Guard my Heart (ON HOLD)

Chapter Twelve

I struggled to keep my temper in check as Jones and Noah bickered in front of me for the third time that night.

We had been sticking to the routine Jones had set out the previous week, when he had caught me checking the Block’s under Jess’ bed, by meeting in my bedroom at 2am every night when safe. The only difference was that Noah was here too. And he was here with a vengeance.

“I still don’t understand why Luce has to be trained. She won’t be going anywhere anyway, I don’t care if she’s fit or not. I say Luce and I leave the compound and you can report to me if you run into difficulty. It’s the safest option!”

Noah was making his ‘Luce and I should escape’ pitch again. It was a nightly ritual and it always ended in an argument. Tonight, it was Jones who was fighting my corner; I had given up and simply ignored Noah whenever he brought it up. I think that infuriated him more than anything else. But I couldn’t help it. Day by day he was slowly digging away at my ability to keep disagreeing with him about leaving here. The longer Jess was missing, the more my fight was weakening.

Anytime I would think of how much I was hurting Noah by staying, I would then think of Jess. Of how much it could potentially hurt her by leaving. But what exactly were we doing by staying? Every plan we had always led to a dead end. We were running out of options, and that was terrifying me.

“Guys, keep your voices down!” I whispered frustratingly, glaring at the both of them when their voices starting rising.

Noah shook his head, as frustrated as I was, but for entirely different reasons. He was frustrated that I wouldn’t see sense and come with him. I was frustrated because I was seeing sense but refused to act on it.

Jones just rolled his eyes and sat down next to me on my bed. I was beginning to sense that Jones too was starting to agree with Noah more and more as the days wore on, but wasn’t willing to admit it. It would be funny how alike they both were if their likeness didn’t cause problems for me and my determination to do everything I could for Jess.

“Okay. So back to the topic at hand; this chipping device system. Where do they keep records of it?” I asked, leaning back against my pillow, trying to fight the tiredness.

Jones had been explaining to Noah and I about this chipping system my parents had developed recently. It was to track each and every agent; especially those who were suspected of being a potential threat or nuisance. Jess would probably be the first person to be fitted as she was known to cause trouble in his place; so we had a shot at finding her that way, if they had even fitted her with one. The odds were slim.

Noah and Jones were yet to be fitted as it was such a new system. I had been forced to agree with them that the day they started fitting people with these devices would be the day we escaped. What good would we be if our every move was being tracked?

Therefore, we were on a timer. We had to find out everything we could that could lead us to where they were keeping Jess. Noah and Jones kept pointing out to me that Jess could be dead. That they probably killed her. Why hold her captive? Why bother keeping her alive? But I refused to acknowledge she was dead. The thought scared me.

Her parents were spies too; Jess had grown up in this place. If Jess was dead, surely they would have rebelled against this organisation straight away? Even though my parents were sick and twisted, my safety seemed to be a big worry of theirs. They had gone to any means necessary to keep me safe; even tamper with my brain. It was one thing holding Jess somewhere against her will. Maybe her parent’s could cope with that. But killing her would be another matter completely. No. She wasn’t dead. No.

Jones rubbed his temples, trying to think of the answer to my question on where they keep the tracking device records. “I’m pretty sure in your parent’s offices somewhere. I really don’t know. It’s top secret. Only they know everything about it; not even Quinn has been let in on every detail yet.”