CHAPTER NINETEEN

When Paige woke up, she woke up to the sound of Harrison working in the tower. It was ironic after the night she’d given him. She rolled out of bed and dragged herself (plaid shirt and boxer shorts) up to see what he was doing. He didn’t see her at the door, but one look at the ripped up room told her that wherever Harrison’s father had hidden the plans, he hadn’t hidden them in the tower.

She went downstairs to the kitchen and tried to eat something, but she felt like retching whenever she put a piece of food in her mouth, whether it be bread or water. She had to keep looking for a hint from Harrison’s father. There had to be one somewhere.

Putting on a pair of slip-on shoes, she went out to the hangar. On her way, she saw the cow standing beside the hangar, sheltered from the wind. Seeing the cow made her feel even sicker. Its conscience was squeaky clean because it hadn’t done anything wrong.

Inside, it took her a second to find the controls that Harrison used to open the hatch to the basement. When she found it, it was easy to work, and the floor came open. She took hold of the aluminum rail and went down. Once she was in the basement, she started the stomping operation she had figured out the night before, listening for a hollow sound. It had to be under the floor. Zaphier had said that the treasure was in the basement. He couldn’t have meant Excalibur was the treasure like Paige thought at first. He meant something deeper.

As Paige stomped, a voice began playing in her head. Her feet stopped moving. She knew the voice. It was a voice that oscillated between smooth and rasping. It was a voice that did something to her and she couldn’t stop doing what it instructed.

“When you turn on the light, go to your right. There’s a picture frame on the wall. It has a mechanical engineering certificate in it. Take it off the wall. Under it, there’s a series of five black switches. They’re the breakers for the electricity in the basement, but the last switch is a fake. Flip it and step back.”

Paige did what the voice said, but she didn’t step back fast enough and the floor moved out from under her and she screamed as she fell. Her feet felt seared with pain as she landed on a cement floor. Her butt came down hard and it felt like she broke it.

Looking around, she had been plunged into complete darkness, except for the square of light that came from the hole in the ceiling.

Then the voice came again. “There should be a rope ladder to let you in the second level basement. Go down. When you’re there, light up your wristband and use it as a flashlight. Take the goods and get out the way you came.”

There was no rope ladder. How was she going to get out?

Paige felt like dying. She knew now that it was Armand’s voice that played in her head. That was why she flipped out that morning when Harrison whispered in her ear. It was because his voice was like Armand's and it terrified her.

When she remembered everything, she knew her infatuation with Zaphier had lasted for less than two days after he bought her. He was a brat, entitled, whiny, and physically abusive whenever it suited him.

“Go with Armand to pick up Elizabella. She might need you to pour her a drink.”

“Bring me a drink.”

“Pick that up!”

“Give me a message.”

“Just do it! I’m too drunk!”

“Go with Armand!”

That was the worst command of all. Armand frightened her, but if she showed the tiniest bit of hesitation, Zaphier would beat her. She looked like a leopard with bruises like spots everywhere.

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She spent a lot of time with Armand. Though she had been intimidated by him before her sale, after numerous helocarrier rides alone with him, she saw him behave as the perfect opposite of Zaphier. He was inspiring in a gritty, let’s-do-something-dangerous, way. He had the most beautiful chin, brown and cut. And the no nonsense way he piloted did Paige in everytime.

He never smiled and after Paige had been working for Zaphier for four months, she didn’t either. They never talked. He always looked through people like he found them below his notice if they weren’t the one paying his paycheck. Paige never spoke to him. He never spoke to her… until one fateful night.

The ruptor didn’t give out. They did not have technical difficulties. He landed en route for a scheduled stop.

Paige had asked him why they’d stopped.

He said they had a scheduled break.

She said she was a slave and didn’t get breaks.

He said he wasn’t and he had a scheduled break and since she was with him she got to have a break too.

Outside, she saw that they had landed at a town in the midst of a desolate tundra. There was an airport and landing strip, but little else. The wind blew hot air down her blouse and up her skirt. Armand pulled their bags out of the chocker and led her to a line of cabins off the tarmac.

Once inside, he messaged a local restaurant and had dinner delivered. Armand unconsciously undid the buttons on his shirt and peeled off the sweaty garment. Paige envied him as she undid the top button on her shirt.

He paused and noticed the motion of her hands. “Are we doing this?” he asked.

Paige had felt blisteringly attracted to him during their flight, but never in a million years would she have imagined he would have felt something that reciprocated her wild imaginings.

She undid her cuffs and explained to him with as little emotion as possible that nothing could ever happen between them because of her bracelet.

His eyes were dark and humorless as he looked her over. Then he explained that he could turn off the bracelet when they were at this particular location because of the positioning of the towers that monitored her. They were in a blind spot. It would be easy.

Paige didn’t believe him, so she put out her wrist and let him tinker.

The whole thing fell to the floor with a clatter.

Even though it was only a few links of metal, Paige never felt so naked in her life as when she looked up into Armand’s cut face.

They were alone in the middle of nowhere.

She squealed, afraid they wouldn’t be able to get it back on her wrist. Checking the settings on the wristband, she saw that everything was online and fine.

He asked her humorlessly if she liked wearing it.

She replied no.

Did she want a break from being Zaphier’s slave?

Yes. She did.

He took the bracelet from her and tossed it aside.

He stepped away from her, sat on the couch and proceeded to unlace his boots.

At that moment, he was dearer to her than any person had ever been. She found herself on her knees, bending to help him with his shoes, taking his brown hands in hers and kissing them. Then he kissed her. Then warmth. Then heat.

And silence.

The food was delivered and they ate without speaking. It was chicken burgers and fries. He dunked the fries in ketchup and fed her without saying a word.

When it came time for them to leave, he kissed her gently, kindly, before he replaced her bracelet.

In the months that followed, he brought her back to the cabin over and over.

It didn’t feel like love. It felt like understanding for two people who were trapped. They didn’t talk about how much they hated Zaphier. They didn’t talk about what they liked about each other.

The most romantic thing Armand ever said to her was, “It won’t hurt.”

Back in the hangar basement, she looked around. She had been here before. When she had belonged to Zaphier, Armand had sent her here to steal a ruptor. Except, now she remembered exactly what was going on. She lit up her bracelet and saw the words marked on the wall. “Perfecting M.T.N. Ruptor technology one day at a time.”

Then she threw up on the floor.

***

Harrison stood in the back of his pickup truck as he threw the scraps of old carpet into the flat bed. He looked over at the house. Was Paige still sleeping? She had been up late. He’d let her sleep. After all, nothing terrible could happen to her. He’d set the perimeter so that she couldn’t go further than the hangar. He whistled and went back inside to get another stretch of carpet.