I go back to sleep right after I hang up with Izzy. Six hours later someone pounding on the door wakes me up. I groan when I see that it is only 5 o’clock in the morning. Then I yell, “Go Away!”

“Skye, I need to talk with you.”

I groan again. “Okay Vaughn, come in.” He walks in and I notice something different about him. His dark blue eyes are sparkling and he appears to be happy, a definite rarity for him. Something really good must have happened. “What’s going on?”

“I’m leaving the facility.”

“What? But how?” Then I feel one of those gut sinking feelings as I realize why he is getting the chance to leave.

“Callaghan told me yesterday that he needs my help. If everything goes fine, I may get to live away from the facility.”

“You do realize that if everything goes fine, one of my sisters will be dead? Did Callaghan tell you what he needed help with?” Vaughn shakes his head. Callaghan’s a sneaky devil. How do I break this to Vaughn? I take a deep breath. “Lani escaped from her trainer over a week ago. Callaghan knows that Lani and Brandt are working together to do something. He doesn’t want anything to happen so he wants you, Reece, and Alec to find Lani and kill her.”

His smile begins to disappear. “What are Lani and Brandt doing that Callaghan doesn’t like?”

“They are working on a way to get us out of here. I can’t lose another sister, Vaughn. I’ve already lost my only older sister and my youngest sister. I’m the oldest and Lani is the baby now. I will not allow anything to happen to her. That is why I came here to the facility, to save my sisters. If Callaghan wants to go back on his word, then he’s showing his true colors, so he had better watch out. If he keeps this up, he’ll have to deal with me.”

“We need a plan,” Vaughn says. I look at him. Is there anything we can do? “Call Brandt. Make sure that he knows what’s going on. I’ll talk to Callaghan and see if we can make it a search and capture. If that doesn’t work then we’ll find some way to save her.” I nod, hoping that we can save her.

“I’ll talk to Callaghan too. Maybe both of us can get him to change his mind.”

“Well, I have to go. Callaghan said we would leave late this afternoon,” Vaughn says. “Skye, I know what it’s like to try to live without your trainer. It isn’t easy, but I think Lani can do it.”

“I know she can. Don’t forget, I lived without my trainer and I turned out just fine.” Vaughn smiles at me then turns and walks out of the room. I shouldn’t call Brandt again. He already knows about what Callaghan is up to. Who else should I tell? Is it something I should tell Chris? She might want to know, especially if there is some way that she could help. Then again, maybe Brandt has already told her. What should I do?

I can’t stand just sitting here. I know I should be doing something but what can I do while I am trapped in this facility? Maybe I should talk to Reece. He seemed like a logical person who did what was best. Hopefully I could convince him to allow Lani to live. I leave my room and run to the lab, hoping that they haven’t left the facility yet. As I run through the building, I am amazed as I realize how comfortable I am with the building. I thought it would take a lot longer than this to be used to everything. Reaching the lab, I begin to look for Reece. He isn’t in the lab, so I go into other rooms in the hospital wing. Reece isn’t anywhere in the wing so I go to his room. When I knock, no one answers. It is then that I see a note on the door.

Skye, Vaughn told me what has happened but I have already given my word. I can’t go back on that. But I do hope that everything works out. If you need to talk, I should be outside until we leave.

Reece

Great, now I’m running out of time. I need to do something to save Lani. It’s not that I don’t trust Brandt to be able to protect her, but I’m worried. I don’t want anything to happen to any of them. Brandt has become one of my closest friends and I’m not going to allow anything to happen to him, or my sisters. I walk outside and, looking around, realize what I have to do. It seems so crazy, but I think it might work. Callaghan would only listen to so many offers before he would just stop bargaining. To get his attention, I had to do something that he wouldn’t expect. I run over to one of the trees and climb up until I am no longer in sight. Silently, I wait, until one of Callaghan’s henchmen soldiers walks under the tree. I jump down on top of him, and after he is unconscious I grab his gun. I look around and notice that no one even saw me. Okay, fine, this might be even better than I thought. I run and hide by the wall around the facilities perimeter. A few minutes later, Callaghan, Reece, and Vaughn walk around from the back of the facility. If I’m going to do anything, it’s going to be now. I climb up into the nearest tree and jump onto the top of the wall. “Callaghan!” I yell.

He turns and looks over at me. I can see that he is motioning for his men to tranquilize me so I pull out the gun from behind my back. I smirk at Callaghan and hold the gun up to my head. “Skye, no!” Vaughn yells. Callaghan’s face is one of shock, and do I detect a slight bit of worry?

“Why don’t you come down from there?” Callaghan asks. “Let’s not be rash about this.”

“I’m not coming down, Callaghan. Not until you agree to leave Lani alone.”

“She disobeyed an order. Under the rules of this facility, I must do something about that.”

“If you leave the facility right now, I swear to you, I won’t honor my promise to stay here either. If you leave the facility, I will make sure that you never see my sisters or me again. I escaped before and that was ten years ago. I could easily do it again.”

“Just come down and we’ll talk in a civilized manner,” Callaghan says. “You don’t want to do this.”

“You agree to leave my sisters alone, and I’ll come down. You don’t agree and I’ll kill myself right now. It’s not like it will hurt. I’ve already spoken to my sisters. If they don’t hear from me, then they’ll run and you won’t be able to find them.” So, I had to add on a small lie. It’s not like Callaghan would risk losing four of his specimen at one time.

I look down at Callaghan. I can’t even describe what is on his face. It’s something similar to fear, or maybe it’s something like… I don’t know; I’m not really a person who pays attention to emotions. Callaghan stands there staring at me. He doesn’t actually think that he has another way out of this situation? He has two options: say no and lose any chance he has of getting us all back, or give up and keep our bargain. “Okay, I accept your terms. Now please just come down, drop the gun, and let’s go inside.”

Another battle, won. But who will win this war?