Chapter 21: Stolen Salvation
The steel door sealed with a sound like a vault locking. The outside world—the sirens, the smell of rain, the rasping voice of the old man—was severed in an instant.
Silence.
Then, the sterile hum of fluorescent lights and the faint, chemical scent of antiseptic. SexiWoman stood frozen in a small, white antechamber, her breath coming in shallow gasps that strained the corset. The harness felt absurd under the stark lighting.
Chloe leaned against the door, her eyes closed, exhaling slowly. “Proximity sensors are active. The magnetic lock is engaged. We’re contained.”
“Contained?” John’s voice, high and unsteady, echoed off the linoleum floor. “You mean locked in. Why is it locking us in?”
“Protocol.” Chloe straightened up, her composure reassembling itself like armor. “This is a controlled environment. Unauthorized ingress and egress are prevented during active sessions. For everyone’s safety.” She gestured to a heavy secondary door with a keypad. “The inner lab is through there.”
SexiWoman didn’t move. The sheer, shocking normalcy of the place was worse than any dungeon. It looked like a dentist’s office or a generic tech startup. Framed prints of geometric shapes hung on the walls.
You think you’re hiding. You’re just wearing a better target.
“He said they’d find me,” SexiWoman whispered.
“He was a vagrant with probable psychosis, hyped on Sterno and superstition,” Chloe said, her tone dismissing the entire alleyway. But she didn’t meet his eyes as she said it. She was looking at the security camera in the upper corner, a small red light glowing steadily.
“Let’s not dilly-daily in the foyer, children,” Amy’s voice chimed from the necklace, crisp in the quiet room. “The decor is killing what’s left of my will to exist. And John, sweetheart, your cortisol levels are making the satin itch. I can feel it.”
Chloe’s eyebrow twitched. She’d heard the voice before, but it clearly unsettled her every time. “Right. The stabilizer should be holding, but I need a baseline reading. Then we can discuss… options.”
“Options for what?” SexiWoman asked, finally taking a step forward. The click of the heel was deafening.
“For managing your condition. Perhaps reversing it.” Chloe tapped the keypad. A green light flashed, and the inner door hissed open.
The room beyond was larger, colder. It was a cross between a medical examination room and a server farm. Sleek monitors glowed with waveforms and scrolling data.