Kye roused slowly.
Damn, his head was pounding. It felt like a jackhammer was going to work up there. Hitting at his skull, hard and unrelenting.
He lifted a hand to his neck. The skin was warm and sensitive. Something had pricked him.
No. Not just something. He’d felt this pain before.
He’d been tranquilized. Again.
His eyes shot open. Tension slammed into his gut when he was greeted with prison bars.
What the hell?
He scanned the small space. The back wall was solid concrete, the other three walls metal bars. A small toilet sat in the corner, with a tap beside it. The floor was also cold concrete.
He barely felt it, but had he been a normal person, he knew he’d be damn well freezing.
Slowly, Kye stood, clenching his jaw. Someone had shot him. Taken him. Caged him.
Who?
He needed to know so he could murder the asshole.
He studied the space outside his cage. Three more cells, each sharing bars with the one beside it. All identical in size.
Outside the cells, there was open space and a door. There was also a camera in the corner of the room, near the ceiling.
Where the hell was he and who was watching him?
He tried to listen. Hear something, anything, outside this prison cell. He heard nothing. Not a damn thing. The walls had to be soundproof.
Bit by bit, the previous night came back to him. Driving home from his workout at Marble Protection. Spotting someone tailing him. Calling Oliver.
The asshole in the car must have shot the window out and gotten him with a tranquilizer. He touched a hand to his forehead, feeling the already healing cut from hitting the side window.
The anger expanded in his chest. Consuming him.
Kye was almost certain he knew who was responsible. Carter. It had to be.
As far as Oliver was aware, Carter was the last remaining member of Project Arma. Hylar was dead. Hylar’s men, Carter’s team, all dead…there was no one else.
Kye took note of the fact he was still wearing the sweatpants and tank top from last night. His shoes and socks were missing.
Other than the pounding head and sore neck, everything else felt okay. God, his head hadn’t pounded this hard the last two times he’d been tranquilized.
Walking over to the bars, he inspected them with caution. What was the likelihood they were electrified?
Only one way to find out.
Reaching out, Kye touched a bar with one finger. Nothing. Slowly, he wrapped his right hand around it. Again, there wasn’t so much as a shock.
Kye grabbed another bar with his left hand. Using every ounce of his strength, he attempted to pull the bars apart.
Goddammit. There was no give. What the hell were they made of?
Dropping his hands, he looked back up at the camera. Was Carter watching him right now? Was he smiling at his success?
Smile all you want, jerk. I won’t be here for long.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened. The exact person he’d been expecting to see walked in.
Carter.
Kye clenched his fists, already wanting to rip the guy to pieces. He hated him with the same fire and intensity as he’d hated Hylar. The two men were cut from the same cloth.
Oliver looked to the woman he pulled behind him. Average height, about five foot seven. Blond curls pulled up into a hairband. Delicate looking. Fragile, even.
The woman had to be Tori’s friend Samantha. He’d never seen a picture of her, but Tori had described her enough for him to guess.
The woman’s sky-blue eyes met his. There was sadness there. Deep shadows under her eyes. From her experiences at their hands or pure exhaustion?
Probably both.
There was also the slightest hint of hope.
Hope because Kye was here?
Good. Because one way or another, he planned to get them both out.
Kye took in the bruise on her left temple. The way she favored her right leg, and the way Carter’s fingers dug into her slender left arm.
Son of a bitch.
“You’re finally awake,” Carter said, unlocking the cell beside Kye’s with his other hand.
“I am. So how about you stop manhandling the woman and pick on someone your own size.”
Carter chuckled before yanking the door open and shoving her inside. Samantha fell to the ground, a soft cry escaping her lips.
Kye growled. Fucking animal.
“Already wanting to save the damsel in distress.” Carter locked the door to her cage before stepping in front of Kye.
The asshole was so close. If those damn bars weren’t in the way, Kye would murder him. And he’d enjoy every second of it.
As if reading Kye’s mind, Carter took a step forward, taunting him. “Bet you’re thinking about how much you’d love to tear me to shreds right now.”
Spot on. “If you didn’t have me in a cage, you’d be dead.”
Less than a minute. That was all he needed.
“But I do have you in a cage. And oh, how sweet it was to shoot you. Watch you crash right into that fucking tree.”
Kye wrapped his fingers around the bars again. “So why didn’t you kill me?”
“I may want you dead, but not enough to destroy you. Not in the way you think, anyway.”
What did that mean? “What are you talking about?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” Carter stepped back. His gaze shot over to Samantha. “I’ll be back.”
Kye clenched the bars harder as Carter exited the room. He wanted to scream at the guy to come back. To open his damn cage and fight him, man to man.
But there was no point. Carter was going to play this out his way.
It wasn’t until the door slammed shut that Kye turned to look at the woman. Whereas his cell was devoid of any sleeping materials, she had a thin mattress—if you could even call it that—an old pillow and a sheet. It didn’t look close to being enough to keep her warm.
She wore leggings and a sweatshirt, both of which were dirty. Like the woman had been wearing them for weeks, if not months.
She curled up beneath the sheet, her eyes already shutting.
He inched closer. “Tired?”
Her eyes didn’t open. “I haven’t slept in days. I was falling asleep while I was working. It’s the only reason he brought me back here.”
Her voice was soft and silky. He had an overwhelming urge to go to her. Wrap her in his arms and keep her safe. He gave himself a mental shake at the thought. His protective instincts were kicking into overdrive. He hated it when women weren’t treated right.
“Why haven’t you slept, honey?”
Her eyes opened, presumably at the endearment. “Carter’s been forcing me to work nonstop.”
Kye crouched in front of her. The mattress was right against the metal bars. If he reached his arm through, he could touch her. He needed to let her sleep…but he had to know. “What are you working on?”
She blinked slowly a couple of times. She was trying to keep her eyes open but struggling. “Are you one of Oliver’s teammates?”
Teammate. Brother. The guy was family. “Yeah, I am. My name is Kye.”
He expected her to introduce herself. She didn’t. Her brows pulled together, worry glazing her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
A lock of hair fell into her face. His hand twitched with the need to reach over and push it back. “What are you sorry about?”
“About what I created. I tried to fix it by destroying my work. I tried to withstand the torture…” She swallowed. “But I’m tired. When Tori asked me to do it… I can’t keep fighting them.”
Kye’s body stiffened at the word torture. What had they done to her? What methods had they used to put those shadows under her eyes?
“It’s okay.”
None of this was okay. But he wanted to take some of her pain away. He felt like he needed to.
She shook her head. “Carter’s forcing me to code the program again. When that’s done, the chips will be recreated. Used on men like you.”
Why? Why would Carter want to recreate Hylar’s work? He didn’t have a team anymore. Was he attempting to continue Hylar’s fight? And if so, why?
“I’m not scared.” He really wasn’t. He had faith that either his team would get him out or he’d find a way to escape. Either way, Carter wouldn’t be getting what he wanted.
For a moment, she was silent. Her gaze boring into his with a new intensity. When she spoke, there was a light tremble in her voice. “You should be scared. If they get a chip into you, you’ll be at his mercy. You won’t have free will. If he tells you to kill, you’ll kill. No one will be safe.”
Then it was obvious what had to happen. “They won’t get it into me. Or my brothers.”
He felt the second part was worth adding. Because he knew that was what Hylar had wanted. For his entire team to be controlled.
“I hope not.” Samantha sighed and closed her eyes. “For the sake of you, your family…and everyone else.”
