The Scroll of Knowledge

Chapter 10

"You still haven't told me what's going on," I said. I held onto his shirt sleeve. "Why am I in this cage? What do you want with us?"

"It's not me. It's the man I work for." Derek rested his head against the bars. "And now that the key is stuck to you we can't get it off. This is bad."

"Derek?" I asked.

He raised his head. His eyes were glassy. He looked like a lost boy. I'd never seen him make an expression like that before. "Those people who took you, are they coming?" he asked. "Can they rescue you?"

Brennan's voice echoed in my head, I will find you.

"Yes," I said, with more confidence than I should have. I barely knew Brennan.

He slipped something into my hand. "That's the master key. You won't be able to get out of the cages without it. When you escape, go far away. I'm not sure if I will be able to help you if they catch you again."

"Derek, what's going to happen to you?" I asked.

His bracelet beeped. "I need to go back. I'll try to see you as soon as I can. Stay strong until then." He pulled me closer and kissed me through the bars. "I'll try to keep them occupied but I'm not sure how long I can keep this up. I hope they come for you soon." His bracelet beeped again. "I have to go," he said.

Derek ran through the door and pulled it shut behind him.

"Someone's coming for you?" Fiona asked.

I nodded, still staring at the door. "Yes. He promised he would find me." I had to believe he would. He was the only one I could count on at that moment.

******

When Thomas woke up, he was lying on his bed in Zahir's South African mansion. He looked around. Shay. Where was she? He remembered what had happened. He pressed the locate button on his bracelet. An error message came up saying that it couldn't find her location. Not again.

"Yavar! Maxim!" Thomas yelled. His shoulder, arm and side were throbbing. His chest hurt the most. "Zahir! Brennan!"

His arm was plugged into a socket. He ripped out the charger and the cord snapped back into his arm. Shay was in trouble. He had to get to her.

He tried to get out of bed. The blanket wrapped around his legs and he fell out. His chest was killing him. His right arm felt like lead. He grabbed onto the bed and pulled himself to his feet. He had to go after her.

His legs were barely supporting his weight.

"What the hell, Thomas," Brennan said. His arm was in a sling. "You took three bullets to the chest and a stab to the side. Get back in bed!"

"No. I have to go after them. They took Shay," Thomas said. He tried to walk. His legs gave out. Brennan braced his shoulder against him.

"Dammit. You're so heavy," he said. He couldn't hold up Thomas' weight and they both ended up kneeling on the floor. "I swear, if you kill yourself after we went through so much to save you, I'll disown you and not go to your funeral."

Thomas could barely hold himself up. He leaned heavily against Brennan. "I can't even walk. How am I still so weak and useless? I couldn't do anything to save her. I couldn't stop them. They took her from right in front of me. I have to find her. I have to save her. What if they're hurting her right now?" He rested his head on Brennan's shoulder. "I don't care what you have to do. Make me strong enough to get her back."

Brennan put his arm around Thomas' shoulders and rubbed his back. He didn't say anything.

"What happened to your arm?" Thomas asked. "Who else do I need to kill?" Someone hurt Brennan as well. Every single one of Ian's men was going to die. Allan was going to get the slowest and most painful death.

"Forget about my arm," he said. "It will heal in time. For now, let's focus on finding Shay and Amber. They took her too. I'm almost certain that they will be together."

"How long was I asleep?"

"Almost a day."

A day? So many things could have happened in a day. Junaid had done so much in hours. He prayed that she was still alive and in her right mind.

"Do you know where she is?" Thomas asked.

"We both know that Ian has her. It's just a mater of figuring out where exactly he keeping them. I've narrowed it down to two possible locations. I should know for sure in a few hours. I've been sending people to cause enough trouble to keep him occupied and his attention away from them until we can rescue them. I promised Amber I would find her."

"I can't even move my arm." He was so weak. He'd thought he'd grown stronger. He hadn't.

"That's why you need to stay in bed and let it charge. Your body isn't strong enough to power it alone and you know that. You have to rest."

"I can't stay in bed. I have to go," Thomas said, softly. Shay was in trouble. She knew too much. He had to go.

"Shay will be fine. She can take care of herself," Brennan said. He sighed. "When we found you, you were almost dead. You may have abilities and medicine may work faster on you than me, but you're still human. There's only so much your body can take before it gives out."

"You think I'm afraid to die? I haven't been afraid of death since I was four. I don't care what happens to me if it means Shay will be safe."

"But I do and Shay does. I don't want to go to another funeral. It was too hard the first time," Brennan said, choking on the last few words. He swallowed. "Now that you're awake we can call Ashia. She may be able to speed up your recovery and your arm still needs to charge. You can't do anything until then. Can you stand or do I need to call someone?"

Thomas tried to move his arms. Neither one of them had the strength. "I'm too weak to move."

Brennan stuck an earpiece into his ear. "It's Brennan. Send some guys to Junaid's room and tell Maxim to come as well. He's awake now."

"You're so much better than this than I was," Thomas said with a small laugh.

"It wasn't that you were bad, Ju. Zahir had you under more pressure than me. No one is jumping me in my sleep or locking me in saunas or anything like that, Zahir isn't as 'stern' with me as he was with you, and you didn't have anyone to call when you were in trouble. Zahir underminded your authority from the very beginning by giving them permission to hurt you and not doing anything when they did. No one is allowed to touch me. I wouldn't have been to handle it either if I had been in your situation... I wouldn't have been able to last as long as you did," Brennan said. "Stop saying that you're weak when you aren't."

Thomas laughed sadly. "I distinctly remember someone calling me a coward... repeatedly."

The door opened and Maxim came in with two men. They lifted him onto the bed.

"I'll call Ashia and keep looking. When you're able, we'll go after them," Brennan said.

Thomas squeezed his hand. "Thank you, Brennan."

"No problem. They chose the wrong people to kidnap and their biggest mistake," Brennan clenched his fist, "was not killing us when they had the chance."