Hold Me Down (Peterick) ➳ Book 3

Twenty One

True to his word William had arrived in the middle of an attack plan to save Patrick, rendering everyone silent.

He held a bottle of dark purple pills in one hand and a box in another. Setting them both on the table he began. "The palace should be abandoned. We're no longer safe here, and it's only a matter of time before we're infiltrated." He gestured to the box. "There should be enough syringes in there to effectively wipe the memory of the palace staff. Once it's taken affect, no one will have any memory of anything that has happened. The pills are for us to be used in the case of emergency if we are captured."

"Why not just wipe our memories too?" Brendon asked.

"Like Gerard said, the goal is to forget her. The less people who know the better. The servants aren't to be trusted. I fear Tyler isn't the only spy here."

"That's not answering my question."

"Everyone will receive the injection," William went on. "Us included; however, we will be getting this one." A smaller box was produced from William's pocket. "This is placebo. It will have no affect on us, but will make it appear as though there is no harm in receiving it. Any spy will trust something someone else is willing to take.

"As for your question, we need to remember her. She's our code word, our hope."

"Say we take the pill. Is that it, we lose our memory forever?" Dallon wondered.

"No. Since Gabe came into my possession I've been working on a way to restore his memory. I never had the opportunity to test it on him, but the results of others were perfect."

"Who'd you test it on?"

"Josh Dun."

The room went silent for a moment, an unplanned gesture of respect for the man who sacrificed himself for Patrick and possibly them.

"Do you have a way to remove certain parts of your memory?" Andy asked the Killjoys.

"We have a way to render ourselves useless if needed," Frank replied.

The weight of those words was sobering. Each and every one of them could die, and no one was backing out.

"We better get on with this. Ray and Frank, if you wouldn't mind rounding up the staff I can get started on administering the injections," William instructed. The small box went back into his pocket and Ray and Frank left. "Gerard, I need you to send this to your brother. Make sure the transmission a secure as possible, encrypt it if you have to—something you both know—and take Ray and Frank to get Patrick. The rest of you with me."

*

Just when he was about to lose his patients, Mikey opened the door and aimed the gun directly at the intruder's head. He recognized the blond and blue hair from a memory of Taylor's but he still kept his finger on the trigger.

"You have two minutes to explain how you found us and what you want."

Doctor Ramsay nodded. "I left the hideout and just kept walking. I saw you find that little girl—if someone hadn't rescued her by night I was going to—and I followed you."

Mikey could sense he wasn't lying, but he was shaking as if he was nervous of being caught.

"What do you want."

"To stay."

Slowly, Mikey lowered the gun and gestured the man in. "Take a seat," he said. Once Doctor Ramsay had been seated, Mikey addressed the others. "He's safe. But we need to talk."

And so Vic, Austin, Oli—a newer addition—and Mikey took seats around the table as the others timidly listened from the hall. No one had retrieved the others from the safe room. Doctor Ramsay couldn't be trusted. Yet.

"I left because I didn't agree with what they're doing," Doctor Ramsay said before they could ask. "They weren't changing them into humans with better abilities they were changing them into a completely different race."

"Why'd you go along with it?" Mikey asked.

"I didn't know at first. But after a while even the best slip, and I happened to overhear. So then I struggled with what to do for a while. And then I left."

"He's not lying," Austin pointed out.

"I managed to bring a few vials of Boosters as they were nicknamed. I could examine them and see how to possibly undo it, but I need a lab."

"Sorry, lad. We don't have a lab. Barely enough room for ourselves," Oli pointed out.

Doctor Ramsay pulled a map out of his bag, shoving it towards the four. "Lucky for you I know where one is. And it's got plenty of room."

*

Patrick's mind was reeling. Bits of memories were assaulting his mind, rendering him with not only confusion but a killer headache as well. The more faces he saw, the more pieces that fell into place, the more confused he felt.

The one with the tattoos—Pete—was the center of his mind. They were married, that much Patrick knew. He could feel the cool wedding band around his finger. He remembers teasing Pete about it until Pete had pulled out a box and slipped the ring on his finger one night. Pete had gotten one too. Patrick wondered if he still wore it.

With memories of Pete came people like Brendon, Dallon, Ryan, the Killjoys, Taylor, and the smallest baby he'd ever held: Astoria.

She had to have been bigger by now. Her eyes may have changed to Pete's color rather than Patrick's blue. She probably had more than just tuffs of hair. She probably had skin like Pete. Patrick wondered if she could crawl by now. At least sitting up. He prayed she was still alive; he hoped Taylor had kept her promise.

His heart ached for everything that had happened. In his small prison he could hear the cries of people—his people, he reminded himself—piercing through the silence. What would have happened if everything had gone the way he planned it?

The door slammed open and his captor entered.

"Hello, Patrick."

He looked up. "Hello, Halsey."