equipment in the arena. There
were training dummies, heavy medicine balls, and weights. It was
like the paranormals he expected to fight were also required to
train for said fights.
Maybe they were.
"So, I can say anything I want down here,
and no one will know?"
Soren nodded. "Pretty much."
Which meant she could look around and try to
find a way out. “Every movie I ever watched as a kid taught me that
the evil rich guy always has a back door. Where’s Mark’s?”
Soren sighed then pointed to the far wall
behind Jessica. “See that area of concrete over there?”
Jessica turned, pretty sure she caught sight
of what Soren wanted her to see when she noticed that one large,
squared-off area was just a touch lighter than everything else. She
walked over to it. There was black and white tile surrounding the
giant square, and more tile surrounding other squares of concrete,
which had been enough to fool Jessica into thinking it was all for
design.
“ This is a
door?”
Soren nodded.
Jessica wanted to laugh. “This is great
then! We can get out of here right now.”
“ No, we can’t,” Soren said
simply, which was enough to deflate the happy mood Jessica had put
herself into.
“ Okay. Why?”
Soren walked over to her; he was standing so
close, she could feel his body heat. He leaned in, and Jessica
swallowed hard.
He didn’t kiss her. Why was he not kissing
her?
A small tapping noise behind her made her
turn her head down.
Soren was tapping on one of the small, black
tiles with his finger. When Jessica frowned and squinted a little
at it, she realized it wasn’t tile, not like the other black
squares surrounding the even bigger concrete one. It was black
glass.
Jessica sighed. “Let me guess, fingerprint
and retina scanning?”
“ And when there’s a
lockdown in the building, the emergency power will also ask for a
tiny blood sample. There’s no hacking this thing. We’re not getting
out of here unless Markus is physically in the room with us. Or
unless someone bombs the other side, but I don’t even know where
this thing leads, and I've been trying to find out for a while.
Supposedly, it goes right under the entire city and then
some.”
Jessica sucked in a long breath then let it
out in a long, hard yell that was so intense the inside of her
throat vibrated. "This is such fucking bullshit!"
Her voice echoed around the room, and just
for good measure, she let out an enraged roaring scream. To her own
ears, it sounded like a battle cry, something a person shouted
before killing another man. It lasted a good twenty seconds, and in
screaming time, that was a lot. It was something that rocked her
throat and mouth harder than the yell she'd let out previous,
probably heard from the first floor, despite how deep underground
they were. When she finished, her throat ached. It burned,
actually.
She was breathless when she finally stopped.
Her chest fell up and down in hard spurts, and she glared at Soren,
her fists clenched.
He watched her calmly, as if that had been
nothing he hadn't been expecting. She was shocked. “Feel
better?"
"No!" she snapped, though it wasn't true.
She did feel better. Not entirely, but it had felt good to get some
of the anger and frustration out of her, to scream for the weeks
she'd spent in that cell, for the people she'd had to kill just so
Charles, some other scientists, and maybe even Soren could take
notes on their goddamned clipboards.
"Could I attack you down here?" Jessica
asked, and she really wanted to do it. She braced her legs for the
spring. "You said no one was watching us. What would happen if I
were to jump at you?"
"Then you would attack me," Soren said with
a shrug. "I have no training, not the kind you have with fighting
and with apprehending paranormals. You could probably get me down,
despite my best efforts, and you could probably do some real damage
to me and steal the key to your shackles, though you wouldn't
escape the building. There's too many
were training dummies, heavy medicine balls, and weights. It was
like the paranormals he expected to fight were also required to
train for said fights.
Maybe they were.
"So, I can say anything I want down here,
and no one will know?"
Soren nodded. "Pretty much."
Which meant she could look around and try to
find a way out. “Every movie I ever watched as a kid taught me that
the evil rich guy always has a back door. Where’s Mark’s?”
Soren sighed then pointed to the far wall
behind Jessica. “See that area of concrete over there?”
Jessica turned, pretty sure she caught sight
of what Soren wanted her to see when she noticed that one large,
squared-off area was just a touch lighter than everything else. She
walked over to it. There was black and white tile surrounding the
giant square, and more tile surrounding other squares of concrete,
which had been enough to fool Jessica into thinking it was all for
design.
“ This is a
door?”
Soren nodded.
Jessica wanted to laugh. “This is great
then! We can get out of here right now.”
“ No, we can’t,” Soren said
simply, which was enough to deflate the happy mood Jessica had put
herself into.
“ Okay. Why?”
Soren walked over to her; he was standing so
close, she could feel his body heat. He leaned in, and Jessica
swallowed hard.
He didn’t kiss her. Why was he not kissing
her?
A small tapping noise behind her made her
turn her head down.
Soren was tapping on one of the small, black
tiles with his finger. When Jessica frowned and squinted a little
at it, she realized it wasn’t tile, not like the other black
squares surrounding the even bigger concrete one. It was black
glass.
Jessica sighed. “Let me guess, fingerprint
and retina scanning?”
“ And when there’s a
lockdown in the building, the emergency power will also ask for a
tiny blood sample. There’s no hacking this thing. We’re not getting
out of here unless Markus is physically in the room with us. Or
unless someone bombs the other side, but I don’t even know where
this thing leads, and I've been trying to find out for a while.
Supposedly, it goes right under the entire city and then
some.”
Jessica sucked in a long breath then let it
out in a long, hard yell that was so intense the inside of her
throat vibrated. "This is such fucking bullshit!"
Her voice echoed around the room, and just
for good measure, she let out an enraged roaring scream. To her own
ears, it sounded like a battle cry, something a person shouted
before killing another man. It lasted a good twenty seconds, and in
screaming time, that was a lot. It was something that rocked her
throat and mouth harder than the yell she'd let out previous,
probably heard from the first floor, despite how deep underground
they were. When she finished, her throat ached. It burned,
actually.
She was breathless when she finally stopped.
Her chest fell up and down in hard spurts, and she glared at Soren,
her fists clenched.
He watched her calmly, as if that had been
nothing he hadn't been expecting. She was shocked. “Feel
better?"
"No!" she snapped, though it wasn't true.
She did feel better. Not entirely, but it had felt good to get some
of the anger and frustration out of her, to scream for the weeks
she'd spent in that cell, for the people she'd had to kill just so
Charles, some other scientists, and maybe even Soren could take
notes on their goddamned clipboards.
"Could I attack you down here?" Jessica
asked, and she really wanted to do it. She braced her legs for the
spring. "You said no one was watching us. What would happen if I
were to jump at you?"
"Then you would attack me," Soren said with
a shrug. "I have no training, not the kind you have with fighting
and with apprehending paranormals. You could probably get me down,
despite my best efforts, and you could probably do some real damage
to me and steal the key to your shackles, though you wouldn't
escape the building. There's too many
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