“Think so?” Anger burst red across the commander’s face. “You will never have normalcy. You’re abnormal. We created you like a science project.”
Nate started to laugh. “So?”
“So? Freaks can’t have family.”
Nate laughed harder and rattled a broken rib. “You tried so hard. So damn hard to make us cold killers. I’d never realized how badly you’d failed.”
The commander shot a punch into Nate’s gut.
Nate folded over with a harsh oof. He spit blood. And laughed harder. “No wonder you’re pissed.”
“I’m not pissed.” The commander straightened his bloody uniform. “I won. You are a killer.”
“Maybe, but I ain’t cold.” The current environment notwithstanding. “Neither are my brothers. You tried so fucking hard, but you couldn’t break us. Not one of us.” The muscles in Nate’s back vibrated from the pressure of keeping him from dropping and injuring his wrists. “Matt survived the pressure you put on him. Even more so, he survived the pressure he put on himself to save us. He fucking survived and found love.”
The commander punched Nate in the face, sending spittle flying from his mouth.
Nate’s head rocked and his vision fuzzed. Pain radiated through his ear. So he smiled. “Shane is happily married. Fucking married, Commander.”
“And Jory?” the commander said softly. “You didn’t save him.”
“Maybe not.” Nate lowered his chin to look evil in the eye. “But I gave him the best childhood possible here, and he thrived. When we escaped, he became truly happy. Almost twenty, a trained killer, he went to Disneyland and rode the rides like a kid on holiday.” The memory would always warm Nate.
The commander reared back. “Disneyland.”
“Yep.” Nate finally let the past go. “If he’s dead, he’s in a better place.”
“You think you creations go to a better place?” the commander spat.
“Yes.” Nate exhaled in release. “I actually do.”
“You’re still in this place.” The commander manacled Nate’s hair and jerked back his head. “What if I forced you to choose?”
“Chocolate chip. Forget the vanilla.” Nate forced his eyes to remain open. “You meant ice cream, right?”
“No.” The commander smiled, malice carving grooves next to his mouth. “How about a choice between Audrey and your brothers?”
Nate tried to chuckle, but more blood slipped out of his mouth. “My brothers are free, and Audrey will be soon.”
“I’ll kill her. Cut her into little pieces while you watch, unless you get your brothers here.” The commander reached into his boot and drew out a fresh blade he hadn’t used yet on Nate.
This time Nate did chuckle. “Right. Killing Audrey while she’s pregnant with my baby. Not a chance would you do that.”
“I can wait six more months.” Sharper than the blade he played with, the commander’s smile promised pain. “Let’s be honest. While she’s done a good job with the senator, Audrey lacks commitment to my organization. Once the baby is born, Audrey will be a hindrance.” The commander lifted a muscled shoulder. “I will have to kill her.”
“You fucking touch her, and I’ll rip you apart tendon by tendon.” Rage sped up the drugs in Nate’s blood, making him even more light-headed. Even so, he held the son of a bitch’s gaze. “Trust me. I. Will. End. You.”
Dark amusement echoed on the commander’s chuckle. He peered closer at Nate. “Listen to you tell the truth. Your pupils are three times normal size.”
Not a big surprise considering the drugs infecting his blood. “What’all did you give me?” Nate’s long-hidden Southern accent broke free.
“Truth serum, drugs to increase pain, and some others we’re not quite sure about.” The commander tightened his hold. “Now that you’re in a talkative mood, let’s talk.”
“Fuck you.”
“Good start.” The commander smiled. “Where is your new headquarters?”
“San Diego.” Nate let the truth slip out, not sure if he could stop it. Sins Security was based in San Diego and counted as headquarters. Of course, it wasn’t where the family had dug in, but the commander hadn’t asked that question. “Why did you let somebody shoot Jory?”
The commander sighed. “I didn’t approve that. I needed Jory to bring you all back in.”
Needed? For the first time, real pain sliced into Nate’s chest. “So he’s dead?”
“I didn’t say that.” The commander leaned closer, his minty breath brushing Nate’s skin. “How’s the heart? I had to restart it twice.”
So he’d died twice during the night. Interesting. “Still pumping. Where’s Jory?”
“I can stop your heart again if I wish. When are Matt and Shane coming to get you?”
Nate smiled and fresh blood washed down his chin, cooling aching bruises. “They’re not coming here. Period.”
The commander blinked.
Triumph, almost sadistic in its intensity, flew through Nate. He’d made the bastard blink. “You know I’m not lying.” He couldn’t at this point.
“Hmmm.” The commander rubbed his chin. “Yet they know you’re here.”
“Yes.”
The clinch on Nate’s head loosened, and the commander stepped back to study him. “Why aren’t they coming?”
“I told them not to. It’s more important that they figure out the codes to the chips… and find Jory.” Nate spit out more blood. “We have the computer program but not the codes. Yet.” He should probably worry about the internal bleeding going on right now.
“No.” The commander shook his head. “They wouldn’t have listened.”
“They did.” Nathan’s voice sounded oddly strangled and hoarse. How long had he screamed during the night? The whole thing was a blur. “I thanked them for being my brothers and hugged them.”
“And they?”
“Shane told to me to shut up, and Matt told us both to shut up. That was the end.” Nathan rose up on his toes as his leg cramped.
“Interesting.” The commander drew out a cell phone to type in a text. “So they figure I won’t kill you… might even reprogram your chip. You’re here to get information.”
“I would like information.” Nate’s vision blurred. “Why do you want Matt and Shane here, anyway? We won’t work for you.”
The commander’s jaw hardened. “You will work for me. There’s important missions to be accomplished, and after I filet Matt in front of all of you, you’ll do what I want.”
“Filet?” Nate’s brain fired.
“Yes. He took my training and betrayed me. He tried to take my place with you and your brothers.” The commander nabbed the back of Nate’s head and jerked. “You follow me,” he spat.
It had always been personal between the commander and Matt. “So you want him dead?”
“Yes, and I want his brothers to follow my command.” Spittle flew from the man’s mouth. “Forever.”
The commander truly hated Matt.
Nate spit out blood and spoke directly from his heart. “You will never beat Matt. Ever. He’s twice the soldier and man that you’ll ever be. And. You. Know. It.”
The commander yanked hard, and Nate’s vision blurred.
Then the leader released him. “I’ll kill Matt slowly.”
Nate grimaced. “Where’s Jory?”
The door opened, and a solider wheeled in a laptop. “I received your text.”
“Thank you. Leave.” The commander pressed a couple of keys on the keyboard, and the soldier scrambled out of the room.
Nate tried to raise an eyebrow. “We’re going to watch a movie? I haven’t seen the new Disney one. I love monsters that talk.”
The commander glanced over his shoulder. “You’re under the influence of potent truth-inducing drugs. You really do love Disney movies.”
Nate tried to shrug. Disney movies rocked.
The commander chuckled and rolled the screen closer to Nate. “This is a differ
ent movie.”
Nate tried to focus and keep his gaze stoic as Jory came into focus. His baby brother, the one who’d grown huge, the one who never exploded in temper, sat bound on a chair, bloody and furious. A woman’s high heels came into view as she shot three rounds into Jory’s chest. Jory fell to the floor, and the screen went blank.
Nate’s heart thundered fast enough to hurt his broken ribs. “I’ve already seen that movie.” Hundreds of times, actually. He’d studied it frame by frame, trying to find any clue.
“Yes, I figured.” The commander leaned over and punched in a new code. “But you haven’t seen this one.”
Everything in Nate stilled. The drugs disappeared, the cold room faded into the background. The screen showed Jory’s massive body on a surgical table, surgeons scrambling to save his life. They lost him once, but he came back.
Nate lifted his chin. “He survived being shot?”
“Not exactly.” The commander pushed a button, and the video fast-forwarded through the surgery to Jory lying unconscious in a hospital bed, tubes hooked up to him everywhere. “Coma. Brain dead.”
Please, no. Nathan turned a cold look on the commander. “This won’t break me, either.” But he’d watch. If these were his younger brother’s last moments, he’d watch and experience them with Jory. He’d be there for his brother, even if it was too late.
“I think it might.” The commander smiled without humor. “I’ve always known that physically, you can’t be broken. Emotionally, you’re the easiest target in the Gray family.”
“Isss that a fact?” Nate slurred.
“Yes. You need them so much more than they need you. Without them, you’d free that beast I know lives in you. You’d be the cold-blooded killing machine I fucking created. It’s in your DNA.” The commander’s smile turned triumphant.
The truth of the words slithered deep into Nate’s gut, taking root. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe not.” He levered up to get better balance, even as his wrists bellowed in pain. “But I do have brothers, and Matt made sure I stayed human. Jory and Shane kept me good instead of bad.”
The commander shook his head. “But that need in you? The need to be other than who you are? That’s what makes you weak.”
Did it? Or did it give him strength? Nate blinked blood out of his eyes. “You’ll never understand me.”
“Oh, I get you. Let’s see, shall we?” The commander turned back toward the video and fast-forwarded through scenes, each day documented with a date. Day by day, Jory didn’t move. He became paler and his muscles lost definition… but he didn’t move. For nearly two years, he didn’t even twitch.
Nate allowed no emotion to show on his face, but inside, knives sliced through everything he was. Everything he’d hoped for, and everything he’d wanted to be. He’d failed his little brother, the one he’d promised to protect. Jory, so good and powerful, had wasted away in a hospital bed. Alone.
The commander pushed PAUSE at a date six months ago. “I actually hadn’t planned on showing you this, but you’ve left me no choice.”
“Finish it,” Nate ground out.
“Fair enough.” The commander pressed PLAY and stepped away.
The date blinked on the bottom of the screen, and the beeping of medical machinery filtered through the speakers. A monitor to the side of Jory’s bed blipped with his heartbeat.
Nate watched three months pass, waiting for the final moment when the beeping ended. Something inside of him started to crack.
Jory opened his eyes.
Chapter 32
This was definitely a bad idea. A horribly bad idea. Audrey crept through the hangar storing three helicopters. Only three? Yeah. The commander had another base somewhere, without question. The smell of gasoline and motor oil assaulted her.
She’d seen the commander have Nate brought to the building late last night, and it had taken this long for her to gain access. She’d only had to knock out one doctor to reach the secured part of the main building. Exiting that building had taken several more hours, after she’d acquired a gun off a soldier she’d injected with morphine. Then she’d threatened two scientists, stolen several ID cards, and tied people up.
For nearly another hour, as dawn broke, she’d hidden behind a fuel tank until the guards around the hangar rotated. Finally, she’d managed to slip inside using one of the secured cards.
The people she’d tied up would be discovered soon.
She didn’t have much time.
Unnatural quiet surrounded the silent beasts. She maneuvered around them, her damaged leg hurting deep inside. Her activities of the night had strained her beyond her capabilities, and everything ached. Even her stomach.
But she had to save Nate.
Finally reaching a doorway in the far metal wall, she swiped a card, and the door opened. Thank goodness. A quick glance inside showed a rough cement stairway leading down. She swallowed. Nothing good happened down there.
Steeling her shoulders, she took the first step and closed the door quietly. She listened.
Silence.
She’d worn yoga pants, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes for her night of creating havoc. The soft-soled shoes made no sound as she carefully took each step, her back to the wall, and the gun pointed down. The landing faced a wall, and she had to turn right. Taking a deep breath, she turned, her gun pointed directly at the soldier manning the door.
He opened his mouth to shout a warning.
She fired.
The bullet hit him in the chest, sending him down.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. She scrambled for the door and swiped the card through the reader. Nothing happened. Her fingers shook. Her heart pounded. She swiped again, and the door clicked.
Please, don’t let it be too late. She ran inside a small cell and stopped cold.
Nathan hung suspended from the ceiling, his hands holding chains, his knees twisting the commander’s neck. “Where the hell is Jory?” Nate yelled, veins popping along his jaw.
The commander fought back, punching up, turning and biting Nate’s thigh.
Nate bellowed in pain and struggled against the chains. “Why did you show me that video?”
The commander gurgled for air, reaching for his back pocket. “Because I’m not deactivating your chip or Jory’s chip, and I’m keeping you separated. Matt and Shane will have to separate to rescue you both, and that’s when I’ll reclaim all four of you.” He slowly drew a jagged-edged blade from his back pocket.
Audrey didn’t stop to think, didn’t stop to reason. She pointed the gun at the commander’s back… and fired.
The bullet hit him in the shoulder and knocked him across the room. He crashed into a metal table. Instruments of torture clattered to the concrete floor. His arms flailed, and blood sprayed from his chest. Must’ve been a through and through. His eyes closed and he hit the ground.
Nate swung his body toward her. Cuts, stabs, and burn marks violated his chest, legs, and neck. Bruises mottled a frightening purple across his strong face. “Get something sharp.”
She scrambled toward the bloody instruments on the floor and clasped a knife glinting red and silver. She turned, her breath heaving, and studied him. Reaching for the damaged table, she rolled it toward him. “I’ve got this.” Gingerly easing her good knee on the table, she leveraged herself and slowly stood up. The knife sliced easily into the leather cuffs around Nate’s wrists, although she had to saw for precious moments to free him.
He dropped with a groan, scrambling for the table and still going down.
Panic flooded her, and she leaned to balance on the table and hop down. “Nate?” She knelt next to him and held his shoulders. “How bad?”
He shook his head, and blood arced across the room. “Couple of broken bones, internal bleeding, and vision hazing.” Curling bloody fingers over the table, he hauled himself to his feet and hitched over to a laptop opened on a narrow table.
“Nate, let’s go.” She stood and reached for his arm. “Bring the
laptop.” Was his brain even functioning?
As he brought up a Pinterest site for some artist from Alaska, she shook him. His brain had been fried. “We have to go.”
“Hold on.” His fingers fumbled on the keys. “I can’t function. Audrey, pin a picture of high-heeled shoes on this site, would you?”
She coughed. “You’re going to be okay. Trust me. Let’s go.” She tried to drag him toward the door.
“Now.” He tugged her back. “Pin.”
On all that was holy. She couldn’t move him. “Fine.” Leaning around him, she searched and pinned a sparkling pair of Louboutins onto the page. “Happy now?”
Satisfaction quirked his lips. “Oh, yeah.” He closed the laptop and shoved it into her hands. “Do not lose this.” He turned back toward the commander, who remained motionless on the floor. “This will only take a minute.”
“We have to go.” Audrey glanced at the downed man. “Right now. More men will be coming.”
A bellow sounded from up above, and boots clamored on the stairway. Nate growled, frustration flushing his face red as he tore himself away from the commander’s prone body. Nate claimed a knife from the floor and ran out in front of her, slicing one man across the face and the next across the neck.
He lurched on the stairs, and Audrey jumped forward to help him up. Grabbing her elbow, he stumbled for the door. “We have five minutes.”
He tripped several times on the stairway up, and she tried to stabilize him, even with her leg buckling. She tucked the gun in the back of her yoga pants. They reached the top stair, and Nate shoved open the door. She followed him into the hangar.
Strong arms hooked her and threw her across the room.
She cried out, landing hard and bouncing. The baby! Her ears rang. She slowly sat up to see Nate and a soldier grappling at the doorway. Nate jabbed an elbow into the soldier’s neck, and the soldier punched Nate in his already damaged face.
Nate fell back, crashing against the metal wall.
Audrey shook her head, trying to focus. The gun. She set the laptop on the concrete and took the gun from her waist. Rising, she started to aim and then stopped. Nate had the soldier in a headlock, and the guy’s neck snapped with a quick twist.