“Of the United Nations. You don’t know of him? I thought it was taught at all levels…” He eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. “I don’t care. We all learn at different speeds. You must be a little slow. I’ll take care of you.”
She was on the verge of arguing with him, but she forced herself to play along. She smiled meekly, then waved. “Well, I’ve got to be going. Where can I meet you later?”
“Later?” he asked, hurt saturating his voice.
“Yeah. You know me. I’ve got important people to meet. People like David and Charity. I’m sure you understand…” She held out her hand to shake good-bye.
The guy took it and held her like a dead fish.
“Cheer up,” she said with real excitement at leaving him. “I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”
He warmed up. “I look forward to it.”
Tabby sensed Victor’s eyes on her as she walked down the hallway in the opposite direction David had taken. Her cheeks were on fire from the anger of being talked to as if she were stupid, but she kept the feeling balled in her fists as she finally turned a corner.
“Now, where’s the exit to this place?”
She walked for several minutes, backtracking to the hallways she’d seen before. Some of the routes were hewn from rock, while others looked exactly like they might inside a high-rise building. She figured the entrance would be on the rocky side, so she went into a long tunnel once she’d stumbled upon it. “This has to be the way.”
Along the route, she passed men and women dressed in many colors of outfits. She avoided eye contact with those dressed in the same style as her, figuring they were her peers inside the vault. They would have the most reason to speak with her. She was constantly on the lookout for anyone in white, such as Charity, or gold, like David. Those colors stood out among the many dressed in black, so she figured it would be easy to duck down a side tunnel.
The exit door was easier to find than she expected. It was up a couple of floors from where she’d started, but close to a stairwell. The square security door had the word EXIT in red block letters above it and sat at the end of an elevator room. The pair of lifts were the same style as the ones she’d seen down in the chamber with the large hole in the floor.
A couple of guards stood outside the elevator area, but she walked past them like she knew where she was going. They barely noticed her.
“I’ll see myself out,” she said to herself, confident she was home free.
“Tabby!”
She turned around. Victor came up the hallway but was about a hundred feet back. He broke into a sprint, pointing and yelling.
She ran for the big door, unsure how to open it. There was a keypad nearby, which freaked her out as an impossible puzzle to crack in the time she had. However, there was also a giant handle attached to the door.
Could it be that simple?
Tabby crossed the last ten feet and put her hand on the metal latch, but before she could yank it, a guard grabbed her hand. A few seconds later, Victor wrapped his arms around her.
Victor breathed hard from his sprint. “You can’t leave through there. David forbids it!”
“I don’t care! I have to leave this place. I don’t belong here.” The imitation of strength burned away as if being dipped in molten lava. Her voice was strained and screechy.
“It’s okay. We all get scared in here. Let me help you.” Gently, but with an ironclad grip, he picked her up off the ground, spun her around, and set her back down. He was now between her and the door.
The guards, perhaps thinking she was being tamed by a boyfriend, walked away laughing.
She whispered, “Don’t turn me in. Please.”
“I have to,” Victor answered. “David told me you would try this. He said you have a defect he wants to smooth out. At first, when I saw you, I didn’t think there could be a single thing wrong with someone as perfect as you, but now I see there’s a serious problem. David can help you overcome that fear.”
She looked up at him and bit the tip of her tongue to keep from crying. She desperately wished he wasn’t there willingly. They could both escape and run wild in the open lands beyond the door.
When she had a grip on herself, Tabby replied.
“I really don’t think he can.”
CHAPTER 12
Glendo, WY
After driving in the convoy for half an hour, Meechum became increasingly anxious. She sat up to get close to the wheel, then forced herself back into the seat. If she wasn’t observing the drivers of the other trucks, she was glancing behind.
“What are you looking for?” Kyla asked, finally unable to ignore the flighty movements.
Meechum sighed. “I should have taken those rifles and pistols. Chinese shit or not, we need to blend in better. We may not get out of this convoy before we’re discovered.”
Kyla had been on edge since the moment they’d run into the two men in the trees. Though she’d been through quite a lot since putting a bullet in her traitorous programming partner Ben back on the JFK, the act of killing didn’t seem any easier. The gunfight had been playing in her mind on a loop. However, she remembered the whole point of their escape from the cabin. “Uncle Ted! I have to call him.”
“I hope he’s not in here, too.”
Her phone was out of juice, but they’d taken one from the dead soldier. It powered on and seemed to have a full charge. However, when she tried to access the main screen, it asked for a thumbprint identification. “Oh, come on!”
“What?”
She angled the phone so Meechum could see it. “It will only open for the guy we shot.”
Meechum laughed mischievously.
