognize her scrawny friend anywhere. She’d spent most of the past week with her.
Audrey.
CHAPTER 8
Glendo, WY
“Come back!” Kyla screamed.
The silver SUV was well out of the pine grove, driving across the plains toward Glendo and the highway. There was no possible way of catching them on foot.
“Hey, Dudette,” Meechum said from behind.
Kyla hopped six inches off the gravel. “Ohmygod! You scared me. I thought you all left me here.” She laughed a bit, walking back to the warrior woman sitting on the lone step at the front of the cabin. “Is Emily with my uncle? Are they coming back?”
She wanted to see Meechum smile and tell her the lovebirds had snuck out for a few minutes to be alone. It wasn’t possible they’d leave her and the Marine behind, not for any reason. The two of them were valuable to the fight.
The short-haired woman came off the porch. Her demeanor changed from seriousness to a more friendly one. “They went back to the town we just came through. Emily said she saw a pharmacy; she needed some meds, I guess.”
Kyla instantly relaxed. Of course it would be something simple.
Meechum continued. “It’s only five miles. They shouldn’t be long.” After giving her a cursory glance, the Marine sat back down on the porch step and proceeded to break down her service pistol. It was her way of saying “take a chill.”
She didn’t like the splitting up, but Kyla grabbed a spot next to Meechum. After a short time of sitting there listening to the wind blow through the pines, she yanked out her phone. What could it hurt to text Uncle Ted?
She didn’t get far. “Well, that figures. My phone’s dead.”
“Do you have a charger?”
She laughed. “I had three. One was with my work laptop, which is now lost. The other is back at my car parked in the lot next to the JFK. The last one is in Williamsburg, Virginia, at my abandoned apartment.”
“Was it a common phone? You could search the houses around this lake. I’m sure someone has a charger you could borrow.”
When she’d been standing behind the cabin, she’d seen no other houses in their line of sight. It wasn’t a very developed lake. However, her phone was one of the more popular models. It shouldn’t be hard to eventually find a replacement charger.
“Is this something you say to new recruits to keep them busy? Go check all the houses which may or may not be out there, for a charger which may or may not exist.”
Meechum kept pulling pieces from her pistol, then placing them on her thighs to keep them off the dirty porch. She glanced up once but went right back to her task. It was an answer.
Kyla leaned back on her hands, content for the moment to wait for her uncle and Emily to return.
After an hour, she was positive a disaster had befallen them. She hopped up off the step and glared at the gravel road, sure she was going to make the SUV appear in the distance. When it didn’t, she spun on her heels toward Meechum, who had the pieces of her gun laid out on her legs, as usual. “This is getting ridiculous. We have to go find them. This doesn’t feel right.”
Meechum grabbed each part in turn and shoved it back into the frame of the pistol. In less than thirty seconds, she had a functioning firearm again. It was impressive to watch. Instead of breaking it down once more, she slid the weapon into a holster.
“Your uncle had a message for you,” she said nonchalantly while getting to her feet.
Kyla’s anger flared up. “What the hell are you talking about? You’ve been with me the whole time. My phone doesn’t work. How could he—” She stopped, realizing she’d been tricked. “He’s not coming back, is he?”
Meechum continued, “He said to tell you the thing he remembered about your mother is she would
