That Night √

58» That Plan

Grace's POV
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We didn't go back to our houses after that. Even if we wanted to, it clearly wasn't possible when those men –back from that restaurant– seemed to be following us, wherever we went. And letting them follow us to our houses would've been really stupid.

Luca kept on driving for the next half an hour or so, only stopping when those familiar black motorcycles lost us at some distance.

Raking his hands through his hair, he resting his forehead against the steering wheel. I glanced at the street from the rearview mirror and felt the panic subsiding away. I was pretty sure they were all Burner's men, and Nicholas had known that.

He had helped us but didn't tell us much.

One thing was clear though, I needed to go back to that Research Department. Both Luca and I knew that, we just didn't say it out loud. There was no way I wanted to go back to that horrifying place, but if this really was the last choice, I didn't want to pull Luca into this more than he already was.

I inhaled deeply and opened my mouth to state the obvious, when my phone rang loudly. Both of us looked at the lit up screen, my phone placed on the center console.

I picked it up and almost immediately recognized the unknown number. The time Jack had called me, I had memorized that number way too quickly, mainly because I was hoping for another call from him. But now that the same number was flashing over my screen, it took me few seconds to answer it and put it on speaker.

And all I heard were muffled noises from the other end. Painful, muffled screams.

I ended the call the same instant, hearing my heartbeat rushing loudly in my ears. Luca eyed me with a frown before looking away. "Waiting any longer is dangerous for them, Rose."

I clutched my phone in one hand and looked out of the window, at the unfamiliar street. I didn't even know where we were right now.

"I'll go there." I murmured. "To the department."

Luca inhaled deeply and nodded.

"You don't have to come with me." I added in a rush, looking at him this time. Because really, I had already done enough by pulling Alice into this mess. I didn't want the same happening to him.

Luca, on the other hand, regarded me with a surprised look. "What?"

"You don't–"

"Of course, I'm coming with you." He looked at me in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe I even said that. "I'm not stupid to let you go there all by yourself."

I opened my mouth to ask him if he was sure, but he spoke up first. "Don't, Rose." He started the car once again, looking away from me. Then he repeated, "I'm not letting you go there by yourself."

Even though it was selfish of me, I couldn't help but feel a bit relieved, relieved that he hadn't said no.

That's how Luca and I found ourselves driving further away from our houses, towards the Research Department. One of us –certainly I– was to disguise ourselves and go inside the insanely huge department building from the front, like the normal staff. While the other one of us was to go from the back passageways, the ones Nicholas had mentioned, and search for that underground tank.