Jump Line (Book 1 - Jump Line Series)

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

In a matter of seconds the light disappeared and we were sitting in a dark, empty room. A soft glow peeked from beneath a nearby door.

"Where are we?" I whispered. My voice echoed in the small space. This time I wasn't going to let them ignore my question. One of them would be answering.

"OnyxFive," Samuel finally whispered, matter-of-factly.

"Where exactly in OnyxFive?" I asked, annoyed at his response.

"A room," he responded, pointing at the little bed off to the side as he crossed to the front wall and placed his hand on it. "Get ready. It's only a matter of seconds before they figure out we've come back home. They always love to send a welcome team."

"What? That's your big plan? You're going to let them know we're here, at OnyxFive? Shouldn't we have discussed this in a little more detail?" I asked, my cheeks burning. This felt like a set-up. "I thought we were going to find Luther. Not just land at OnyxFive and then let everyone know."

"Relax, Esa. This place was once our home," Samuel said as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

I abruptly shook it off, not appreciating the gesture. "Our home?" My voice rose. "This may have been our home at one point, but from everything you've told me, it's definitely not our home any longer. Why in the world would we just jump here and give ourselves up?" I was trying to mentally workout how this so-called mission made any sense. It didn't seem like we had a well-thought-out plan.

"We needed to get inside to see if we could find Luther. Besides, do you have a better idea? They will find out anyway. Every move in this place is monitored and tracked," Samuel said.

Rage ignited inside of me. Samuel had led us into the lions' den, and the lions were right outside the door. I could hear them trying to claw their way inside.

"This doesn't feel right," I said. "Maybe next time we could discuss the plan beforehand? I do recall you mentioning that, at one point, I was a leader of this team. You need to learn to respect me, now that I've returned."

My own words made me stop. I had never been so rude to anyone. It just didn't sound like me.

Theo's jaw was clenched. Before I could get out another word, the door flew open and three large men dressed all in black rushed into the room. A flash of light came from something they were holding in their hands. There was no time to react. I fell backward from the shock.

***

I woke to find myself lying on a narrow aluminum table in the middle of a dark room. There were several large screens on an opposite wall. Each one showed a different scene of what looked like African wildlife. One of the screens had a leopard hunting some sort of smaller exotic animal, another had giraffes running, and a third was underwater video, showing what looked like a large snake.

I turned my head left to right, to see if anyone else was in the room with me. Samuel was lying on a table several feet away. His eyes were closed and he bore a serious expression.

My head ached. I tried to raise my hands, but they wouldn't budge. Something was keeping me pinned to the table. My heart pounded as my eyes followed my arms down to two metal contraptions with an electric beam which covered my hands.

A bright light suddenly came on above my head, shinning directly into my eyes.

"Gah!"

The light made my pupils burn, so I snapped them shut again. Even with Samuel's special lenses, it was too intense. Blinking several times, I tried to get my eyes to adjust, and then suddenly the room was dark again. It was quiet, except for the sound of my breathing and the soft hum coming from the electric beams keeping Samuel and I locked to the metal tables.