•James Beaufort•

•Present•

The air shifts, dropping colder but I'm sure my blood is hot. I tighten the taser in my hand, glancing at the head of Nora which appears and disappears as the the scientist strolls around, inspecting his vicinity.

He inches toward me, unaware of my presence while dialing a number. I'm contemplating taking him down on my own but I have to be sure there's no one else in the room who may get alert.

"What the fuck is going on?" The scientist's British accent resonates around followed by a long pause before he speaks again. "Get rid of anyone you find. I hardly let you all stay here."

The call ends with one last sweeping look, his eyes peculiarly staring somewhere near me. I hold my breath, keeping still until he goes back to his room, shutting the door behind, the lock in place.

I move after him in silence.

The screen of my phone lights up and I exhale a sigh of relief because if it had arrived ten seconds earlier I would have been caught, its brightness probably giving away my location.

Don't get caught. We lost them. Let them get back to their hole. Kenji has texted me.

I found Nora. Take the steps. I reply.

James, do not engage. Please do not. His text pops instantly followed by another. Let us reach there. Wait for us. Winston's close to you.

However, I'm already next to the door, my ears trying to pick up any noise they can. There is shuffling, things being picked and put down, a faucet running on and off, clicking on several glassy materials but no voice of Nora. I track alongside the room when I spot a window, hoping it would allow me some view inside.

The window with iron bars is in ruins, its hinges hanging loose, but still keeping it intact somehow, obscuring my view as the plastic blinds at the other side are holding out as well. Feeling a thousand times grateful to Alistair for the knife, I pass it through one of the grids of iron and use its tips to cut a small square at the same time the kidnapper runs the faucet on, blending my activity.

Peeking through the small hole carved by me, I see a habitable room. Unlike the rest of the place that is eating dust and designed with cobwebs, this room on the other hand has several shelves alongside the wall, a working table with chemical tubes, beakers, and small bottles filled with things I can't comprehend.

The guy has his back on me. I size him up and down—taller, leaner with curly hairs touching his shoulders, most of his features hidden behind his thick beard. He flashes his eyes at Nora and I shift to have a look at her, too.

Nora keeps forcing her eyelids open, squinting them, and trying and failing to be able to pull her head up. The color on her face is drained, and a few lines of fingers trace her cheek, purplish red.

Fucking bastard.

"You're too stubborn I see," the guy speaks, stepping up to her. I text my friends to hurry the fuck up. "Most people can't make it through two doses." He tells her.

My heartbeat jumps even further as I scan the room, a dozen syringes lying here and there on the ground. It made my hands curl into a ball and the thought of what could have happened in the room only fuels my rage.

He stalks toward her, grabs her chin, and turns it sideways in inspection. "I have a special concoction for you," he tells her, jerking her chin back.

Nora seems to have her energy back as she tries to hunch up but it's making no difference and she immediately falls back, her head lolling. I quicken a glance at the stairs in the hope my friends will be here any minute now.

The kidnapper struts back to his table and taking a clean small beaker, he begins mixing things that have my hair standing all over my body. Nothing about that looks normal. Thinking faster, I inspect the hinges that are mostly missing so I begin unscrewing the last remaining I can find with my fingers, and it is my sheer luck that it is going unnoticed as the scientist is busy explaining the components of the drug he's holding.

I barely manage to take one out when I give up, noticing the scientist move closer to Nora and dig his fingers into her jaw, making her mouth part. "Your uncle says goodbye."

Nora struggles to scramble away but seeing there's nothing neither she nor I can do, I rip a few blinds and shout. "HEY!"

He stops and faces me, taken aback while I continue to rip the blinds, the window still holding out against my will. "STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER." I keep shouting.

The guy indeed stops, his piercing gaze never leaving mine before he stalks toward me and halts in me, across from the window, shedding the rest of the blinds himself.

"Youngest Beaufort," He says, making me surprise. "I was only willing to give you a pass just once but now you've walked in my place, I don't care what your daddy dearest has to say about it afterward."

Hearing him talk about my father feels like a slap, a reminder that Nora has been right after all. If there was any doubt before, he made it clear.

"That's why you left me in the car and took her?" I grit my teeth. Nora has regained some color but there's barely any movement. I don't know if she can hear us.

He doesn't reply but I know I'm right. "Actually I changed my mind," he says instead, his eyes flicking down in a moment of thought. "If you walk out of here with your little troops in the next minute, maybe I'll not think of you turning into my lab rats," he says and jerks his chin toward Nora. "That one is running low on life already."

I fist the iron bars. "You dare harm her and even my dad's protection won't be enough for you to save you."

His expression turns grim, staring at me intently, not liking my tone. "Well, you had your chance."

Before I have a second to respond, he retreats with an even more intense look, grabs the same small beaker, and motions toward Nora. My pulse kicks her several notches.

"Get the fuck away from her!" I keep screaming but he keeps going and nearing Nora, her jaw clutched under his hold, empties the content while I keep shaking off the iron bars but they stay put, clouding me with dust.

The beaker crashes at his feet as the scientist keeps his hold over her, not letting her throw up. Nora retaliates, shifting left and right, and as he inches closer, she jerks her body along with her chair and knocks both of them down on the ground, leaving the chair in a splintering mess.

One of the legs of the chair and arm is half-dangling now. Scientist gets on his feet and fuming at her, he gives her a moment, watching her closely as she gets her legs free and now working on her hands.

He kicks at her stomach before picking her up when Nora spits the liquid right on him that he earlier tried to force down on her. "Fucking stupid bitch," he grunts and strikes a slap across her face, making her fall again, the chair barely holding her now, only pieces of ropes covering her wrists behind her.

I feel like a dummy, unable to do anything.

A sharp, piercing noise booms like the loudest firecracker ever, and its sound reverberates in the whole building and it has everyone's attention pointed at the source.

"Need help?" Winston is at the door, her gun aimed at the lock of the door that has been taken down and without a click, the door opens up smoothly.

..............

The chapter is unedited. I'll edit my mistakes in the morning. Please don't forget to vote and swipe up for part two.