Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ebony was pissed. Not only was she being dragged out of the hotel at gunpoint, but she hadn't been allowed to put on shoes. Shine was equally annoyed at her side, but they could do nothing other than follow along and hope for an opportunity to escape. They didn't know where the boys were, Granger was lying on the floor bleeding and passed out, and Buchanan and his goons were giving orders.

Ebony and Shine were shoved down a back stairwell and out into an alley and directly into a waiting car. Once the car was driving away and Buchanan hung up with Marty, Ebony was glad they at least knew where they were headed. It also seemed likely that it would be the first place Lark would look for her, so her confidence grew and she glared at Buchanan.

"What's the plan? No one may notice me being gone, but Shine can't just disappear off the face of the earth," Ebony said.

"No, she can't, but I think Shine will agree that our little arrangement is for the best. She's got a lot to lose," Buchanan said, giving Shine a harsh glower.

Ebony looked at Shine and she wasn't sure what the woman was thinking. Her face was passive, almost as if she were going to do whatever Buchanan asked. Ebony hoped Shine was just playing along, because Shine deserved so much better than what Buchanan wanted to use her for.

"And you," Buchanan continued, turning back to Ebony. "After you all left the event tonight, I had a slight change of heart. A realization, perhaps you could say. That I didn't like the idea of you out there, Ebony, a loose end to worry over. So no matter how sure I am that you'll want to keep your mouth shut in order to guarantee your dear friend's safety, I am going to have to keep you closer to home."

"I'll never breed for you," Ebony hissed.

"No, you can't, you're not whole. It would never work; I've tried with others. It just ends up like me, or her," he said motioning to Shine. "The only way to get the artificial soul to present in the child is for the mother to have a full soul." He shrugged.

"So I get to just live there, rot there?" Ebony scoffed.

"Oh no, you get to die there." Buchanan gave her a wide wicked grin and his eyes lit up as if he were relishing the mere thought of killing her.

Ebony shot a look at Shine, terrified that this maniac might be able to do just that with no more thought than someone else might give to buying a pair of shoes. A new wave of fear flowed over her and she started to lose what little hope she'd had for surviving this ordeal.

"That won't put me on your side," Shine said, voice shaky.

"No? Watching your friend die before your eyes isn't convincing enough to be a good girl? Well then how about her death at your hand? I'll make sure your prints are all over the weapon and her body will be found somewhere very public, oh say like your hotel room. Plenty of people have seen you two together, maybe you got into a tiff over one of those men you were with and you shot her out of jealousy."

Shit, blackmail. As if holding Shine's mother somewhere under lock and key wasn't bad enough, he was threatening Shine with life in prison. This guy was next-level insane.

"You wouldn't want me in jail, then everyone would know my secret, your deception," Shine spat.

Buchanan looked annoyed as if he hadn't considered that bit. "Well, I can put your mother's prints on it. She'd never last in jail. She's quite delicate after all." Buchanan sneered at Shine.

Ebony could see the very real fear in Shine's eyes at that statement. He'd have her with that threat. Shine may be willing to sacrifice herself, but not her mother.

"Why take me to the facility to do it? Why not kill me now, or back at the hotel? This seems like a waste of time," Ebony said.

"I need a few pints of your blood to test before I spill the rest of it and your men are currently on their way there too, with that traitor Marty. I have his house watched, I knew the moment they pulled up outside and he's too much of a weak link to deny them when threatened. I plan to take out all my enemies in one shot." Buchanan smiled. "And I imagine Granger will arrive as well, as soon as he wakes up from that little bump on the head."

They were all walking into a trap! Ebony's throat tightened, her heart sped up and panic started to fill her. Would the guys be expecting it?

"Oh, and I brought this along for you, dear." Buchanan pulled out a syringe filled with red liquid and smiled darkly at Shine. "How badly do you want the relief? It's hard to be away from, isn't it. To be honest I didn't think you'd have what it takes to get yourself a fix the old fashioned way, but you've proven me wrong on a few accounts the last two days."

"I don't need it enough to go along with murder," Shine said but her eyes filled with longing as she gazed at the syringe. Ebony could tell she didn't want to need it, but it was a safety net she must crave.

"Oh, don't be silly, you know I don't want you to be uncomfortable. Frank, hold her arm," Buchanan insisted and one of the goons grabbed Shine's arm and held it steady as Buchanan injected her.

Shine didn't fight the hold, just closed her eyes and sighed as the red liquid entered her body. When Buchanan pulled the needle out, she wrenched her arm out of Frank's grip.

"There now, you always were a bit of a brat about it. Nurse Reagan complained about you constantly."

"Maybe she shouldn't work for such an asshole," Shine mumbled and rubbed at the spot where she'd been injected.

Buchanan laughed. "She's been with me for a long time. She understands what I'm trying to do, what service I provide to the world. I'll be responsible for the survival of our country you know. Do you have any idea how few fullsouls are born naturally?"

Ebony just stared out the window. She didn't want to hear anything Buchanan had to say to justify the horrors he inflicted on others. She needed to figure out a way to survive the night, and she needed to make sure Shine took her soul if she didn't.

That's the thought that struck her with an idea, a way to put a wrinkle in Buchanan's plan. The man thought he had everything figured out, but there was a kink that she knew he wouldn't expect, and it might get him to wait long enough for the guys to show up.

"It's too bad you're wrong," she said with a laugh.

Buchanan glared at her. "Wrong about what exactly?"

"Shine and her mother could never go down for my murder," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "Because I'm her soulsister and it's not illegal to kill your soulsibling or to help your child claim their full soul."

Buchanan's eyes widened and he looked from one of them to the other in astonishment. "Artificial souls don't have soulsiblings."

"Oh yeah, and did I mention that Lark is my soulmate? We sparked." Ebony grinned and felt a bit of her power and survival instinct come back to her. "I told you I'm not your daughter, asshole."

"But you're still not a fullsoul, how did you spark to Lark?" His eyes lit up and she knew she had him. He was a scientist at heart, and he wanted to investigate, wanted to test. He would keep her alive, at least for a time so he could see why her soul was acting different. "Is it because you have more than half, because Shine is barely a soul at all?"

Ebony shrugged and let a little satisfaction soften the smile on her face. She could play his weak point long enough; Lark would save them.

The car pulled into the familiar lot of BaneCore, and they were once again prodded and led by gunpoint. This time into a dark, quiet, building. They went through the lobby, straight to the elevators, and down a level to the laboratory.

"I need blood, and a scan on both of you. When Lark arrives I'll need his too. Get me the information on Lark. He's an orphan, I know that much, is he one of our castoffs?" Buchanan shouted the order to a man in a lab coat who didn't look at all surprised by their sudden appearance, or the obvious unwillingness of her and Shine to be there. "No, couldn't be, they never have soulsiblings, they wouldn't spark," he mumbled as he moved around. "Tie them up," he told the guards.

The guards did as ordered, strapping Shine and Ebony to some chairs, then Buchanan sent them back upstairs to apprehend Lark and the others when they undoubtedly arrived.

"Why did you tell him?" Shine hissed. "Now we are lab rats."

"Better than dead already," Ebony hissed back. "Look how distracted he is, like a kid in a candy store. We need the time so Lark can save us."

"Blood," Buchanan mumbled as he walked over and shoved a needle in Ebony's arm, drawing out blood.

"Ouch" Ebony hissed but Buchanan didn't even look at her face just grinned at the vial and moved over to Shine.

She didn't even react to the poke, so used to needles apparently. He walked away and a woman in a lab coat with an apologetic face came up to them and asked them to hold still while she scanned them with some kind of handheld device.

"Now touch please while I scan you both again," the woman asked softly.

"Sure, just untie me," Ebony said with a smile.

The woman frowned and looked back at where Buchanan was mumbling over a microscope. She obviously didn't want to bother him and she seemed unsure about the whole situation.

"If you ask him, he's going to yell at you," Shine pointed out.

"Fine, but only one of you, and only one hand." The woman untied Ebony's right arm and Ebony immediately reached over to touch Shine as the woman scanned them a second time.

The scanning took just enough time for Ebony to discreetly loosen Shines' bound arm as the woman was preoccupied with whatever she saw on the little device's screen. When the woman retied Ebony and walked away, Shine was able to squeeze that one hand out. After that it was only a matter of moments before her other arm was undone, with both the woman and Buchanan completely distracted by what they were currently studying. The harder part to do unnoticed though was going to be reaching over and undoing Ebony's bonds without anyone noticing.

"Go," Ebony hissed at Shine under her breath. "Find a way out, get to the men before they're ambushed. Or find a phone to warn them. He's not going to kill me until he figures out what happened with us, he's too curious."

"Lark will kill me if I leave you here," Shine whispered back, her eyes never leaving Buchanan. "I am certain he'd rather be captured and tortured given the option."

Ebony thought Shine was probably right, but it felt risky to wait. "Fine untie this hand, keep as still as possible and if they notice you, run no matter what. One of us should survive this."

Shine slipped her left hand to Ebony's right and together they managed to get it freed then Ebony quickly undid her other. They both sat there, freed but not sure what to do.

"Even if we make it to the elevator, we'll never survive waiting for the doors to open," Ebony pointed out.

"We don't have any weapons, but I could throw a chair or two," Shine said.

Ebony just shook her head, that probably wouldn't buy them enough time. "The elevator is going to open when the boys get here, but they'll be with the goons and Marty, we'll be outnumbered," Ebony said, thinking out loud.

"Stairs," Shine said. "There has to be stairs up or down, right? Otherwise it would be a fire hazard."

Ebony darted her eyes around. There were a few doors but only one looked dark enough on the other side to presume it was a rarely used stairwell. "There," Ebony said, pointing with her chin. Unfortunately it was on the other side of the room, with Buchanan and the nurse between.

"We could try and make a run for them," Shine said.

"Divide and conquer," Ebony said. "When the elevator doors open, you run for the stairwell, I'll run to the elevator. They won't risk shooting you and if I'm running toward them, they'll just grab me not shoot me."

Shine nodded and thirty seconds later the ding of the elevator reverberated through the room. They both bolted as planned. Buchanan yelled, indignant, as the elevator doors opened.

But it was Lark's waiting arms Ebony ran into, not the goons'. Stone was behind him and Granger with a bloody Marty held by the back of the neck.

"Fuck, Ebony," Lark groaned as their bodies touched and sparks of recognition and relief flew through them both.

"How did you get past security?" Buchanan stuttered.

Ebony's gaze swept the room, but Shine was gone.

"Those idiots," Stone laughed.

"Almost as easy to turn as Marty here," Granger said, shoving the man forward.

"Only took a few punches and they saw our way of thinking."

Buchanan's face turned red with rage. "You can't stop me, you don't understand what I've just found, what she means! It's—it's—it's everything!" Buchanan said loudly, pointing a shaking finger at Ebony.

"Yes, she is everything, to me, to Shine, but not to you," Lark said. "Never to you." Then he raised a gun and shot the senator through the middle of the head.

The lady in the lab coat was already cowering on the floor but she let out a scream at the sound and somewhere deep in the facility an alarm started to go off.

Before Ebony could comment, the sprinklers above them blasted on.

"Fire?" she gasped.

Lark looked at her then growled, "The children."

"Where's Shine?" Granger demanded.

"She was headed for the stairwell, I was the distraction," Ebony explained.

Granger took off at a run for the stairwell and they followed, assuming the elevator would automatically go out of commission with the alarm.

It was massive chaos in the stairwell. More people than Ebony ever could have imagined being in the facility rushed upstairs. Women with glassy eyes, men and women in lab coats carrying multiple infants. Ebony was shocked that they cared about the infants at all, but she supposed Buchanan would be upset if he lost all of his investment, and they didn't know the man was currently bleeding out on the lab floor.

"Take Marty to find Taylor. I'm getting Ebony out of here," Lark ordered Stone and shoved her into the swarm of people and up the stairwell. In the chaos no one questioned them or looked twice as they all tried to get to safety.

They burst out of the stairwell with the crowd and into the lobby then rushed out to the parking lot. She was relieved to be out of that place but fear still gripped her. Fear for Shine and Taylor and all the innocent people who might be trapped inside.

Lark wrapped her in his arms and squeezed her tight. "I thought I was going to be too late," he whispered against her head.

"I knew you'd save me," she whispered back. She pulled back and looked around the dark parking lot. The workers were herding everyone as if they had practiced for this. The women and children were loaded into waiting vans that drove away as soon as they were full.

"All the evidence is leaving," Ebony said not sure if they should try and stop them.

"The culprit is dead, Ebony. I don't think the evidence matters anymore."

She supposed he was right, but she felt guilty anyway. Shouldn't they be trying to find justice for those women, those children? "What's going to happen to them when they find out Buchanan is dead? Is someone else going to pick up where he left off? They still aren't free, they are probably headed to a secondary facility."

"I don't know, Ebony. I think the best we can do right now is make sure everyone we care about is safe, then we can make sure no one else takes on Buchanan's project," Lark said. "We can still reveal all of this horror, we can stop anyone from making the same mistakes."

Ebony was comforted by Lark's assurances and watched the front of the building for the rest of their group. "Shine!" Ebony screeched when she saw her soulsister burst out of the building just as sirens were heard in the distance.

Shine was hurrying out the doors with Granger on her heels. He had a woman in his arms. "Her mother?" Ebony guessed. "But where's Taylor and Stone?"

"We need to get out of here," Lark pressed, pulling her toward their waiting car.

Granger shoved the woman he was carrying into the back seat and pushed Shine to follow, then hopped in.

"Where the hell is Stone?" Lark growled.

"He's still looking for Taylor, we can't leave them here," Ebony said frantically.

"We can't stay and talk to the cops, Ebony," Lark insisted. "You're already under suspicion for murder, there's a very dead body in there and I doubt there's a real fire to cover anything up," Lark shoved her into the passenger seat of the car. "Stone will be okay, he'll get Taylor out too."

"I pulled the alarm," Shine admitted, "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Ebony didn't argue as Lark got in the driver's seat and started the car.

"Stone is capable," he reassured her as they peeled out and followed a back road that the vans had taken.

The car was barely out of the paved lot when an explosion rocked the world. Lark slammed on the brakes and spun the car around to face the facility again. It was an inferno.

"I thought it was a fake fire," Ebony gasped.

"Maybe it's some sort of failsafe, to keep the evidence hidden in an emergency," Shine pointed out.

"Well there goes the research," Granger said with relief. "It'll be harder for anyone to pick up where Buchanan left off, I hope."

"And the evidence of Buchanan's murder," Lark added.

No one wanted to say what they were all thinking. But tears poured out of Ebony's eyes for her friends.