Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 39

Liz POV:

If there's one thing I've learned during my life, it's that you can't wait for anyone or anything. What's the point of pausing for someone if they happen to be the ticking time bomb that decides whether your heart keeps beating?

Simply put, I don't trust. Well, not very easily.

I can't help but wonder if Alix and Jess are wondering where I am. A part of me hopes that maybe they'll be interested in figuring out where I happen to be. As for where I happen to be, that will change fairly soon, if Drake decides to show up before I fall asleep. 

The cell is freezing, making it feel no different than the cold winter temperature outside. When I was shoved in here about an hour ago, I didn't fight. Instead, I simply sat crisscross applesauce on the hard floor and stared right at the officers as they left the room, blank stares and all.

It was obvious from the beginning that there was something off with them. I'm leaning towards the possibility of a drug being used. It's always drugs, isn't it? But in the long run, only four or five police officers are needed to take out a few rogue teenagers, yet all of the police officers in the universe showed up at that hotel.

These things are happening for a reason.

I'm pulled out my thoughts when I hear someone clearing their throat above me. I lift my head slowly and carefully, though I know who will be there. 

Sure enough, Drake Gonzales stands in front of me. Black hair, brown eyes, and the same cautious unforgiving frown he always wears. He looks alert even now as his eyes trace the lengths of the hallway once...twice...three times. He finally turns to me. My eyes are fixed on him now, and rather than saying anything, he merely dangles a ring of keys from his fingers, the side of his mouth twitching in an inappropriate smirk.

"Ugh, finally." I break the silence. "Get me out of this hellhole before I rot."

"Hey, you're not the one who had to sneak past security and convince every guard on the way here that I was ordered by Darrin to come and interrogate you."

"Aw, you poor baby."

He pushes the comment aside. "You're also not Hadley, who's doing all the hacker work that none of us understand. Without her, the camera in the corner of all the cells and this hallway would be on right now." He pauses for a moment as if to let his words sink in before continuing. "You wouldn't have been in this hellhole in the first place if you'd listened to me and stayed here safe rather than go and get yourself intertwined with business you shouldn't be interfering with."

"Nowhere is safe." I argue. "And I got us more information, didn't I? Isn't that enough to convince you that what I did was for the good of all of us?"

"Nope, not until I hear the information."

"You're impossible. Let me out and I'll tell you."

The sound of metal against metal is extremely loud in such silence. When Drake and I aren't arguing, though, everything seems quieter. The key slides into the lock and I can't help but watch Drake's face as he focuses on jimmying the lock open. When he's concentrating, I've noticed that his brows furrow together and his eyes go a shade darker than their usual light brown. His mouth presses into a thin line, and occasionally he'll stick his tongue out in concentration. I tease him about it sometimes, and he hates it, but it's all part of who I am and who he knows me as.

The lock slides home and I can't suppress a wince as he pushes aside the bars, expecting a loud squeaking noise that would alert Mars to my attempt at escape. But the bars slide aside as if they'd been recently oiled, and it is simple for me to slip between them and leave the cell behind.