She didn’t as a hand came from behind and slammed around her head onto her mouth. Metal. Her knees buckled.
The world tilted as Letty tried to reach him, but a hand fisted in her hair. A cloth covered her bleeding mouth with a horrible smell. It took her a moment to realize it was chloroform as she drifted under.
“Letty?”
She shifted.I’m cold.
“Wake up.”
“What?” The smell of oil and rust filled her nose. She cried out as she moved. Her body ached. She heard him before she found him on the floor. “Are you okay?” She shifted her body. Wyatt was on his side across from her with blood matting his hair.
Her chest constricted. “Oh, God, Wyatt.”
“The team will be here. Cal’s tracking us. We’re going to be okay.” He swallowed as footsteps echoed, coming closer. His hands were tied behind his back as he forced himself to sit up as Letty got to him. She reached down and pulled a knife from her boot and released his zip tie.
The steps got closer as Letty looked up.Not Driscoll.She gritted her teeth.Will.
Wyatt kept his hands behind his back as Will stepped into the light like this was a lecture hall. “You shouldn’t have come,” he said mildly.
Letty’s stomach dropped. “You staged it,” she whispered. “We heard about the rollover and came to help.”
Will tilted his head. “You responded exactly how I expected.”
Wyatt growled to get Will’s attention.
Will glanced at him. “Still predictable. Hero complex.”
Driscoll appeared behind him, rubbing his jaw. “He hits like a damn mule.”
Will ignored him. “Dr. Duval,” he said almost kindly, “you were always brilliant. Just… misdirected.”
“You hurt people.”
“I corrected a liability.”
Wyatt glared at the two men with blood running down his temple. “Let her go,” he rasped.
Will grunted. “You’re bleeding. Maybe you should focus on your own wounds and leave Letty to me.”
Wyatt didn’t look at him; he looked at Letty as Will paced next to her. He stopped to raise his voice. “You got the grant. I got audited. I needed money to fix the audit findings, and Hargrove needed leverage. Driscoll needed money. Everyone had a role.”
Letty’s voice was steady. “You killed people.”
Will shrugged. “Collateral happens in research.”
WYATT
Will’s calm cracked for a fraction of a second, just enough to show what lived underneath. “You don’t get to define truth,” he grumbled. “You get to document it. And you document what I allow.”
Behind Will, Driscoll shifted. Wyatt watched the muscle, not the mastermind. Wyatt’s eyes slid to Driscoll, barely a glance. That was all it took. Driscoll moved fast as Wyatt slammed into him, grabbing the gun as Driscoll’s finger found the trigger, making a wild shot. Sparks flared as the round hit metal. The shot ricocheted off the walls. Wyatt moved immediately, pulling Letty behind him as Driscoll scrambled away.
Wyatt searched for Will, who called out. “You should’ve taken the genius and not the grunt.”
Letty gasped, dropping low as Wyatt pivoted, shoving her behind a stack of crates with his shoulder. “Stay down,” he snapped.
“I’m not…”
“Down.” His voice carried something that left no space for argument.
