A/N: The chapter we've been waiting for. Chapter FOUR ;) lol


Chapter 4

TRIS

Held at gunpoint and with our hands tied behind our backs, Colin, Chad and I are led up the stairs, exactly five floors up, by three armed guards. Someone switches the lights on, all of them, and the dark, sleeping building suddenly becomes busy with activity; we hear movement and voices on every floor.

These people were lying in wait for us.

The men push open a set of double doors, leading us into what is obviously a holding room of some kind. There are cells on either side of the room, although they appear to be more like small cages; there are no walls, only bars that go all the way around. They're about fifty in number; twenty five on each side. Most of them are empty, but I pay close attention to the ones that aren't. There are factionless prisoners here, which means this is a factionless prison. For there to be a prison there has to be a judicial system of some kind. Which means Harrison is right; the factionless have some sort of organized governance.

One of the men unties our hands as another one opens one of the larger cells. It's dark in there, but I can see the rest of our team already sitting inside.

"Tris!" Christina quickly stands to her feet and rushes forward, but the factionless guard slams his gun against the steel cage. It rings out so loud that it hurts my ears.

"Get back!" he yells at her. Christina freezes, standing in place instead of making her way back to the bottom of the cell with the others. "I said get back!"

"Okay." She puts her hands up. Then slowly, she takes a few steps backward.

The cell door squeaks loudly as it is swung open, and the three of us are violently thrust inside; I land hard on the floor. The gate is slammed shut and the ringing sound of steel crashing against steel echoes in the dark room. I turn my head to see one of the men locking us in with a large key.

Christina rushes to me and she picks me up off the cold ground. Cora rushes to aid Colin, and Shane to aid Chad, but Chad swats Shane's hand away.

"Are you guys okay?" Cora asks insistently. She obviously put up a fight. Her hair is a mess, her face is red, and there's a long, deep scratch on her neck.

"We are," I answer. Then when I hear Chad coughing beside me, I suddenly become upset. I told him this would happen. "No thanks to Chad!"

"This isn't my fault," he says angrily as he stands to his feet. "We've obviously got a leak!"

"A leak?" Christina asks, raising an eyebrow. "Who would betray us?"

"Harrison!" Chad shouts, flinging his arms wide open. "He led us right into an ambush!"

"Harrison would never do that," I answer snappily. "And you're the one who led us right into an ambush. I told you we shouldn't have taken the damn stairs!" I hit the cage in frustration.

"She certainly did," Cora says, rolling her eyes at Chad.

"My plan would have worked if they weren't here waiting for us," Chad seethes at me.

"I doubt that," I growl at him and I push him up against the bars. "Effective immediately, I'm taking charge of this squad."

"You can't do that!"

"I can!" I yell at Chad angrily. "In fact, I just did! Does anybody in the squad have a problem with that?" I look around at all the others standing with me in the dark cage.

"No, ma'am," they answer in unison.

"Good," I say. "I'm getting us out of here." Although I don't know how.

Chad excuses himself into a corner where he'll most likely sulk like the child he is.

"Thank God," Colin mutters under his breath. When Cora smirks at him, he squeals, "What? It's my girlfriend's birthday. I promised her I'd be home before daybreak."

"Speaking of which, we need to tread carefully when we get home," I say levelly, wiping the grin off Colin's face. "Even if we get out of here, we're not safe. Someone on the inside wants us out of the way and we have no idea who it is."

"Who has reason to play both sides?" Christina asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't think we have enough information to answer that question," I say. "We're going to have to investigate our own people. Nobody's off limits. If anybody has a problem with that, you're free to not partake in that part of this mission, but you will need to keep quiet about it. We can't risk word getting back to the wrong ears."

"We're all in, Tris," Shane says, and I know the others are with me.

"Okay, good. Well let's start with figuring out how the hell to get out of here." I rest my hand on the cage door.

"They have all our equipment," Colin points out.

"Sounds like some good old hand to hand combat," Cora smiles, as if she hasn't had enough of that already.

"I think she was talking about the cell," Shane smiles back at Cora. I was, but we will need to fight our way out of this building.

"Think you could break it?" I ask Shane, seeing that he's the muscle of the team.

He nods slowly. "I might be able to," he says, grabbing the door and then shaking it a bit. "But it'll be loud. We'll need to move fast. There are probably guards at the entrance of this holding room."

"So we need a plan before we actually break the cage," I nod.

Suddenly, down the hall, we hear voices and footsteps heading toward us. We all move to the back of the cage and take a seat.

Three factionless men appear. The tallest one rustles with the keys as another one points at me. "You! You're coming with us."

"Me?" I point to myself.

"Yeah, you," he snaps at me. "Evelyn wants to see you."

Evelyn.

"Who's Evelyn?" Christina asks to no one in particular.

I shake my head at first, and then every single muscle in my body freezes. The second I recognize the name, an alarm goes off in my head. Tobias' mother, she's here.

I never met Evelyn, and Tobias never responded to any of her letters so I'm not sure how she even knows about me… or that I'm here. Whoever is giving them information must also know that Evelyn is my mother-in-law. As far as I knew, no one knew that. What also intrigues me is that she has the authority to send for me.

Roughly, one of the men reaches in and pulls me out of the cell and he quickly closes the door behind me. Two of them lead me out of the holding room and toward the staircase while the other stays behind.

At least I'm out of the cell. This might be my chance to take a look around, grab the keys off one of the guards, free the others, and then get the hell out of here. Although, I will admit, curiosity has me pondering if I should stay a while. I'd like to know exactly what these people are up to, and more importantly, what does my estranged mother-in-law have to do with any of it? At least I know if she's here they probably weren't responsible for that train crash… unless she never meant to kill her own son.

I'm taken another seven floors up, which means I'm exactly eighteen floors from the ground.

The men lead me through a passageway with several doors on the right hand side. Some of them are cracked open, and when I look inside the rooms I see guns, Dauntless guns. Inside another room I manage to spot some vests, the same ones we use on our missions to hold as many supplies as we can. I don't doubt they've gotten their hands on every last piece of Dauntless equipment and firepower.

They are stealing from us. The only question I have now is why. They might be preparing for some sort of attack, but no one's after them as far as I know. Which means they're the ones who'll be doing the attacking. But attacking whom? And why?

In the centre of the hallway we come upon a large wooden door, directly across from the elevator that I'm assuming doesn't work.

The guards open the door for me and I'm allowed to walk inside. My mouth falls open in surprise at what I see.

The light coming from the ceiling is a dim orange and it gives the room an eerie feel, but I immediately notice it's a well-furnished room; it actually looks like an office… or a lair. There's a huge desk and several nice chairs to sit in. The walls are painted a cream colour and hanging on them are a few framed photos of random flowers. The floor is carpeted and suspiciously clean. The entire room looks out of place, like it was taken out of an Erudite building and just inserted here.

"Have a seat," a female voice says to me. The guards leave my side; one steps outside the room entirely and the other waits for me by the door.

I turn to my right and there she is, Evelyn, Tobias' long lost mother. I know it's her because I see his face in hers. Her hair, her lips, even her ears- it's all Tobias.

"Evelyn," I say her name warily and it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. As she stands in front of me I scan her from head to toe. She's not dressed in any particular faction colour, but her clothes aren't withered and torn like you'd expect from the factionless. Her hair is well groomed, she wears a watch, and her shiny black shoes look almost brand new. She is definitely at the top of their food chain, and I know without a doubt this space is hers, which means she's not only involved in this operation, she's at the very root of it. She is the leader Harrison was talking about, and it's entirely plausible. Anyone who could somehow manage to convince an entire faction she was dead is smart enough to run a faction of her own.

"Hello, Tris," she says casually, as if we've been acquainted our whole lives. She touches my elbow and she attempts to guide me to one of the chairs. Her hands are cold and dry.

"No, thank you," I say tersely, already feeling enmity toward her. "I'll stand."

Her face remains expressionless as she looks me right in the eye. "Suit yourself." She walks over to the desk and leans up against it. She presses her palms behind her and she crosses her ankles. "I must say it's a bit of an honour to finally meet you. Tobias never did introduce us." She says his name easily, far more easily than I ever could, even on my best day.

"But when would he have had the chance to?" I scowl at her. She damn well knows she abandoned him, and he never looked back.

Evelyn shrugs. "I guess I should welcome you."

I don't answer her, but I study her face the same way she studies mine. She looks cold, emotionless, like seeing me invokes absolutely no feeling in her.

"The last time I saw you, you were about two years old, still a tiny baby. Back then you were known as Beatrice," she continues. "Look at you now. Tris! Dauntless strong." She gestures at me with her right hand. "But you certainly are shorter than I expected. Both your parents are of good height."

Already agitated by the woman, I roll my eyes at her. "What do you want from me?"

"Funny you should ask that. I'm not the one who went barging into your faction, poorly at that," she answers flatly.

"You were expecting us," I say, but not even I believe that is the reason we were caught. If we had come up the sides of the building like I had suggested, we never would have been ambushed, and we would have been able to slide down the rope all the way to the bottom in a matter of seconds the minute we realized these people were armed.

"Even if we weren't," Evelyn says with a smug look on her face, "the staircase is the only way around this place. You think that's coincidental?" She scoffs. "No. I need my men to see who's walking in and out of here."

"Must be hard on your legs," I tease, although she actually appears to be in good shape. Then I ask, "What kind of operation are you running here, anyway?"

She pouts a little. "Why do you assume that we are?"

"Because you're obviously hoarding weapons, our weapons, in the middle of nowhere," I answer. "And no one goes through that much trouble to hide something unless it's big. And someone inside Dauntless is helping you hide it."

She nods and then looks at me for a few short seconds. "You're a very smart girl… But I didn't call you here to answer any of your questions, dear."

"So then why did you?"

"Curiosity," she says with a peculiar look on her face.

I scoff at her. "I am so glad Tobias never responded to you when you reached out to him. He would have been ashamed to know what his mother had become… and what she's become a part of." I shake my head at her, almost feeling glad she left him. As bad as it was, Tobias became the man he was because of all that had happened to him, including being abandoned by this woman. She seems vile, and I don't know what would have become of him if she had been a part of his life.

Evelyn laughs at me, a hysteric laugh, and it makes me sick. "Oh how little of my son you know," she says. Then she walks over to me, her laugh turning into a bitter scowl. Leaning into my face she says, "Fortunately, he knows even less of you."

"What?" I ask, my voice laced with confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"

But Evelyn doesn't answer me.

"I don't want her with the others," she says roughly to the guards. "Take her outside. You can finish her off there."

Finish me off?!

I come alive when I realize Evelyn has no intention of letting me leave this place alive. "You can't do this!" I fight the guards, but it's two large men against one. They restrain me easily.

"I can do anything I want, Tris," Evelyn says nonchalantly. "It comes with being factionless."

"Why are you doing this?!" I yell at her as the guards drag me outside the room. But it's to no avail. Evelyn closes the door in my face as if sending me to my death were like squashing a bug.

"Where are you taking me?! Let me go!" I demand, but I already know they won't. Their orders were clear. The men practically throw me back down the stairs, and I almost fall over at least three times. I need to escape them or I will die here.

Andy, I suddenly think to myself, and I picture my sweet son's face in my mind. I instantly know I have to fight my way out of here. Dying is not an option. I can't leave him alone in this world.

When we arrive at the bottom floor, I jab one of the men in the stomach. He cries out and releases my arm fast enough for me punch the other in the face. For only a second I'm free of them both and I try to run, but one of them grabs me by my shirt and yanks me backward. He closes his hand around my throat and lifts me off the ground.

I thrash in his arms, struggling to breathe.

"She's feisty!" he says with something that sounds like a moan. "I like that."

"Me too," the other one grins, revealing the rotten teeth at the front of his mouth. He stares at my body and then all of a sudden his dirty hands are on me, fondling my breasts underneath my shirt. The sound of his moaning and the feel of his hand on me make me sick to my stomach. I squirm and try to scream, but they're both strong and I can't escape them.

"Do you think Evelyn will mind if we have a little fun with her first?" one of them asks, and he grabs me between my legs.

"Don't touch me!" I cry out raspily, still trying to fight them off. I manage to hit one of them.

For the first time in my life I feel riddled with fear, knowing exactly what these men plan to do to me.

"Keep fighting and it'll be worse, sweetie," he says, raising a gun to my head. "Be careful to not piss me off. If you give more trouble than you're worth, I'll kill you now instead of after."

With that I stop fighting, at least hoping that the longer I'm alive the more chances I have to make it out of here, even if it means I have to leave the others behind and send another team to rescue them. But I can't stop the tear that rolls down my left cheek at the thought of these men forcing themselves on me, inside me.

The men grin at me, amused at my fear, but when they hear footsteps approaching and they see who's coming, their faces fall and they immediately let me go.

"What the hell are you doing?!" a voice cries out from behind me, a voice that paralyzes even the air in my lungs; even my heart becomes silent inside my chest. "Who is this?!"

"One of the Dauntless intruders," one of them answers nervously. "Evelyn requested she be… dealt with, Sir."

"Move." He pushes both guards out of the way, and although I knew it was him, I'm not prepared when he stands in front of me. I've stopped breathing entirely and my lungs burn, begging for air.

I try to speak, I try to say his name, but nothing comes out.

He stares at me with wide eyes, looking just as shocked and confused as I am, but although he's looking right at me, he does nothing to suggest he at least knows me.

"Lock her up in the solitary room on the thirteenth floor in the east wing," he demands to the guards, and then he squeezes his hand tight around one of their throats. "You will take turns guarding her and you will tell no one of this. And if you dare touch her again, you're the one who'll be dealt with. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," the man chokes out, fiercely rubbing at his neck.

He drops the guard and then continues walking. My eyes are glued to him, hoping he'll look back but he doesn't. There's an excruciating pain in my chest, screaming at me that something is terribly wrong. How is he alive? How is he here? He would never have abandoned me, and even if for some reason he had, he would never have left me at the mercy of these men.

My body shakes and my breaths are jagged. And when there's finally enough air in my lungs, I manage to whisper his name.

"Tobias?"