Page 91 of Desecrated Saints
With a black cap on my hair, I look like one of them. Sadie places her wig and hat back on, minus that fake facial hair. We look pretty shit, but it’s better than nothing. Pulling my good arm back over her shoulder, I’m led into the basement’s shadows.
“Bancroft will speak to the crowd to try to appease them,” she says, winding down a lengthy corridor. “This is his base, while Augustus’s territory was Blackwood. He has his own office upstairs.”
“What about Kade’s dad?”
“Not that I’ve seen. But there’s someone else—”
The thud of footsteps ends our conversation. We’re nearly above ground, the signs leading to what seem to be dormitories starting to appear. Many locked and bolted cells surround us in the gloom, although most seem to be unoccupied. This is a smaller operation than Blackwood.
Standing between us and salvation, a human skeleton guards the passageway leading above ground. Protruding limbs and painfully hollow eye sockets stare back at us with palpable misery. The woman’s tiny frame is clothed in a black uniform that hangs off her.
I immediately recognise her inhuman gaze.
She was there in London.
This is the evil bitch who sedated me and brought me straight to Bancroft for judgement. The empty shell of a person begins to approach us with measured steps, two long, sharp knives clutched in her hands.
Sadie loosens her grip on me. “It’s her. On my mark, run and don’t look back.”
“Who is she?”
Our feet begin to retreat away from the approaching monster.
“Patient Delta.”
CHAPTER 19
BROOKLYN
RIGGED - THE PLOT IN YOU
“Damn, Theo. You sure know how to make a stir.”
His awkward chuckle fills my ear. “Didn’t take much. The bloodthirsty press did most of the work. Who doesn’t love a good national scandal?”
Tucked into Hudson’s side, we stare at the huge crowd of protesters swarming Harrowdean’s gates. We’re hidden in the forest to the side of the institute, keeping watch while Hunter and his team infiltrate from the rear. The loading bay has been cleared for them to enter through.
This place is a lot smaller than Blackwood, but still intimidating as hell in all its gothic, Victorian beauty. It looks like an asylum of a time long past, all ornate crests and stained windows. It’s almost ironic, knowing what cruel practices continue to be performed behind closed doors.
The blare of a new alarm cuts through the crowd’s angry shouting and chants. Looking over my shoulder, I check that Theo’s van is still parked in the distance, out of sight.
“The patients are going into lockdown,” Hudson observes. “Right on cue. That should clear the grounds so Hunter and the team can enter undetected.”
“I can’t believe Sadie found Phoenix in there.”
“We got lucky. This is the hard part.”
We both study the swarm of black-clad guards marching down the driveway. They establish a barrier between the protest and the winding road leading to the institute. A convoy is waiting behind the iron bars of the gates, beneath another ornate crest. Bancroft is sandwiched between his bodyguards, preparing to speak.
“We’re going in,” Hunter announces.
“Be careful,” I respond into the comms.
Enzo and Seven are accompanying him, along with two of Sabre’s best agents. Their job is to quietly extract Sadie and Phoenix while Bancroft stops this mess from imploding. Despite knowing that Seven can more than hold his own, I can’t help but worry. I never wanted to see him inside of an institute again.
Hudson squeezes my arm. “He’ll be okay.”
“How can you be sure?”