Blue Maneuver (32 page)

After one last look, Layla climbed out of the cab. The truck rocked when she slammed the door shut.

I slipped off the seat to cower on the floor. Now what?

Escape. Duh!

I glanced at the ignition. Empty. It had been a long shot that she’d leave the keys behind. I needed to call for help. My hands stilled in mid-air. Right. I needed my mouth for that. But I didn’t need it to talk to something else.
CeeBees
?
Can you remove this light gag
?

A moment later, my lips tingled.

Was that it? I touched my face. It didn’t feel different, but then again the gag had been seamless. To find out for sure, I’d have to talk.

“Hello,” I whispered. Yes, yes, yes! I had done it. No more evil light gag. Looking for my Smartphone, I patted my pockets. Empty? They can’t be empty. Where was my cell? I had it when we left. I stared at my open palm. It had been right in my hand when I’d gotten in the car and…

And Layla had zapped me.

Aw snap! It must have fallen from my hand when I’d passed out. I was so screwed. No. Stop it. I had to think positive. Right. Maybe it was stuck between the seat and the door. I snaked out from under the dash and slithered face down over the front seat. With the door brushing against the top of my head, I reached in the tiny space. My fingers slid over the nubby carpeting, eased along the cold seat mounts and fondled the hard molded plastic covers. Crumbs coated my skin but I didn’t find the phone.

For a moment, I buried my face in the seat cushion. Okay, the phone was out so I needed to move on to plan B. Did I have a plan B? I’d have to think of one. And fast.

I took a deep breath and peeked over the dash.

Banks of Cypress hedges mirrored the tan bricks banding the two-story building. Above the double glass doors, the row bulged out providing a curved portico for the ground floor and a balcony for the story above. Bright halogen lights illuminated the building and parking lot. Layla glanced up at the dark second-story windows punching holes in the bricks while hurrying toward the portico.

Before she cleared the planters, the doors were thrown open. Two raven-haired hunks with biceps the size of toddlers’ heads scanned the area with boxy pistols before glancing behind them and nodding.

Yipe! Heart hammering my ribs, I scrunched back under the dash. Did those fancy doodads pick up my heat signature or was I safe behind the hot engine block? Think, Rae. Think. There had to be a way out of this.

I stared up. The dash. Tobias had all sorts of neat stuff in the dash of the HHR and the other truck. Surely, this one would have something similar. I eased onto the bench seat and stared at the center console. Radio, AC, and car outlets. What had he pushed to get all the fancy gadgets? I pressed the radio button. Nothing. After tapping each of the preset buttons, I waited. No change. Dang it. Time counted down in heartbeats.

“Come on.” I poked the AC button. Nothing. Gritting my teeth, I peered over the dash.

Silver winked in Ulla’s hand before a blade emerged like an evil extra finger. She slashed it from right to left then back again. Liquid sprayed her face and crimson glistened on the formerly pristine knife.

Layla clutched her neck. She swayed for a moment before dropping to her knees then pitching face forward onto the concrete landing.

Oh no. Oh no. I twisted each knob of the air conditioning controls then the radio dials. Nothing responded. “Please. Please. Please. Work. Something work.”

The dash remained dark.

Fighting back the frustration, I glanced up.

Ulla ran her index finger along the flat side of her knife before pressing her bloody finger to her full lips. Smiling, she turned to Hunky Minions One and Two then pointed at the truck.

Fudge. I’d just been outed.

The men headed my way while Ulla bent down and cut Layla’s finger off and removed the key fob.

I scrambled across the bench seat toward the far door. My sweaty hands slipped once on the door handle before I managed to shove it open. I hit the asphalt running.

Footfalls pounded behind me.

Faster. I urged my pumping legs. Run faster. A ball of heat hit me square in the back. Fire raced up my spine and exploded inside my skull. I blinked and the next thing I knew I was facedown on the pavement. Aches and pain suffused my body then they faded in the background.

“Well that’s no fun.” Ulla pouted from behind me. “She didn’t even scream.”

Black boots with gold tassels appeared in my peripheral vision. Hands reach under my arms, manacled my skin in a punishing grip, and then I was lifted partially off the ground.

My head lolled to the side as I hung between the two minions like a fresh wishbone-too soft to break from their tug-of-war.

My personal Sherpas turned about then dragged me, legs tailing on the black top, toward the door.

Ulla slammed the key fob onto the cement then crushed it under her booted heel. “At least the UED’s toys don’t kill outright.”

Her smile sent a chill down my spine.

Ulla summoned her minions with a wave of her long fingernails. “Bring her to my room. I wish to play with my new toy.”

My head drooped forward. That was my exit cue. The asphalt gave way to the white concrete walk.
Okay CeeBees, set yourself to overload on my mark
.

I closed my eyes and waited for the CeeBees to explode, ripping me apart from the inside out. My feet smacked the curb. And waited. Chilled air washed over my face. And waited. Son of a monkey’s butt!

The CeeBees had reneged on our deal.

Fine. I’d find my own way out of this mess. I opened my eyes and lifted my head. Surprise, surprise, I was in a hallway. It seemed to be all these alien humans built.

Ulla pranced ahead of me. Her three-inch heels played
Taps
on the shiny floor. Here and there, tan piles of rags appeared along the long corridor.

Whoa. That didn’t seem right. I zeroed in on the closest one. Not a pile of rags at all, but a person cowering behind lumps of matted hair. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched the person sag in relief.

She glanced up. Age didn’t mark her oval face so much as abuse and some of the red slashes still bled. Tattered sleeves slipped up her bony arms to reveal ghostly white marks on her flesh. Pity flashed in her brown eyes before she focused on scrubbing the floor with a brush the size of a toothbrush.

My lungs labored for breath. Right. I was going to endure much worse than she had. I only hoped the traitorous CeeBees numbed me. If I could, I’d love to deprive Ulla the pleasure of my pain.

Turning through an archway, she led us into an open room. Banks of electronic equipment striped the white floors and glommed onto the walls. Here and there raggedy clothed people vacuumed the surface of the shiny black computers, monitors and servers. Every three feet, a person stood at attention. Sickly green, yellow and red LCD lights played over their waxy skin.

I blinked. No, not skin. Each wore a clear mask, smearing their features into indistinguishable blobs. I didn’t see any air holes near the flat noses. How could they breathe in them?

Each exhale clouded the mask then faded slowly away. On the left side of the room, a woman with a swollen belly swayed slightly.

“29Zed9,” Ulla snapped, stopping at the base of the curving staircase in the center of the room.

The pregnant woman straightened, waddled over to Ulla and prostrated herself at the despot’s feet.

No one else moved or even twitched.

My fingers spasmed. Oh God, what was Ulla up to?

Ulla set her boot on the woman’s head. “You will remain on duty for the next twenty-four hours without food or water.”

“Thank you mistress.” The woman enunciated each word slowly.

From fatigue or something else I didn’t know. Anger roiled through me and my fingers curled into fists. No one deserved to be treated like that. If the CeeBees ever got around to turning me into an incendiary device, I hope Ulla stood right next to me when I exploded.

Ulla smirked then turned and clomped up the stairs.

My personal Sherpas hauled me up after her, shins banging on every riser. I winced at the rhythmic thump even though I didn’t feel any pain. At least part of the CeeBees functioned. Concentrating, I managed to get my feet under me every other step. Upon reaching the landing, my muscles dissolved into unset gelatin and my head bobbed on my neck. If I didn’t know better than I’d think the CeeBees could turn me on and off as they choose.

I stared at the blood red and bone white floral design of the Oriental runner unrolling from a carved walnut door on the right. My head drooped to the right as the minion on my right leapt over the rug to land on the bare tile. My left shoe plopped onto the carpet with a hollow thunk.

Pausing by the carved door, Ulla turned. Her full lips turned down in an unpleasant pout. “Pick her up you dolts. We don’t allow trash on the carpet.”

Bitch! She knew what human garbage looked like every time she glanced in the mirror. I clamped my lips shut. And I wasn’t going to pay my swear jar a red penny for my thoughts.

As one, the minions hoisted me higher.

My bare toes brushed the carpet then all I felt was cold air.

“That’s better.” Ulla smirked then threw open the wooden door and sashayed inside.

From under the fringe of my bangs, I watched the door grow larger and larger. My stomach clenched and sweat stung my eyes. God only knew what the chamber of horrors looked like. Or what I’d experience once inside.

I closed my eyes as they carried me over the threshold. The sickening sweet stench of blood hit me first, followed quickly by the caustic odor of bleach and ammonia. Opening my eyes, I surveyed the place of my impending death.

Aside from a metal human form in the center, the square room was strangely empty. Pristine white walls, floor and ceiling boxed us in. Where were the grisly stains and primitive dental equipment?

“Place it on the table then you may leave.” Ulla waved her hands toward the gun-metal gray bed.

“My name is Rae and I’m not an it.” I raised my head to stare at the evil woman. “I am a human being.”

“You are what I say you are.” Ulla strolled to the wall behind her and pressed on it. A cabinet sighed as it opened fully. She ran her fingers lovingly over the shiny pliers, knives and picks before selecting a scalpel. “I wonder if you can still scream without your tongue.”

The minions tossed me face first onto the table before flopping me onto my back.

“Careful.” Ulla tsked. “I’m the only one allowed to play with my new toy.”

The metal oozed between my fingers and seemed to shrink wrap around my body. I tried to turn my head and wiggle my toes. Nothing doing. Great, escaping just got a tad bit harder. Too bad the CeeBees couldn’t interact with the bed and reverse its quicksand attraction. “I am a person, not a thing or a toy.”

At least my mouth still worked. Unfortunately, I think that’s because Ulla wanted it that way. That and the full view of my body and what she did to it.

The door snicked shut as the minions backed out of the room.

A low rumble shook my form-fitting coffin.

Moments later, Ulla appeared followed by the rolling torture kit.

“You should feel flattered.” She stroked the flat side of the scalpel down my cheek.

Try as I might, I couldn’t turn my head away from the knife. There had to be a way out of this.

“You’ll be the only double in my collection.” Ulla carefully returned the scalpel to its slot on the cabinet. Her tapered fingers stripped off my sock then danced over my bare foot and caressed my arch.

I didn’t feel a thing. Still. What were the CeeBees up to? Was the numbness a side effect of rigging me to explode? “What collection?”

Ulla stroked the bright pink flesh of my baby toe.

But I knew and my belly quivered from the knowledge.

Light blazed in her wide blue eyes. “I’ll show you.”

Not interested. But if it bought me time, I’d gawk at her fanaticism.

Ulla skipped to the opposite wall. This time when she pressed the whiteness, a drawer slid open. She reached inside and pulled out a long strand of pearls. They clacked together as she toyed with them. “This is my collection.”

I watched it sway back and forth. The beads didn’t seem as shiny as pearls and some where more oblong than others. And what exactly was that black dot on most of them? Ulla didn’t seem the type to put up with imperfection. Oh, no. It couldn’t be. Even she couldn’t be that depraved.

Cupping her hand under the necklace, Ulla scooped up the pearls then sorted through them. She grasped two between her thumb and forefinger and held them up for me to see. “These are yours.”

“Mine.” My mind blanked for a moment before I faced the ugly truth. “That’s what you did with my toe.”

“Yes.” Ulla rubbed the ‘pearls’ against her cheek and smiled. “I take them out to remember.” She blinked. “Oh yes, I need to record our time together. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that the first time, but the Creator gave us both a second chance.”

What higher power would really provide an opportunity for more of Her creations to suffer for the entertainment of others?

“You’re sick.” I jerked on my arm. It didn’t budge. Crap on a cracker! I wanted out of here. Instead, a strange lethargy invaded my limbs and I relaxed into the form.

Ulla sniffed and cradled her beads. “Only those truly evolved humans can appreciate my art.”

“It’s not art; it’s torture.” I fought off the fatigue sweeping through me. Ulla couldn’t be responsible for it. Sadists don’t want their victims to be comfortable. It could only be the work of the CeeBees. But why? And when I was going to explode? “Only devolved
Homo suckus
do that crap.”

Frowning, Ulla returned her necklace to the drawer. “There was a reason we left your ancestors behind.” Returning to my side, she leaned down and whispered into my ear. “Your kind weren’t fit to scrub our toilets.”

I’d like to shove her head in a toilet and keep flushing it until she drowned.

Ulla straightened, sauntered to the torture cart and pulled a cell phone from its place on a velvet shelf. “But thanks to such advances at Guantanamo Bay, we see some potential in the detritus on this planet.”