Restless (Element Preservers, #4) (19 page)

“You don’t have to worry your pretty head with any of that. Just do what I ask of you.” He leaned forward and took a glass of dark red liquid, probably wine. After he took a sip, he placed the glass back on the table and picked up a phone. He threw the phone across the room and I caught it right before it could hit the couch. “We’ll keep in touch with this. If you don’t answer the phone when I call, your friends will die.”

“They’re not my friends. I don’t even know them personally.” I held the phone in my hand and knew nothing would change even if Paula wasn’t with the others.

“You do know Paula Arnolds, don’t you?” He grinned at me like a cat.

I got up, swaying on my feet. “I want proof that they’re all alive.”

“Of course.” The president waved his hand at the guard closest to him. The guard pressed a button on the wall and the TV screen on my left lit up. Images of two rooms flashed on the screen. Paula was huddled in the corner of an empty room, her knees drawn to her chest. In another room, a group of scientists sat on the floor, talking to each other. I swallowed past the bile that rose in my throat. Paula was alive, but I didn’t know how to get to her. The screen went black again and I gasped.

“You look a bit pale, my dear,” the president said, his brows drawn together in mock worry. “You should go back to the university and rest.”

“Yeah, I should,” I whispered and headed for the door, followed by the guards. I tore the element-blocking bracelet off my wrist and let it drop to the floor. That sick son of a bitch was going to pay for this. I didn’t know how or when, but I knew he’d pay.

Chapter 24

I dropped into the chair in my room back at the university. Lily was examining the phone I had gotten from the president, her forehead wrinkled in concentration.

“It only has a regular tracker, nothing else,” she said, giving me the phone.

“I can’t believe our president is so callous.” I rubbed my eyes, feeling more tired than ever. “What are we going to do now?”

“My team found some people who saw strange vans on the street. It’s not easy to kidnap so many people in a large city without being seen. We narrowed down the possible location and I hope we’ll know more soon.” Lily placed her hand on my shoulder. “Ethan stayed at the university, so maybe he didn’t have anything to do with Paula’s kidnapping.”

“If your team doesn’t find the place where the president is hiding the scientists and Paula...” My voice cracked and I snapped my mouth shut. I had to think about something else and not about Paula being trapped in that empty room without anyone there to tell her that we’d do anything to save her. “There’s one thing that bugs me. Why would the government want a protest and why would they threaten me? The president could have simply asked me to hold a speech and I’d have no reasons to refuse. If he thinks I’m working with carriers, why didn’t he simply kill...”

Adrian looked up at me from the windowsill, his eyes as wide as mine.

“They’re planning to kill me!” Too nervous to stay put, I sprang to my feet and started pacing up and down the room. “That would make sense. The government could blame the protesters for my death and if I’m no longer the president of the Element Preservers, Lily will lose influence. They could pay a carrier to kill me. It would be a huge scandal. Just imagine if I got killed by the very people I was trying to protect! That would convince people that all carriers are cold-blooded murderers who couldn’t be trusted.”

“Shit.” Lily fumbled with her phone. “I knew we didn’t have much time before they discovered what we were doing, but... I was hoping it wouldn’t be so soon. I’ll tell my people to hurry up and make plans in case the government finds our hiding place. We need to save the scientists before the protest starts.”

Adrian was at my side, reaching out for me, but I stepped back and ran my hands through my hair. If Lily couldn’t find the scientists and Paula in time, did that mean I had to die so Paula and the others could live? No wonder the president didn’t want to tell me anything.

“Don’t worry, Ria. We have at least until dawn tomorrow to find the scientists and rescue them. The protest starts at noon, so that should give us enough of time,” Lily said, but that didn’t reassure me. “I’ll call you two as soon as I have more info.” She gathered her things and went for the door, leaving Adrian and me alone.

“What do I do now? It feels wrong to sit here and do nothing.” I sighed.

“Go to the office,” Adrian said, his eyes meeting mine. “You mustn’t show the president that his plan is affecting you. Pretend nothing is wrong and save your strength. You’re going to need it.”

“You’re right.” I wanted to pull him into my arms and cling onto him until the world stopped spinning, but I knew I couldn’t do that. His fist was clenched at his side, which meant that he wanted to touch me too.

“We’ll do whatever it takes. No one is going to die. Not you and not Paula.” The certainty in Adrian’s voice made me smile. I hoped we’d find Paula and the others before it was too late. Straightening my back, I forced all of my emotions deep inside of me and blinked away the unshed tears. I’d go to the office and show the government I wasn’t so easily defeated. It wasn’t like I couldn’t take a nap instead of working. No one would ever know about it. Yep, I totally liked that awesome plan.

I could hear a phone ringing somewhere in the distance, and I made a step toward the noise, only to hit an empty space and fall. My eyes flew open as my elbow hit the desk and a wave of sharp pain spread through my arm. It took a moment for my sluggish mind to process that I was still in the office and that my phone was ringing. I picked it up, expecting to hear my secretary.

“We have their location!” Lily said, her voice filled with excitement. “We followed the government’s men and found one of their vans. The place where they’re hiding Paula and the scientists is underground. I’m preparing a team to go there right now. We planned the whole rescue mission already, so I believe everything will be fine.”

“I want to come with you,” I said, getting to my feet. My mind was suddenly clear as if I hadn’t been sleeping only a minute ago.

“No, it’s too dangerous. You have to stay at the office and answer the phone in case the president calls. The phone has a tracker, remember? He’d know where we are.”

“Can’t you remove the damn tracker?” I wasn’t about to let Lily and her men go alone to save Paula, especially because I was sure Adrian would go with them too. I would never forgive myself if I just idly sat here and waited for someone else to get things done when Paula’s life was on the line.

“Nope, it’s built into the phone and the president would receive an alert if someone even tried to move the tracker,” Lily said impatiently.

“Can’t you connect something to the phone and redirect the call if that idiot calls? I have to go with you. Please!” I hoped she could hear the despair in my voice. “The phone can stay in my office because I’m supposed to stay at work anyway. It won’t be suspicious.”

“Alright.” Lily sighed. “I’ll send someone for you, but be careful. If someone sees you...”

“Paula could die. Yes, I understand.” I swallowed. “Just hurry!”

A couple of minutes later, a girl came to my office, her long dark brown hair tucked under a huge black hat, her eyes hidden behind dark shades.

“I’m going to stay here and you’re going to pretend you’re me,” the girl stated, a smile hovering on her lips. “If the president calls, I’ll redirect the call to this.” She handed me a small device that looked like an earplug and I inserted it in my ear.

“Thanks.”

The girl opened the bag she was carrying with her and placed various weapons on my desk. “Pick the ones you know how to use.” She took off her coat and a bulletproof vest she had underneath, laying them out over the chair.

I grabbed the vest and put it on, then strapped two guns to my legs. The coat was long enough to hide the weapons, so I tied it around me. The girl placed the hat on my head and I slid the shades on my nose.

“Great,” the girl said. “No one will recognize you like this. You look like me now.”

“They better not recognize me.” I smiled. I was armed with weapons and my elements, and ready to take down whoever got in my way.

“The car is waiting for you outside.” The girl winked at me. “Good luck.”

“Thanks again.” I quickened my pace and hurried down the hall.

Chapter 25

“We’re ready to go,” Lily announced as she tied her long black hair into a ponytail. Her black gear fit tightly to her petite form and she reminded me of an action movie star. “Adrian, Ria, you’ll stay at the back while the team sweeps the building. I won’t let you mess up my plan because you’re trying to be brave or prove yourself, got it?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, and Adrian nodded.

“If something goes wrong, just get out of there.” Lily picked up a gun and strode outside.

“Are you ready?” A playful smile hovered on Adrian’s lips.

“Yeah.” I knew he was only trying to distract me, but it worked. We followed Lily and the others to the cars, and I noticed we all looked nearly the same in our black gears. No matter how much I wanted to keep the coat I’d been wearing when I came to meet Lily, it would be hard to shoot and run around in it. The hat had to stay behind too, but I didn’t want to tie my hair like the other girls in Lily’s team did.

When we reached the area near the building where Paula and the scientists were held, we ran out of the cars, our guns in our hands. It was fascinating to see Lily’s team move as one, covering more and more ground. Since Adrian and I were the last ones to go, we had to wait for a sign from the others that it was safe for us to move.

Only a moment later, a whistle pierced the air, and I peered around the corner. A rusty green door that led underground was hanging off its hinges, which meant that Lily’s team hadn’t had any trouble breaking in. I could see two men going inside and disappearing into the darkness. Was this even the right place? It reminded me of an abandoned storage place or a meeting spot for drug addicts and drunks. I hadn’t heard any alarms going off, so how could anyone hide a group of people in there? Then again, maybe the best hiding place was in the plain sight.

“Come on,” Adrian said, pulling out his gun. I fumbled with the rough map of the place that Lily had given me. Lily’s techs had searched for body heat inside the building and discovered a group of people huddled close together. Carriers had circled around the building too, but they couldn’t feel any elements, which meant that there was something inside that blocked the feel of elements or the people wore the element-blocking bracelets.

I folded the map and tucked it back into my pocket. Raising my gun, I followed Adrian toward the door. It was funny we still relied more on our weapons than on our elements, but using elements in small, closed spaces with many people wasn’t a good idea. I blinked several times as we descended the stairs until my eyes adjusted to the near darkness.

Gunshots echoed farther down the hall and we rushed toward the noise. Maybe we weren’t in the wrong place after all. All of a sudden, I could feel all the elements in the building, which made me stop. “Can you feel that?” I turned toward Adrian.

“Yeah. Whatever it was that wasn’t letting us feel the elements must be built into the outer walls.” He cocked his head as if he could hear the elements.

“Let’s move.” I was impatient because I wanted to feel Paula’s element, so I glanced at Adrian to see if he could sense her, but his face was unreadable. We advanced down the poorly lit hall, avoiding goo that was dripping from the walls. The air smelled like rot, earth and metal. Something wet fell on my cheek and I wiped it off in disgust.

We heard shouting and more gunshots, but we couldn’t pinpoint where the sound was coming from. Everything seemed to echo around here, but a dull thud of footsteps became clearer and clearer. We pointed our guns in the direction of a water element. A guy dressed in a blue coat came into view, his eyes wide and panicked. He immediately put his hands up in the air. “Please don’t kill me!”

“He’s one of ours,” Adrian said, lowering his gun and nodding toward the name tag on the guy’s coat.

“Get out. Now!” I said, and the guy ran off as if wolves were chasing after him.

“Paula is no longer with the others.” Adrian’s shoulders tensed in alert, and I stumbled after him.

“Can you feel her element? Where is she?” If she wasn’t with the others, we needed to find her. Lily’s team was too busy with fighting and saving the scientists to care about Paula.

“Yeah, but... It’s gone.” He frowned. “I can no longer feel her element.”

“What do you mean you can’t feel her element anymore?” My high-pitched voice was magnified in the small space, and I was no longer sure if the sentence kept resonating in my mind or around me.

“I don’t know. She vanished.” He broke into a run.

“No, she can’t be dead!” I yelled, gravel and dust crunching under my feet as I ran. We reached the end of the hall and saw two doors, one on the left and one on the right. The door on the right was wide open and it led to a hall nearly identical to the one we came from.

“Where did you last feel her?” Lily and her team must have chosen the door on the right because I could feel elements in that direction, but if Adrian thought Paula was no longer with them...