Chapter 21

Trevor sat back and listened to Chloe’s laughter. He smiled and shook his head.

“She is not seriously teaching him to play Monopoly?” Durn asked him as he took a seat beside him.

“That she is and I think Leveler might be winning. You missed the game of Life. And before that Candy Land,” Trevor told him with a large smile.

“Candy Land? Now you’re pulling my leg.”

“Actually, I am it was Hi Ho Cherry Oh!” Trevor couldn’t keep a straight face any longer and burst out laughing.

Durn rolled his eyes. “Right. Smartass.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. She’s doing Monopoly for a couple of reasons, one she’s trying to teach him patience, and two a little bit of money and counting. They’ve been watching a lot of TV too. Though Chloe has to stop and explain the slang words to him and that takes up a lot of time.” A lot of time. Leveler was having some trouble with the slang. Some things he would take literally. Like, ‘kiss my a*s’. He couldn’t understand why someone would want people to kiss their a*s. It took some explaining. ‘Calm your tits’ was another fun one to watch Chloe explain. She’d blushed her way through that one.

Durn was nodding as he watched Chloe stop and try to calm Leveler down when he had to pay her the rent on her property and he didn’t have enough cash. He looked at Trevor. “I thought he was winning?”

“He has more properties, but Chloe has Park Place and Boardwalk, both with hotels on them. I didn’t mention that did I?”

Durn shook his head and chuckled. “No, you didn’t.” Durn jumped to his feet and pulled his gun when Leveler suddenly grabbed Chloe and tossed her into the air.

Trevor put a hand on his arm. “Relax; he isn’t going to hurt her.”

Durn looked down at him, his eyes wide and shocked. He looked back and saw Leveler catch Chloe; both were laughing loudly, wide smiles on their faces. “S**t! How the hell did you know he was going to do that?”

“It’s something he’s taken to doing. I don’t know why, but it makes him laugh. Chloe seems to think it’s extremely fun as well. She told me her father used to toss her into the air like that when she was a small child. So I guess they both get something out of it.” Trevor shrugged.

“And you’re not at all jealous that the big guy has his hands all over your girlfriend?”

Trevor scowled at him. “It isn’t like that. I can’t describe how Chloe feels about him. He’s like a child to her. Okay, so he’s like a giant overgrown, really intelligent child, but still. She doesn’t think of him like someone she wants to date!”

Durn held up his hands in front of him. “Okay, okay, if you say so.”

“I do say so! Is there something you wanted? Why are you here?” He and Chloe had both moved into the hanger with Leveler. An entire condo had been built in the hanger for Leveler, only because the general and Brooks wanted to keep the big guy happy. God forbid their weapon got away. Leveler felt more comfortable with the two of them in here so Chloe thought it would be best if they were in here twenty-four seven and the truth was, he felt more comfortable being near the big guy. After all, the big guy could smash anyone if he chose.

Trevor suddenly sat up straighter. “I just had a thought.”

“Uh oh, your thoughts tend to frighten me,” Durn grumbled.

“No, no, this one might actually be a decent one.”

“Uh huh, should we discuss the one where you thought that hitting the pyramid with a sledge hammer might free our big buddy?” Durn asked with a twisted grimace as he remember the blow back from that idea.

They’d discovered that the thing seemed to have a built in security system to keep someone from destroying it. Trevor had been thrown back into the wall by some invisible force when he’d struck the thing with the sledge. It had nothing to do with his power, either. He himself had been tossed back when he’d tried it as well. Hadn’t been a great moment for either one of them.

“Hey, it was an idea,” Trevor protested.

“Not much of one.”

“Okay, just forget that one all right! Listen, Leveler can destroy just about anything am I correct?”

 “I suppose.” Durn replied carefully.

“And the only way to trap him is the pyramid, which we’ve given to him to hold.”

“Riiight, you’re point?”

Trevor gave him a Cheshire cat smile. “What if he were to get really sick of waiting for us to free him and snap? Go on some sort of rampage and utterly destroy this place. It would be a real shame if Chloe and I were to be severely injured or say … die because we put ourselves in harm’s way by living so close to him now wouldn’t it.”

Durn stared at Trevor uncomprehendingly for several seconds before everything clicked into place. “Holy crap that’s brilliant! You think he’ll go for it?”

Trevor sighed and stared across the room at Chloe and Leveler where they were now playing poker, a game Leveler enjoyed cheating at regularly. He’d taken to both of them; Chloe had assured him that they wouldn’t leave him. She had somehow convinced him of that fact. Though he had become fond of them both, it was Chloe that he trusted the most.

She spent the most time with him. Teaching him how to fit into the new world that he’d been thrust into so suddenly. She had become both teacher and mother to him. It had taken her the longest to convince him to cut his nearly waist length black hair into a more modern style. He was still growing accustomed to the new shorter hairstyle. Occasionally he would reach back as if to pull the heavy length of his former mane of hair off the nape of his neck and then realize it wasn’t there.

Though he could appear in any form he wished, he kept to the one he’d appeared in when they’d first seen him. Though he’d toned down the fear factor on their advice. He couldn’t seem to keep below seven foot with the bulge of muscle and broad shoulders to go with the height; it appeared to go with what his natural form was. His eyes were a dark brown that appeared nearly black. If he didn’t watch his anger though, they would flash an alarming red.

“We will assure him that we are going to continue helping to free him from the pyramid. This simply is not the place to continue to do it. I don’t trust Maitland or Brooks, I think they’re up to something, I don’t believe they’re going to let any of us out of here. I have a feeling we’re going to be prisoners for the rest of our lives.” It was all they could do. The only hope they had in order to gain freedom for all of them.

Durn blew out a weary breath. “They aren’t keeping me in the loop any longer. I think they know I’d tell you what’s happening.”

“So you agree it’s time to get out of here?” Trevor stared over at the agent and waited for his answer.

Durn considered everything carefully. Weighed every option before he finally answered. “It won’t be easy to pull off. I think we can manage it though.”

“Good. Let’s start planning.” He stood and crossed the room toward Chloe and Leveler. Durn rose and trailed after him. The cameras in the room hadn’t worked since they were installed. Leveler had made certain of that. So unless the general or Brooks were in the room to witness the conversation they had no idea what was being said nor could they see what was happening inside the room.

Durn had told them all it was frustrating the hell out of Brooks most. They’d tried to have the cameras fixed multiple times to no avail. Leveler could interfere with the signals with hardly a thought.

***

Leveler scowled and shifted his positioned slightly beside Chloe. “I do not like this. These people are fake. This gathering is meaningless.”

Chloe gave a small quiet laugh at his words. He could read people so easily. “You are quite correct. However, you know that General Maitland and Agent Brooks won’t let us leave. They want to parade us around and put on a show.”

The scowl was still firmly in place as he looked down at her. “And we will do this show you talk about?”

She gave his arm a small pat. “We will give them a show, but I don’t think it will be the one they wish to see.”

The scowl was immediately replaced by a wolfish grin. “Agreed.”

From the other side of Leveler’s bulk Chloe heard a deep chuckle from Trevor. She leaned around Leveler and smiled at him. “Something funny?”

“Nope not a thing. Well, perhaps the sour look on Maitland’s face. I think Durn just informed him that Leveler refused to perform his little Genie trick.”

She glanced over at the general. He was glaring over at them. She lifted her glass in a small salute. One he didn’t return. They had wanted Leveler to hop into the pyramid to show the small, exclusive crowd of military contractors exactly what he was. That wasn’t happening. They’d promised him that he would never have to go back into that thing. That they would never jail him again.

Tonight they were going to get out of here. Tonight they would free him from at least one prison. That is, if everything went as planned.