In a lot of ways, Mack was similar to Kira. Instead of facing the fear, he’d hidden away and buried his head in the sand. Now he was having to face the reality of who his father was. But in the middle of that, he’d chosen to make a life for himself and find a career he could love. Focusing on work seemed to be a common tactic between Kira and Mack, which was probably why they got along.
Luca’s tendency was to do whatever job was in front of him, and it had worked for him for a long time. Going from occupation to occupation. From the military to fighting wildfires. Sure, there was a theme, but he appreciated change more than he liked one particular type of work. He enjoyed being an investigator but wasn’t sure he wanted to do that forever. Once they took down the syndicate, he would probably find something new to do.
“My family,” Jenkins said, “my business. Not yours.”
“Tell me what the lithium was for,” Kira said.
Luca waited for an answer, proud of her that she seemed to have figured something out—maybe the formulas on the walls at Dr. Torres’s house.
Before Jenkins could say anything, a commotion erupted in the hallway. Through the window in the door, he saw the officer outside their room collapse.
Another officer raced toward him from down the hall. “Get a medic!” The yell sounded muffled and faraway, barely audible through the thick door and reinforced glass.
Kira jumped up and opened the door. “I’m a doctor. What is it?”
The door clicked closed, plunging the room back into quiet. Luca got up to watch for a second through the window, then turned back and faced Jenkins. “The operation you were running wasn’t just about you. It was about providing the Shadow Syndicate with minerals they needed to make something. What was it? A drug, or some other kind of substance?”
“I told you everything I know. There’s nothing more for me to say.”
Luca stared at him, realizing from Jenkins’s expression that he wasn’t going to get anything else. If the man knew who might’ve taken Torres, he certainly wasn’t going to share. “One day I hope you can find it in you to give Mack what he’s looking for.”
“And what is that?”
“I can’t answer that question for you,” Luca said, “but I can tell you that it’s worth your time to figure it out.”
He turned to the door and looked through the window to find the hallway empty.
Luca grabbed the handle, and the door clicked. No, everything around him clicked, and the room plunged into darkness.
He pulled down the handle, but it was locked.
All the lights in the infirmary went out. Kira had seen enough when they entered to know it was empty and there were maybe two steps to the closest bed. “Let’s lay him down.”
Despite the fact it was almost pitch black, with only an emergency exit light above the door in one corner still lit up, she found her way. She and the man who’d been helping her carry the downed officer laid him onto the hospital bed.
“We need lights.” Without electricity, there wasn’t much she could do for a man who had suddenly suffered a heart attack. She searched for the man’s pulse with her fingertips. “Do you know how to do CPR?”
Right now, she didn’t even know where the other officer had gone or if he was standing right next to her. It was too dark to see.
A flashlight flicked on over on the other side of the bed, then swung down at the man on the bed. The metal casing cracked against his skull.
Kira screamed. “What are you doing?”
Someone’s arms snaked around her, grasping her tight across her hips and across her shoulders. A bigger person, wider and stronger. An inmate she hadn’t seen. And there was nothing she could do.
Except kick her legs and scream.
She let the worst sound she could conjure up escape from her mouth and caught his shin with the heel of her shoe, wishing she wasn’t wearing canvas shoes and jeans right now. But she’d dressed for a trip to the prison, unsure what it was going to be like here. She’d decided the goal was to keep from drawing attention to herself. But somehow, that had completely backfired.
“Shut up.” The man holding her breathed against her ear.
She didn’t stop squirming.
He took a step back and to the side, then swung her around and slammed her into a metal storage cabinet. Her head glanced off the door—and left a dent behind, she was pretty sure. Only in the light would she be able to tell what damage had been done. He didn’t let go.
Then he tossed her onto the floor.
Her knee slammed down on the floor first, and she managed to catch herself with her hands. Pain ricocheted through her. But this wasn’t the time to be distracted by anything. She had to keep her wits about her.