Chapter 5 Captured

EDEN

The next morning my brain felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool, and the realization that I still have that briefcase under my floorboard didn't help.

It kept me up at night.

Half a million for a simple data grab just didn’t add up, and the part of me that wasn’t screaming about student loans was screaming that this was a very pretty, very expensive risk.

The target was a biotech research lab on the other side of the city, called Kronos Labs, an odd name actually, people used to think it was an alien tech research company and due to the attention they were getting they had to move.

According to Blaine’s flash drive, their night security was really a joke, one aging guard and a system that was basically a loud alarm and a call to the cops. So I planned to hit it on my way to my morning shift at the diner, a quick in-and-out while the city was still rubbing the sleep from its eyes.

~

I parked the rented bicycle a few blocks away in the cold, damp air. The Kronos bland, square block of concrete stared back at me. The employee entrance around the back was my way in, and this time, the keypad code didn't fail me.

I quickly wore my nose mask and slapped a fake name tag on my shirt, as I sneaked in, and headed for Room 4B, the server closet.

The Kronos lab has few to no cameras at all, it was a falling business if you ask me. They had no investors so the owner had to take out a loan and fund his research himself, his belief for a lost cause blinding his ability to think about the million ways this research would go down.

The bank can only give out so much loan for a failed research.

I pushed the door open and my stomach dropped when I take in the sight before me.

Uh...what's going on?

I took a step back out to confirm I was in the right room, my hear rate picking up. I was indeed It the right room, I was in room 4B, but staring back at me was a nice office with a big wooden desk and a woman sitting behind it, sipping from a mug and staring right at me. And she looked... nothing like a cleaner or a sleepy lab tech.

She was dressed in a dark suit that looked uncomfortably tight, and her eyes were wide with a shock which quickly turned into realization. We stared at each other for a full second, panic surging through me at the realization.

Fucking Blaine!!

Before I could even move, her hand darted under the desk and the sound of the alarm soon flooded the building as I heard doors slamming open down the hall and the quick, heavy tread of boots that, I'm hundred percent sure did not belong to one aging security guard.

Fuck!!!!!!!

I turned and ran, my heart hammering against my ribs.

What if I get caught!?

Oh shit, shit! shit! shit!

The hallway I’d come down was now blocked by two large men in tactical gear, so I spun around and headed deeper into the maze of the building with shouts echoing behind me. Every turn I took, another door was locked or another path was cut off by more of them.

They were fucking herding me like a rat in a cage, closing off all the exits until I burst through a set of double doors into a loading bay. I hoped for a delivery truck or an open ramp, but there was nothing, just large bay doors sealed shut and the only way out now filled with three more men twice my size with cold expression.

I can take 'em.

I mean I've been in this shit for as long as I can remember and I can take down men twice my size.

I can do it.

The biggest one came at me first, and I ducked under his grab to drive my elbow hard into his ribs. He grunted but unfortunately didn’t slow down.

Who was so kidding. While I was fast and fought dirty, these were stronger and possibly trained men and there were just too many of them. A hand clamped onto my arm like a vice before I could move and as I try to twist break free, I saw a fist coming at my face.

There was a bright flash of pain before everything dissolved into darkness.

~

I came to life in the back of a moving vehicle with my head throbbing and a rough bag over my head, I took a deep breath as silently as I could to calm my heart. The air smelling of new leather and cologne which meant this wasn’t a police van.

My hands were bound behind my back with plastic zip ties, and after what felt like an hour trying to catch anything, the vehicle slowed and came to a stop. The doors opened and rough hands pulled me out, my legs wobbly as they half-dragged me for a few steps before the bag was yanked off my head.

I blinked quickly, my eyes struggling to adjust to the gray morning light. I was standing on a wide, gravel driveway, staring at something that shouldn’t exist, it should, but in my opinion it definitely shouldn't.

Staring right back at me was a mini-city nestled in a vast valley surrounded by towering, mist-shrouded cliffs, and in the very center of it all, looming over everything, was a massive, menacing estate built from stones as dark and coal, that looked less like a home.

“Where… where am I?” I mumbled, taking a second to clear my hoarse voice.

The man holding my arm let out a humorless laugh. “Eden.”

Eden?

Obviously, the city I’m from is called Eden, so that’s a good thing, right? It means I’m still close to home and I can figure this out—

Wait.

Oh fuck no! Fuck NO!