“They referred to her using myexactwords. But there were no listening devices or bugs… I double-checked.”
Darren found it, the telltale hardness he’d been looking for but hoped wouldn’t be there. “Kesley, take off your shirt.”
“For fuck’s sake, Howe! We should be legging it, not stripping each other in my fucking office! My shoulder is fine.”
Darren let out a humorless snort. Stripping Aiden Kesley certainly sounded a lot more tempting than what they were currently doing. But even though he was about to have Aiden naked, pleasure was the last thing on his mind. If Marcus’ men had known about Sara and acted on such short notice, there had to be a listening device somewhere on Aiden’s person. And Darren suspected exactly where it was because of his own experience with the swelling they caused after being implanted.
His own one was now usually in his pocket—or, when he wanted some privacy, between the pages of the mag he kept under his pillow—rather than at the back of his neck. After his imprisonment here, he’d cut it out the first chance he’d gotten, but instead of destroying it, he’d kept it to see if anyone would notice that he’d figured out how they’d tracked him down.
They hadn’t. In his two years here, no one paid him a visit to install a new one. He still didn’t know how he’d been injected with it, but he suspected that the fight on that recharging outpost a week or so before his capture was the likeliest candidate.
“Either do it yourself or I will,” he threatened, letting Aiden know exactly how serious he was.
With a show of great displeasure, and a few bitten-off curses, Aiden unbuttoned his shirt and slid it offhis right side. His ivory flesh was bruised in several places, most notably his side and shoulder, and when Darren brushed his fingers against the bump, a sharp exhale escaped the man’s lips. It turned to a grunt the moment he pressed against the swollen area again in search of the small device.
“I need your first aid kit. You’ve been chipped,” he said calmly, squinting at the swollen flesh.
“What?”
Before he could elaborate, someone knocked on the door. He froze and so did Aiden, their gazes leaving each other as they both stared like spooked rabbits at the door. Darren willed whoever had decided to interrupt them to give up and go away after receiving no answer, but the knocking simply continued, telling him their visitor most likely knew they were inside.
“Look, I know you are in there,” Nyle’s singsong voice sounded from the other side. “And unless you want the guards to know too, you will let me in.”
Darren felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. Giving Aiden a reassuring nod, he dashed over to the door and yanked it open, causing Nyle to stumble into the room. Catching himself before he could lose his balance, Nyle squared his shoulders and gave them an evaluating look.
“Hello, warden Kesley, Darren,” he said with a smile, his curious blue eyes roaming Aiden’s half-naked torso. “Right. I’ll cut to the chase as I can see we don’t have the luxury of a proper catch-up now. I know who both of you are.” He grinned like the devil he was. “And I want in.”
Chapter 34
Nyle’s declaration left Darrengrinning. He’d told the genius twink to stay away from him and Aiden after Marcus’ visit yesterday, but clearly Nyle had other ideas. As for Aiden—he shifted his attention to the wounded man—the defensive frown dominating his face betrayed he had no idea the twink had been onto them from day one.
“How?” Aiden asked, somewhat containing his surprise.
“I’m quite good with computers. Too good in fact, if you asked a certain corporation’s head. I did a little digging around and connected the dots.” He smirked. “Don’t ask how, because that’s a secret.”
Darren still didn’t know how Nyle could do any of this stuff frominsidea prison, but every time he’d asked, Nyle had just batted eyelashes at him and smiled.
“You should go back. It’s not safe for you to be here,” Aiden warned, already a step ahead of Darren.
“It’s too late for that now, isn’t it?” Nyle indicated Aiden’s shoulder with a tilt of his head. He also raised three fingers. “I already know about you, the listening chip, and I might have followed you from the field and accidentally overheard the rest.”
Darren didn’t buy that, but he also didn’t say anything. He and Nyle had been ‘jokingly’ discussing a plan to break out of here already, but to even attempt that, they needed a phone and someone who could actually get them off the prison floor. With Aiden now in the same boat as Darren, they had both.
Nyle hummed, tucking a lock of blond hair behind his ear. “Okay. So, I can pretty much guess what happened, though I’m surprised the whole prison is not in lockdown already.” He scanned over Aiden’s bruises, curling his lip. “If I had to guess, the chip must’ve gotten damaged somehow. Still.” He trained his gaze on Darren, offering one of his flirty smiles. “You better take that out of there, just to be on the safe side.”
Aiden’s eyes bounced from Nyle to Darren, posing the question before it made it out of his mouth. “What exactly is this chip you two are talking about?”
Darren pressed on the bump, making Aiden hiss. “A listening device. It’s been implanted under your shoulder blade. That’s why you’ve been sore all day.” He rubbed the spot gently to make a point and because he just couldn’t help himself from taking advantage of the opportunity to touch Aiden.
Aiden suppressed another wince.Or was it a shiver?
“What Darren said. He can sort you out.” Nyle grinned, flopping onto the couch. He leaned back and held up his hand. “I’ll need your phone in the meantime.”
Aiden took the device out of his pocket, then hesitated. “Marcus probably has it monitored. He’ll know it the moment you book a shuttle, so he’ll probably ground it.”
Nyle beamed, self-satisfaction rolling off him as he produced a network chip and held it up between his lean fingers. “I came prepared. Now, phone, please. And no more questions until the chip is in pieces.”
Aiden tossed the phone over. “Howe, the first aid kit is in the cabinet under the shelf. Second drawer.”
