The area is clear. It’s another corridor, but we knew that from the plans Brannock drew us. I was expecting security to be banging on this door as well, but they aren’t. Maybe they are having trouble containing their captives.
I grin as we drop out of phase, and Zeydan steps back, shuddering.
“That is awful,” he mutters, and he runs a hand over his ears and face in agitation, like he’s feeling to make sure everything went back into place.
Xavier is pretty collected when he and Ghosie appear, though he does look a little queasy. “What is that evil grin for?” he asks, pointing at me. “It’s even scarier in that form. You look so cute and cuddly, it’s kind of psychotic.”
He eyes me warily, and I laugh. “I was just imagining that the captives are causing a little uprising and getting some of their own back. I’m guessing that’s why there is no security here.” I wave my hand around, and he nods thoughtfully.
“You may be right. Our job may have been done for us already.”
“We will go get the others. We’ll leave Brannock for last because he isn’t going to want to wait while being this close to Chloe,” I tell the others, and Xavier puts out his hand to stop me.
“Lila. You need to be prepared for what we might find,” he says quietly, and I frown in confusion, looking between him and Zeydan.
“What do you mean?”
The two of them exchange a glance.
“Despite the lack of the kill switch, I don’t doubt the guards and scientists in here have some form of protection. The prisoners are probably wearing collars like Brannock did,” Xavier warns me, and I still don’t get what he’s saying.
“What he’s saying, Lila, is all the captives may already be dead,” Zeydan states flatly, and I stumble back, gasping.
“Oh my god!” I slap a hand over my mouth to stop the scream that wants to escape. I shake my head. “No, no, no. Oh God, what if they are? He will never forgive any of us.”
Xavier nods solemnly, pulling a syringe from one of the pockets in his armor. “That’s why I have this. Link gave me a sedative in case of that scenario. We will freeze Brannock and administer it before he can go berserker on us. None of us, not even you, would survive.”
Tears stream down my face, and I want to scream and rage, but I nod. “Okay, that was smart.” I wipe my face and take a deep breath, trying to get my shit together. I don’t want to set him off before we’ve even discovered the truth.
“Should we even bring him through?” Ghosie asks, looking at the door we need to return through.
“At this stage, I don’t think we can avoid it. He’ll only hurt himself if we don’t,” Zeydan says, his focus down the corridor. He wears a small frown on his face, and his cute little fox ears twitch like he’s listening to something, but then he smiles—or at least I think it’s supposed to be a smile. It’s kind of hard to tell on his foxy features. “I think we are going to be okay. Go get them, we have work to do.” He practically pushes us through the door.
Ghosie and I bring Tirrian, Saxon, and Brannock back through. Brannock doesn’t wait to recover from the phasing before he has his weapon in hand and is storming down the corridor. I quickly change back, put my armor on, and hurry after him.
We move swiftly down what is quite a lengthy corridor, my stomach in my throat as I brace for what we are about to find. When the corridor ends, we come to a large, open, circular space with about fifteen closed doors lining the outside and a large medical facility opposite us. In the open space are a couple of guards and scientists, and they are all arguing about how they are going to get the doors to the rooms unlocked.
They don’t even notice us in the low emergency lighting. “We need to keep one or two alive so we can question them about everything that has been happening in this facility,” I hiss at Brannock, and he gives me a curt nod of assurance. I look to the others. “Do you understand?” I check with them, and they all nod.
“Which one was in charge?” Xavier asks, and Brannock shrugs. “I don’t know, I was never kept in this area.”
I tune into the thoughts of the panicked staff, who alternate between banging on doors and shouting demands.
“That one.” I point to a woman in a white lab coat. “She’s the head scientist. Even with all that is happening, her mind is still excited about running tests on an infant who was born recently,” I growl, really wishing I could eviscerate the woman, but I know we need her.
I keep scanning the minds. “And that one.” I point out a male in a white lab coat. “He is actually sympathetic to the captives and wishes he didn’t have to be here. He will spill his guts. He’s only here because his idiot brother, who is a guard, made some bad bets, and he’s paying off some kind of debt for him.”
“And that one,” Xavier growls, pointing out one of the guards. “He likes to use that cattle prod on the children. I want to torture him for information.” Xavier’s words cause a violent reaction from the other five men. They seem to growl in unison like a pack of wild animals, and this finally gets the staff’s attention.
“Fuck, they’ve come to kill us,” a guard shouts and takes off through the medical facility to a door on the other side.
“Yes, we have, unless you choose to surrender. Lay your weapons down, and you will be spared,” I offer. Some of these people may be like the man whose mind I scanned—not here willingly. One or two of the scientists drop to their knees and put their hands behind their heads, but I watch in shock as the head guard Xavier picked out points his gun at them and takes aim. Before we can react, he kills all three of them.
“Dirty fucking traitors,” he growls, and then all hell breaks loose.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Lila
