Chapter Thirty Four

Paulo

They weren't taking any more chances with me. Scowling and muttering under his breath, Payton yanked my arms behind my back as West stood to one side, looking everywhere but at me. I was still dazed, distracted by the last image on the screen. Never in my life had I wanted a machine to have malfunctioned as badly as I did just then. I wanted someone to correct me and say that it was faulty and instead of reading the future it read our worst fears or something along those lines. But no matter how hard I tried to make myself believe it, no matter how much I wanted the image gone from my mind, it was still there, making me feel sick and worried and angry all at the same time.

There was a sharp click as Payton secured handcuffs around my wrists. He tightened the cuffs until they were snug against my skin, then stepped back, satisfied.

'Try getting out of that, Houdini,' he challenged, a smug smile on his face. I don't know what he was so cocky about; his pathetic excuse for a knot was the only reason I'd managed to untie myself last time. He turned to West, held a hand out. Something was passed between them, Payton stepped forward, jabbed at my arm and then I blacked out.

When I regained consciousness- minutes, hours, days later; I had no idea- I felt like someone had clubbed me over the head with a hefty piece of timber. My throat was dry, vision blurry, and the sounds around me were muffled, as though I was underwater. Someone crouched down beside me. The rim of a cup touched my lips. Water.

As the fog retreated from my head, I recognised the face close to mine. I smiled, completely relieved.

'Li. You're okay?'

She shrugged. 'I suppose so.' She looked at me in concern. 'It's you I'm more worried about. They drugged you with something- pretty strong stuff as well by the looks of you.'

I was still trying to process the situation; glancing behind Li, my hopes fell. Hart, Payton, West and Fryer were standing not thirty feet away, watching us closely. Beside Hart stood Alex and Neil, their wrists tied with rope, expressions murderous- in Alex's case, Hart was on the receiving end of the glare and I doubted that the anger was just from our kidnapping- and worried.

Li had stopped talking and was watching me with a frown. I was struggling to sort through everything, with just one image still slotted firmly into my mind. I wasn't sure what to do- part of me wanted to tell her what I'd seen, part of me wanted to forget about it. Still gripped by indecision, I watched as Payton strode forwards and took hold of Li's arm, dragging her to her feet.

'He's fine,' he told her flatly. 'Back with the others.'

Shooting me a final glance, Li moved back to Alex and Neil where her wrists were knotted together with rope. There was what appeared to be a discussion between Payton and Hart before the three of them were moved to a second pole directly opposite me but on the other side of the room.

'Now, I'd like to-' Hart stopped abruptly as a sudden ringing cut him off. Frowning, he fished in his pocket, pulled out a mobile and checked the screen. He paled, muttered, 'I've got to take this. Go ahead, Alistair,' and left.

Payton looked unsure about being left in charge. Tugging on his collar, he stepped forward and tried to glare between both groups. 'Okay. How much do you know?'

'About what?' Li asked, smirking. 'That-' she nodded in the direction of the huge screen '-you, Hart, the other pathetic idiots involved, Helton... Be a bit more specific.'

I heard Payton's teeth grind; his eyebrows snapped together in a very annoyed scowl. 'Forget it. Don't even bother.' He spun on his heel and stalked back towards West who was hovering in the background. 'Lucas can deal with them. Unless you-'

'No,' West said quickly, stepping back. 'Thank you, but no. I agree. Lucas can deal with them.'

There was a sudden scraping sound and the second door swung open to reveal a perplexed Hart and, walking slightly behind him- I shot a quick glance at Alex, but he hadn't seen who was accompanying Hart into the room. She didn't see him either, that is until Hart stopped and she turned around, looking just as puzzled as he did.

'Lucas, what's-' Laura's eyes widened; she stared at Alex, frozen, then turned to Hart. 'What's going on?'

Hart didn't answer and Laura abandoned any hope of getting an explanation, moving straight for Alex. She knelt by his side, hand on his knee, but before either of them could say anything else, Payton leapt forward and grabbed Laura.

'Hey!' she protested as he dragged her backwards.

'Oi! Leave her alone!' Alex sounded very, very angry. He struggled against the ropes tying him to the pole, but the effort was pointless; Payton hadn't made the same mistake twice.

'Lucas!' Laura, still restrained by a smug Payton, stared at Hart, both confused and scared. 'What is this? What's going on?'

Shaking his head, Hart said sadly, more to himself than to anyone else, 'He was right. Again.'

'Lucas-'

'What do I do with her?' Payton said, interrupting Laura. He indicated the pole I was tied to. 'Spare space over there.'

Hart rubbed his forehead, stressed. 'Er... Yeah. Put her there for the moment. I'll have to think of... I'll have to go ask him what to do.'

'He's not going to be happy with you,' Payton warned, pushing Laura in my direction, and Hart rolled his eyes, but there was fear behind the flippant arrogance. He was terrified of his boss, that much was clear.

Before he could move, the second door swung open yet again and in walked Hurst and two people clad in worker's jumpsuits.

'Wait there,' Hurst barked to the two workers. They nodded and stood quietly at the back of the room. There was something familiar about them both, but I only realised when the one closest to the door lifted her head.

Mara.

That meant the second "worker" was- She, too, lifted her head up and looked at me. Yep. Amber. So were the two of them undercover, sussing out the situation? Hex wouldn't have been too happy about that, but I bet he hadn't had a lot of choice in the matter. It was while I was looking at Amber and Mara that I realised they were no longer looking back at me, but at a point behind me and to my right. Mara's lips moved silently; I turned my head, unnerved by the expressions on not only their faces but on Alex's, Li's, Neil's, Hart's- everyone's.

As soon as I saw who was standing by the first doorway, I understood their reactions.

Things weren't looking good- and they'd suddenly just got a whole lot worse.