“How?” Domitian asked finally, still eyeing the grounds inside the fence. “I can control the guards and make them look away, but I cannot control the cameras.”
“There’s a blind spot between two of the cameras,” Asherah said at once, and he turned sharply to look at her.
“Where?”
“Right here,” she answered, nodding toward the fence. “If you stay on a straight line from this tree to that third light on the building, the two cameras on this side of the lab will not pick you up.”
Domitian eyed the light she was talking about and then glanced at first one camera and then the other on the corners of the building and thought it might be possible they were angled in such a way as to miss a three-foot-wide strip of the grounds. But then he glanced to the next building behind this one and frowned. “What about the cameras on that building? Won’t the one pointed this way catch me?”
“It’s not angled right,” Asherah assured him and then added, “I use this blind spot to slip away from the labs and go down to the beach for a swim when El Doctor makes me stay all night to watch over one of his horrible experiments. I’ve never once been caught.”
Domitian nodded slowly and then eyed the path she was talking about.
“How do you manage the fence?” he asked after a moment. He could climb it quickly and easily, but Sarita might have difficulty with it on their way out.
“There’s a slice in the fence that goes up about five feet. I tied a bit of wire around it in the middle and at the bottom to keep it closed between uses.”
“And the men on the security team have never noticed?” he asked with disbelief.
“The men on the security detail are useless,” Asherah said acerbically. “They don’t even patrol along here. I don’t know why El Doctor wastes his money on them. Although, I suppose I shouldn’t complain since I wouldn’t be able to slip away to swim if they were on the ball.”
Domitian glanced to the towers. The two men in the tower to his right were talking and laughing as they smoked. The two in the tower on his left looked like they were playing a game of cards. It seemed none of them were too concerned about the search the other men were involved in.
“Once we get to the wall, plaster yourself against it and follow me to the door, but then just wait there. I will get Sarita out to you.”
“I will come in with you and get her myself,” he announced grimly.
“You can’t,” she rasped. “El Doctor is working in the lab. He’d shoot you with a dart the minute you entered and it would all be over.”
Domitian’s eyes narrowed. “Then how did you get out?”
“He sent me to tell the guard at the gatehouse to gather the men in the towers and go aid in the search. He thinks their absence will encourage you to walk in and give yourself up,” she added. “I saw a flash of movement as I came out and felt sure it would be you, so after I passed along the message, I just slipped around to talk to you.”
“The gatehouse guard doesn’t appear to have listened,” Domitian pointed out, motioning to the two towers on their side of the fenced-in area.
“Yes he has,” she said and pointed to two men approaching the gate from the other side of the buildings. “He’s just slow and lazy. And he probably got talking to one of the men when he called them. Once they all make their way out, we can slip through the fence and hurry to the building. But follow me. If you step outside the blind spot and the cameras pick you up . . .”
Asherah shrugged helplessly, not stating the obvious, and Domitian nodded silently and then glanced again toward the guard towers he could see, noting that one of the men playing cards had stopped to take a phone call. Moments later the man ended the call, said something to his partner and the two men began to descend the ladder to the ground.
Domitian’s gaze shifted from them to a third pair of men as they appeared from the other side of the buildings, headed for the gatehouse. That left only—he glanced toward the tower on their right to see the men had stopped talking to each other and one had a phone pressed to his ear. He watched the man end the call and then those two men began to descend their ladder as well, heading to ground. He followed them with his eyes as they trooped toward the gatehouse, wishing he could shout at them to hurry up. It seemed to take forever, although it was probably only five minutes or so. Just long enough for Domitian to come up with another concern.
Spearing Asherah with cold eyes, he asked, “If Dressler is inside, how do you intend to get Sarita out?”
“I have a plan,” she assured him.
“What plan?” he insisted.
“She can tell you all about it once she’s out. We need to move now,” she said and then rushed from the tree to the fence to crouch down and begin removing her ties.
Tense and suspicious, Domitian followed, arriving just as she undid the second tie. Before he could ask his question again, she turned and handed the ties to him. “Make sure you do it up before you follow me. If someone sees the fence torn open they might investigate and block your exit.”
Asherah was almost through the hole before she finished speaking. Frowning, Domitian followed, and then paused to do as she’d instructed, slipping one tie through both edges of the fence at about the midpoint in the cut, and twisting it twice to seal the fence loosely, and then doing the same at the bottom of the fence.
When he turned toward the building, Asherah had already reached it and stood with her back flat against the wall, waiting for him. Seeing that she was directly below the light she’d mentioned, Domitian headed straight forward.
Asherah waited until he’d nearly reached her, and then started to slide along the building with her back still flat to it. Following her example, Domitian turned his back to the wall and did the same.
They paused briefly at the corner of the building while Asherah peeked out to be sure the coast was clear, and then they slid around the corner to approach the door. They were nearly to it when Asherah glanced back and whispered, “Wait here. Sarita will be out in five minutes. Maybe ten. And make sure you take the long way back. Follow the edge of the jungle around the labs and house. They are searching the beach by the boats, expecting you that way.”
Continuing forward then, she slipped through the door into the lab and disappeared, leaving him to eye the now-empty gatehouse and the path beside it worriedly.
Sixteen
Sarita watched as the silver in Santo’s eyes completely obliterated the black of his irises. It was as if the nanos were eagerly responding to the offer, but then Santo turned his head away in refusal.
“Goddammit,” Sarita snapped furiously. “I don’t want to be responsible for Dressler becoming immortal. I couldn’t live with knowing he was out there hurting others because Domitian couldn’t let me die. Don’t force him to make that choice.”
“Has it occurred to you that perhaps Santo could not live with knowing he had taken an innocent’s life?” Victor asked, his voice sharp. “You are asking him to kill you.”
“He’s an immortal. You all feed off innocents all the time,” she said impatiently.
“To live,” Eshe snapped. “But we do not murder people to survive any more than an accident victim or hemophiliac would to get the blood they need. We are not animals, Sarita. He will not feed on you. You are just torturing Santo right now, and for no good purpose. Leave him alone.”
Sagging against the bars, Sarita withdrew her arms and then turned to scowl at Eshe and Victor. “I don’t want to torture Santo or make him do something he might feel guilty about. But I would rather die than allow Dressler to succeed, and I would rather die than allow Domitian to have to live knowing he’d given Dressler the information he needed to become immortal, and feeling guilty for any deaths and torture that follow.”
“I know, but—” Eshe began, and then paused and glanced sharply toward the door when it opened.
They all watched silently as Asherah entered, this time alone.
“Time to go,” the woman said, unlocking the cell Sarita was in.
She hesitated, but then noticed the knife Asherah had in her hand and approached the cell door as the woman swung it open.