In a split second, the figure moved swiftly, dashing over to us.
It was Samantha.
“Hey, you guys. It’ll be just a moment and I’ll get you free.” Samantha raised the object, which turned out to be a laser cutter, and carefully cut through Dylan’s bonds first.
I cringed when I felt the heat of the laser cut through the cuffs on my wrist, sighing in relief when the oppressive bonds were gone.
Within no time, she’d released me and then Dr. Wilcox. “Hurry, we don’t have much time. The code breaker you gave me, Dr. Wilcox, will have surely alerted the guards. They could be here at any moment. We need to find somewhere to hide within the warehouse before we can try to figure a way out of here.”
Following Samantha’s advice, the four of us rushed out of the interrogation room and into the blinding light of the warehouse. Just as we’d cleared the door, the grinding sound of the lift descending reached our ears.
“Quickly, this way,” instructed Samantha in a low tone.
We followed Samantha down a row of crates and to a layer of boxes easily large enough to hide us. Crouching low, we waited for the lift to settle on the ground floor. Faint voices too low to identify came from that direction. With a thud and a ding, the doors opened and I identified one of the voices as Mayor Aldridge.
“How in the world would anyone gain entry into the interrogation room? This passcode is Zeta clearance. Only I have the code for it. Only I can open it.” The mayor’s voice shook slightly, but she didn’t raise it past her normal commanding tone.
“I don’t know, Madam Mayor. We will look into it.”
“Just open the door so we can see if they’re still in there,” came her impatient reply.
Samantha turned to us and whispered so low I could hardly hear her, “When the mayor goes into the room, we need to run for the lift. It’s the only way in or out of this place. If we get inside, they will have to wait for it to return in order to follow. It should buy us some time before they begin pursuing us.”
The Mayor wrenched open the handle to the interrogation room, entering it followed closely by her guard. As soon as they were out of view, Samantha waved her hand forward in a gesture for us to go. Dr. Wilcox and I took the lead, while Samantha and Dylan brought up the rear. There were only a hundred yards between our hiding place and the lift—an easy sprint.
I ran in first with Dr. Wilcox right behind me, Dylan hopped in and reached back for Samantha when the guard reached out with something I’d never seen before and jabbed it into Samantha’s back.
Samantha immediately crumpled to the ground and started convulsing. Her mouth parted slightly and I could have sworn I saw a bolt of electricity flash from one side to the other. She continued to convulse and then lay still, her blonde hair falling over the right side of her face.
Without pausing, Dr. Wilcox slammed down the gate to the lift and pushed the button for it to ascend.
“SAMANTHA!” Dylan shouted, grasping the bars of the lift with white knuckles.
The last thing we saw was the guard yanking Samantha’s limp body up off the ground as we rose past the basement’s line of sight.
“We have to go back!” yelled Dylan at Dr. Wilcox, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him closer so he could scream into his face.
Calmly, Dr. Wilcox replied, “You know we cannot, Dylan. If we go back, we’ll be in the same situation as before, if not worse. We have to keep going. Samantha came to assist us of her own free will. She knew she was going against what the mayor wanted.”
“But she didn’t know she’d be electrified. They could have killed her!” Dylan kicked the corner of the lift and swore. “Dr. Wilcox, she’s like my little sister. What kind of brother would let their sister take the fall for them?”
“A desperate one.” Dr. Wilcox shoved Dylan backward, and then grasped his shoulders so tight that I could see the imprint through Dylan’s shirt. “You need to think more clearly. You and Allie are in a lot of trouble. I don’t know where in the city you two could hide. It’s clear that getting Allie out of the city is probably not going to happen. There are a lot of dicey situations going on right now and lives are at stake. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. You need to get your head on right and act clearly, son.”
Dylan merely scowled at him with red eyes. I couldn’t tell if his eyes were red from fury or trying to hold back tears. All I knew was that I was seeing an anger from Dylan that I didn’t think he was capable of.
The lift made it to the top of the shaft, jolting as it reached the floor level. Dr. Wilcox slid the gate up and locked it into place. Cautiously, the three of us stepped out into an empty hallway. Without a word to each other, we followed Dr. Wilcox through the hallway and to the outside of the building onto a deserted street.
Unlike before when we were being so hastily ushered to the inside, we could actually gaze around. There was no one else in sight, no one walking
