Chapter 8

The rain was Harper's cover. It was a torrential downpour, loud enough to mask any noise she made.

She opened the window. The wind howled, soaking her instantly.

She looked at the bars. Okay. Left shoulder first.

Harper took a deep breath and pushed. She felt the sickening pop as she voluntarily subluxated her left shoulder joint. Pain, white-hot and blinding, shot through her arm. She bit her lip to keep from screaming.

She slid her arm and head through the gap. Then her chest. She exhaled all the air from her lungs, making herself as flat as possible. Her ribs scraped against the iron.

She was halfway out.

Harper had to twist her torso at an unnatural angle, her spine screaming in protest, to get her hips through the narrow opening. Her skin scraped raw against the rusted metal.

She fell onto the small ledge outside the window.

Harper sat there for a moment in the pouring rain, gasping, shaking. She grabbed her left arm and slammed it back into the socket. A fresh wave of nausea hit her, but the arm worked.

She looked down. Three stories. Thick ivy covered the stone.

Harper grabbed the vines. They were slick but strong.

She began to descend.

Her hands slipped. Her boots scrambled for purchase. But she moved fast. Down. Down. Down.

Her feet hit the muddy grass.

She was out.

Harper stayed low, moving like a shadow toward the perimeter wall. She knew where the cameras were-she had spotted them from the car. She weaved through the blind spots.

The wall was twelve feet high. She ran at it, planted her foot, and vaulted up, grabbing the top edge.

She pulled herself up.

Freedom. Just over this wall was the road.

Harper swung her leg over.

Click.

A blinding beam of light hit her in the face.

She froze, straddling the wall.

Below her, on the other side, stood a phalanx of security guards holding black umbrellas.

And in the center, sitting in his wheelchair under a large canopy, was Finn.

He was holding a steaming mug of coffee. He looked like he had been waiting for hours.

"Impressive," he called out. His voice carried over the rain. "Better than the circus act."

Harper squinted against the light. "Let me go, Finn."

"Jump," he said calmly. "Go ahead. Run."

He gestured to the guard on his right. The man raised a rifle. It wasn't a lethal weapon-it was a tranquilizer gun.

"You'll make it maybe ten yards before you're unconscious in a ditch," Finn said. "Then I'll drag you back. It's undignified."

Harper looked at the road. Then at the gun. Then at Finn.

She was trapped.

Defeated, she swung her leg back over and dropped down into the mud on the inside of the wall.

She walked toward him, head bowed, water streaming off her nose. She stopped in front of his wheelchair. She was shivering violently.

Finn handed his coffee cup to Silas.

"You thought I didn't know?" he asked softly. "I have thermal sensors in the walls, Harper. I watched you pop your shoulder out. It was... grotesque."

"Why are you doing this?" Harper whispered.

"Because you belong to me."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black metal ring. It pulsed with a faint red light.

"Give me your hand."