Kayla's pov
"Hey I'm hungry!" I yelled for the fifth time, "is anyone even listening?!"
It's been about five hours since Ruby left and since I tried to escape, and I'm very hungry. When I saw that no one was coming–or chose ignore me, I sighed and dropped my head back, closing my eyes. Then I thought about chicken nuggets and French fries from KFC and I imagined how they would've tasted in my mouth, I moaned at the thought. Just then the door opened.
"Is that ketchup?" I mumbled, my eyes still closed.
"No, just a very chilled glass of water,". I smiled and mouthed okay. Wait...
I jolted as I felt cold water on me, pulling me out of my dream state. I shook my head and blinked, my short and now wet hair covering my face. I looked up at Ruby, who threw an empty bucket away.
"You know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're dreaming," I said, "especially when it's about one with food,"
She didn't answer me and went to a table I didn't notice, at my right. They must've brought it in when I slept off. How long was I asleep?
I then saw her put on black gloves, and started picking some items on the table. Then I understood the situation. She was going to torture me. Was I mistaken? Maybe I was wrong and this was who she really is. But I saw tears in her eyes that moment. Was she deceiving me? Letting me think she was different and that I actually had hope of getting out of here, before crushing them. I smiled bitterly. I shouldn't be this surprised though, she did tell me she was very deceptive. I was just stupid enough to fall for her tricks.
She turned with a small blade in her hand, "We're gonna play a little game," she said and walked around me.
"I ask you questions, and you answer them. If you get it wrong," she showed me the blade from behind me, "I cut you,"
Then she took the chair and sat in front of me like last time. "Now, where is the safe?"
"Why are you like this?" I hissed sharply as she cut my thigh deeply, tearing the fabric in the process.
"Wrong answer," she said. Shit, that's gonna leave a scar, and I'm pretty sure I'm losing a lot of blood. "Where is it?"
"You know," I said, "I thought you were different,"
She hesitated, before switching to my other thigh and cut it swiftly and deeply also. I groaned and clenched my jaw. "Now, let's try again. Your late partner, Cass....,"
"Don't you dare say her name!" I growled in anger, the ropes restraining me as I felt the stress of everything getting to me. My left hand shook violently on the arm rest as I tried to calm down, lowering my head and rubbing my ring. Then I thought about Ava.
Calm down Kayla or you're gonna lose it.
"Are you okay?" I heard her say softly after a while.
I stopped, slowly bringing my gaze to her, which was hidden beneath my wet hair. Her brows were furrowed with concern as she tried to look at my face but most of my hair was covering half of it. She brought her hand in attempt to move the hair from my face. I scrunched my face in anger and confusion. She seemed to regain herself as she pulled away and cleared her throat. Now I was more confused than ever. On one hand she was ready to torture me, not giving any fuck, but on the other hand she's concerned if I got hurt. God she's really messing with my head, and all that mixed signals is giving me a headache.
Are women this complicated?
I wouldn't know since the only women I had in my life were Cassie and my foster mother.
She stood up and paced a little. Then she shocked me by throwing the blade, destroying the camera. Then she sat back down and faced me. What's she doing?
"You wanna know the whole truth?" She asked. I just kept looking at her. "You were right. This...," she gestures everything with her hand, "...isn't me,"
"But I can't leave, no matter how hard I try," she stood up and sat on my lap, straddling me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to get her off me but couldn't.
"Just play along, that's not the only camera," she said and buried her head in my neck, but didn't do anything.
"So how exactly is this helping?" I asked. She sighed, her breath fanning my neck.
"There's a hidden camera on the left side of the wall. It was put there just incase. The camera can only show our movement, but it can't see our faces or tiny expressions,"
That's why I didn't hear any footsteps after she destroyed the camera. Because they're still watching us.
"With this camera still on, they'll think I only took out the camera just to make out. And that will buy us more time," she said.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" I asked.
"Because I want out. And like it or not your my ticket out of here...or at least before he comes," she said.
"Who?" I asked, turning my head towards her slightly. She pulled her head back, looking away.
"I can't tell you that," she muttered. I scoffed.
"You want to leave, and yet you're still protecting whoever this is,"
"It's not that," she said, "I just...I just can't tell you," she says. I looked up at her for a while.
"He has something over you, doesn't he?" I said, "Something to keep you in check,"
"You asked me before, if this was worth the cost," she looked into my eyes, "it's worth every cost,"
"I'll protect you," I said, "I promise,"
"I don't need your protection. I just...," she sighs, "promise me you'll help me, and I'll tell who this he is,"
I definitely didn't plan for this, but it was my only way of getting out of here. I sighed.
"Deal,"
She smiled and whispered a name in my ear. I froze.
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Ava's pov
Tick. Tock.
Was the only sound heard from the wooden clock on the wall since the last twenty minutes, as we stared at the metallic box at the center of the round table we sat at. I drummed on the table with my finger tips, Cole's leg bounced anxiously while Mark arms were folded, glaring at the box.
After we left, Mark made a call to a friend of his who was an ex agent. He hacked into the FBI servers and is currently checking every agent on the team files. He said it might take a while before he finds any glitches. Cole on the other hand, is using the satellite rader to scan the city for her whereabouts, and so far we've got nothing.
"So that's the safe," I broke the silence.
"Yeah," Cole said. I hummed, taking it. "No one knows the code. Not even Kayla," he said.
I turned my gaze from him and looked at the rectangular box. I inspected it. It requires a 5-digit code to open it and is made of plain aluminium, which makes it impossible to track. Smart.
"Do you know how to open it?" Mark asked.
"No, it's rigged," I brought it closer to my ear and shook it. It made a soft clanking noise. Okay, there's definitely something solid in there. Then I remembered the not-so vague question Kayla asked me, about a self-destuct safe. So this was what she was talking about. I stared at it again, turning and inspecting. Then I felt something at the edge of the box. I looked at it, and it was an imprint of the manufacturing date. I ran my fingers through it.
"Found something?" Cole stood up and walked beside me, trying to see what I was doing.
"No...," I muttered, still focused on it. I ran my finger through it again, applying a little pressure this time. Something pricked my thumb. "Ow," I whispered a bit loudly.
"Whoa are you okay?" Cole asked, "is that some kind of a trap?"
I stared at the blood as it tickled down on my thumb, "I don't think so," I smeared it, "you said you can't open it because you didn't know the passcode right?"
"Yeah, apparently only Kayla knows, but she just can't remember it," he said.
"Why'd you ask?" Mark asked me. I smiled in amusement as I looked at them.
"Because, Kayla doesn't have the password," I told them and looked at my thumb, "She is the password,"
"W-wait, I don't understand," Cole said.
"Me either," Mark agreed.
I chuckled and stood up, giving them the safe, "It's a blood print. The code was only a camouflage, that's why it was uncrackable," I said.
"What? No way," Cole said, letting out a laugh, "I didn't know she was this smart," he said to a stunned looking Mark.
"Me either," he said. I smiled lightly, staring at them as they kept looking at the safe in amazement. I created a few missions to accomplish during my time here. And number one is to find out everything there is to know about Cassidy Halton. Everyone seems fond of her, but I feel like the real her is a huge mystery, that's yet to be discovered. Because some things just don't add up.
Mark's phone rang, "Um, I gotta take this," he said and left the room. I sighed and stood up, "Hey I'm gonna get more coffee, you want some?" I asked Cole who was placing back the safe under his bed.
"Yeah I–" he got interrupted by a beeping sound coming from his computer. We looked at each other.