"Not with your teeth,"I added hastily. "Throw yourself at me. Swing your shackles. Whatever you can do" Victor Dashkov was not a stupid man. Others might have hesitated, he did not. He might not know what was going on, but he knew that it was a shoot at freedom. Possibly the only one he would ever get.
Holding his hands up as much as he could manage, he lunged at me, making it look like he was going to choke me with the chain. As he did, I gave a blood curdling scream. In an instant the guardians were there to stop the crazy prisoner who was senselessly attacking a poor girl. But as they reached to subdue him, I attacked them. Even if they had expected me to be dangerous- and they haven't-I had so much surprise on them that they had no time to react. I almost felt bad about how unfair it was to them.
I punched the first hard enough that he lost his grip on Victor and flew backwards, hitting the wall near Lissa as she compelled the feeding instructor to stay calm and not call anyone in the middle of this chaos. The other guardian had slightly more reaction time, but he was still slow in letting go of Victor and turning to me. I used the opening to my advantage and landed a blow, forcing us into a grappling match. He was big and formidable, and once he deemed me a threat, he didn't hold back. A blow to my shoulder sent shooting pain through my arm, and I responded with a quick knee to the stomach. "I cant knock him out" I called to Lissa "we need to compel him" her response came through the bond.
id
"Stop" she shouted he didn't fully stop, but he did hesitate. This guy was more resistant.
"Stop fighting!" she repeated more forcefully. Strong or not he couldn't stand against that much spirit. His arms fell to his side, and he stopped fighting me. I stepped back and caught my breath. "This ones going to be hard to hold, '' Lissa said, shooting me a worried look. "Then let's move. Get Victors keys from him"
She demanded the guard unlock Victor from his restraints and he did. The shackles came off with a loud clunk. "How charming" Victor mused "out of all the people who would attempt to rescue me, I never would have expected you two….and yet, in retrospect, you're probably the most capable"
"We don't need your running commentary, Hannibal '' I snapped "and don't use the word rescue. It makes it sound like you're some wrongfully imprisoned hero"
Victor smirked, and made his way over to a feeder who had been so drugged up that he was passed out. "We don't have time for this!" I exclaimed "and I have no strength for whatever you have in mind" hissed Victor. "Imprisonment involves more than bars, Rose they starve us to keep us weak. Walking here is the only exercise I get, and that's effort enough. Unless you really do plan on dragging me out of here, give me blood" Lissa interrupted any response I could make "Be fast" I stared at her in astonishment. I was going to deny him, but when I looked at her I saw a glimmer in her eye, understanding. She knew what it was like to live on a limited blood supply.
Mercifully, Victor was fast.
"We have to go now,"I turned "Have him take us to the room where they monitor all the cameras," I told Lissa. We left the room turning down hallways and upstairs. My adrenaline was running high from the fight, and I was anxious to finish and get out of here. Through the bond I felt Lissa's nervousness too. We followed the guardian through more halls and checkpoints. I held my breath the whole time worried we'd run into someone. Our luck held however. We finally reached a room that was lined with monitors, consoles, and complicated switch boxes.
Two guardians were busy staring at the camera I moved in the feeders foom and didn't notice us enter. "Help her subdue them" she told our guardian when the other two turned and spotted us. Like before the element of surprise went a long way with subduing these two guardians. I was a stranger-immediately raising their guard-but our guardian was their coworker; they didn't expect an attack from him.
That didn't make them easy to take down though. Having backup went a long way, and our guy was good at his job. We took down one guardian quickly, ours using a choke hold to cut off his oxygen till he collapsed. The other guardian kept a distance from us, and I noticed his eyes shifting to a sliver button on the wall. "That's an alarm!" exclaimed Victor, just as the guardian lunged for it. I tackled him, stopping him just before his hand could brush the button. A blow to the head knocked him out.
Now that we were left to ourselves, Lissa knew the next step. "Disable all the cameras and erase the last hour of footage" she told our captive. One by one the monitors went black. Red error lights were flashing on the consoles as he erased all evidence of us being here.
Lissa compelled our guardian to take us back to the warden's office. He complied, taking us back up stairs and down more twisting hallways. "I don't suppose you can get Theo to let us walk out of here" I asked Lissa. Her mouth set in a grim line she shook her head. "I don't even know how much longer I can hold him," she said. "It's okay" I reassured her "we're almost done with this" we finally reached Theos office and my heart pounded as we entered the room.
Eddie immediately leaped up and went for Theo, recognizing it was time to go. Unfortunately Theo managed to scream before Eddie knocked him out cold. Immediately, the two guardians who earlier escorted us in, charged into the office. Eddie and I jumped into action taking them down swiftly. "Time to go" I said as we ran back to where our car lay in wait. Eddie stepped on the gas and headed back towards the checkpoint. I sat beside him in the front. "I guarantee the gatekeeper knows about the alarm" I warned.
"I'd say so" Eddie laughed dryly
"Is that a gun!" I exclaimed
"Not stopping to find out" Eddie floored the gas and when the guardian realized we had no plan of stopping, he jumped out of the way. We crashed through the wooden arm that blocked the road. "Bud's going to keep our deposit" I laughed. Behind us the sound of gunshots rang out. Eddie swore again but we sped away. The shots grew distant, and soon, we didn't hear them anymore.
"They're going to send people after us," Victor said, sinking into his seat. "You don't think we know that, '' I snapped back at him. We had mapped out our escape beforehand, and Eddie was following it perfectly. By the time they figure out our route we'd be long gone. "Where are we going?" asked Victor "if i'm allowed to ask" I squirmed around in my seat so I could look him in the eyes. "That's what you're going to tell us. We want to know where your brother Robert Doru is" I had the satisfying moment of catching Victor off guard before his sly smirk returned. "Of course this is a follow up on Abe Mazur's request, isn't it? I should have known he wouldn't take no for an answer. Of course I would have never guessed you were in league with him" Victor apparently didn't know I was actually in the familial league with Abe, and I wasn't about to enlighten him.
"It's irrelevant" I said coldly "now, where is Robert?" he laughed "oh Rose you're not the one with compulsion here"
'No but I am the one who can tie you up and leave you on the side of the road for the prison search team to find." I threatened "how do I know you won't get your information and then throw me back anyways?" he asked "I have no reason to trust you"
"You're right. I'm sure as hell wouldn't trust me. But if things work out there's a chance we'll let you walk after this, is that something you're willing to gamble on?" I spat back. I wish I was good at reading expressions, I'd love to know what Victor was pondering.
"Las Vegas" he said at last "we need to go to Las Vegas"
