“I’m not lettin’em take you,” he bit out.
Gage took a couple of careful steps forward until his hand brushed the sleeve of Roz’s jacket. He grabbed on.
“What is it you want from me?” he asked.
“We’re taking you home,” the first man said.
“I’ve already been killed off…and buried,” Gage scoffed. “Home sounds…ominous.”
“Just listen,” the man responded.
Something was inched close to his jaw before he heard an electronic click.
A woman’s voice came through.
“Gage Harrington, my name is Jo. I’m the director of the Ravens program, but not the one you were once in.”
Every muscle in his body locked as she kept talking.
“The facility you knew, and White Sector Thirty, have been destroyed at my order. The director who orderedyour experiments is dead. The staff who carried out those experiments are either in custody or buried, at my order.”
Gage’s pulse was hammering so loudly he was sure they could hear it.
“The men with you now are my Green Ravens,” she went on. “Valor and Zorion. They were pulled into the same corrupt program you were, and also underwent medical procedures against their will. After I helped them escape, they fought beside me to bring down the old organization and reshape the Ravens into the honorable program it was intended to be.”
Her tone softened.
“They were sent to find you and Scar and bring you home—not as captives, as family. You will never be strapped down again. You will not be caged. You’ll be treated respectfully, protected, and given a life. But if you refuse my help and try running from the authorities, it’s not going to go well.”
Gage’s brain snagged on one word.
“Scar?”
“Yes,” Jo said. “I’ve sent another team after him. He’s not safe in Chicago. Neither are you. If you’re arrested, it’ll be difficult to help you. The safest place for both of you is home, with us.”
“Are you fuckin’ shitten’ me?” Roz let out an incredulous bark of laughter. “Is Scar behind all this?”
“No,” the woman said calmly. “Scar Calloway is another victim of the director’s experiments. I understand your friend is concerned, Gage. But he can’t keep you safe forever.”
“The hell I can’t,” Roz snapped. “You’re not taking him. I don’t care who you are, lady. My boy is fuckin’ blind because of y’all.”
Gage squeezed his eyes shut, feeling as if his head was trying to split open.
“If he is under my protection,” Jo said, “no one touches him. That I swear.”
“G,” Roz said, inching closer. “You can’t trust these motherfuckers. You told me what they did to you. They want you to go with them so they can finish the job.”
“If you come home,” Jo cut in gently, “you will be safe, Gage. But it is your choice. You are an asset and a human being. But if you say no, Valor and Zorion will walk away. I won’t like it, and I will fear for you, but we won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do, ever.”
Silence stretched between the five of them and whatever men still watched from the van.
Gage’s mind spun. He thought of the facility. The needles. The screaming. The pain.
He thought of Scar in danger, of his parents who were just a few miles away, of a life on the run, before he released a long, resigned sigh.
“If you say I’m in control,” he said slowly, “and it’s my choice…then I’ll come.”
Roz stiffened and gripped his arm tighter.
