“You letting her go with you?” he asks, and I rake my teeth over my bottom lip.
“Not fucking willingly.”
In an ideal world, he’d be joining me.
Rex is my right-hand man, in and out of Ultio.
His situation is different to Indie and I’s; he’d be a fucking liability around Omnia.
The two of us walking in there would be an immediate red flag. I don’t doubt the attention we’d get if we did, even in disguise.
“Gotta admit, they can handle themselves, you can’t deny that, man. Both of them aren’t the same girls we knew.”
My jaw flexes, wondering if Indie had anything to do with his speech he’s panning off to me right now.
Groaning, I flick a glance at him. “I know.”
He leans against the glass, and I can feel his fucking stare going through me. “So why the fuck are you holding back? I get the whole need to protect her—fuck, you’ve been doing it for years—but that Indie down there? She’s not letting a single person put a hand on her.”
“I fucking know, Rex,” I bite back.
My biggest worry is me not being able to save her again.
If I’d have been minutes earlier that night, been as controlling as I am now, she’d never have had to become who she is, not having to live with what was done to her.
It’s been tormenting my sleep that she gets overpowered, a group swarming her, and I can’t get to her. Hence my reason for having her doing this simulation.
Whilst they have fake weapons, rubber bullets, plastic knifes, I need to know if I can’t get to her, she can fucking get to me and handle her own.
I’d never allow it to get that far, but I’m also realistic. I want her to have every experience possible before she even steps foot in that place.
And when I mentioned I’d been an evil bastard today, it might have slipped from my mouth that I want the other team to treat her as their main target.
The outcome of the game unfolding beneath my feet will determine her accompanying me. Otherwise, she’ll be locked in my room and tied to the fucking bed.
She won’t be sneaking off anywhere.
The thought flashes images in my mind; maybe that’s not—
“Look, she’ll have you with her. Fucking chain her to you, if you need to. There will be two teams on standby to swarm the place if needed, fuck…even I’ll be there.”
“What?” I bark. Rex isn’t stepping foot in that building.
He pushes off the glass, walking towards the screens hanging from the ceiling behind me, and I follow him.
Each of them is linked to a body camera, along with the ones placed inside each of the rooms.
My eyes zone right in on Indie’s. Her feed is deathly still, like she’s made of stone.
“Keep your knickers on, love,” he mocks in an English accent nowhere near mine, making me scoff. “I won’t be with a team. I’ll sit in with Dawson in the van, but anything goes to shit, I won’t hesitate to get you both out.” He levels me with a serious gaze, and I release a breath.
“Not worried about that. More the fact if things don’t go to shit. Areyougoing to be able to sit on your ass whilst watching?”
It’s his turn to scoff, and he presses his knuckles into my bicep. “I’ll just have to, won’t I? There’s no way in hell I’d risk this.”
I shake my head at his answer. Rex sitting on his ass is unheard of. He knows what’s at stake, so I decide to give him some faith.
Taking a seat on the sofa, we both stare up at the screens, watching the timer tick down from ten seconds. When the clock hits three seconds, the entire bay plunges into darkness, the room echoing as the lights shutter off.
