The Prisoner Project

SIXTEEN

"I saw the light over the confessional and the voice said, That's the person to kill."

-Herbert Mullin

SIXTEEN

FRANK EYED ME WARILY from the corner of the room. His face was set in a grim line and his eyes were gloomy. I couldn't blame him, considering the fact that what I was about to was ridiculous beyond belief. The two heavy security men sat before me like I was a criminal, not an ounce of emotion crossed their features.

I looked down at my fingers and sighed. "I still want to do this."

Frank pushed up from the wall he had been leaning on and hissed a curse. "I don't fucking understand you. One second, you're complaining that he frightens the fuck out of you and the next second, you want to talk to him alone in an unsupervised room? What the fuck?"

I hadn't ever seen Frank this way.

Hank, the security detail, who had been the only one who didn't look pissed of, lifted a hand to Frank. "Please calm down, Mr Trellis." He turned back to me. "I'm afraid we can't let that happen, Ms. Black."

"Aria." I quickly corrected, hating the title. "I don't understand. Why would you call me here to inform me of his request if you're just going to decline it?"

Frank hissed. "Because the fucker asked us to give you the choice. He wouldn't comply if we didn't at least tell you."

Why did Nicholas want to do this now? Why so urgently? I vaguely thought, chewing on my bottom lip. I was desperately trying to hide the fear that I felt inside of me.

But despite that, I wanted to do this.

Perhaps the dinner with Frank and my meeting with Mirabel had spurred me on because now, it seemed to me like Nicholas was my last resort. I couldn't trust anyone else to tell me anything. Nicholas was the damaged boat at the end of the harbour and I was eager to give it a chance if it'd let me escape the island.

"So I do have a choice?" I muttered, watching Frank shoot me daggers from the edge of the room. I had always seen him as gentle but now, there was something different about him. Something was bothering him. It was crystal clear that he didn't want me doing this for some reason.

And it wasn't because he worried for my safety. It went miles deeper that that.

Hank interjected quickly. "We wouldn't advice it. Nicholas is dangerous and highly unstable. It is unlikely this would go in-"

"He could kill you." Frank cut Hank off with a jagged knife. "No. He would kill you given the chance. You and I know how violent he is with his victims. Do you want to die?"

His voice was so venomous. I gasped, unable to control my shock.

The other security man, Grayson, spun around immediately. "Mr. Trellis."

Frank lifted his hand in the air in frustration and folded his arms across his chest like a petulant child. "Piss off."

I blinked twice, eyes moving from Frank to the Hank and Grayson. "I was promised protection and diplomatic immunity. He shouldn't be able to k..kill me."

Hank sighed. "You do have protection, Miss Black. The latter I do not know. We will do our best to keep you safe but there's only so much we can do when completely unsupervised."

Grayson added. "He wouldn't kill you, Miss Black. We have one of the best trained security staff in the entire country. We know our security measures."