I’d walked the perimeter to ensure no one was looking in my direction, then stayed off to the side, observing.
And what I observed was Maverick, devastated by his discovery that there was a version of Uncle Eddie that’d beenhidden from us. Uncle Eddie and Holmes were quick to console Mav, but I don’t know how effective that was, especially since Eddie’s eyes were still a solid black.
I caught Silas’s worried exchange with Hedy, and it made my chest feel heavy.
Even before I saw Sy’s eyes, before I had a chance to read his file, I knew what was coming. I knew it had to be, at least partially, why my fathers, especially Dad, were terrified of him.
Silas’s spar with Maverick was intense. Amazing. Terrifying. I’m so, so proud of Maverick and angry for him all over again for being left out of the family business until it couldn’t be hidden from him. He was born to do this.
And yet.
Despite the absolute show Maverick put on, I can’t look away from Silas. Even now that his eyes are back to their familiar icy blue, I can’t help but see him as dangerous.
Murderous.
Despite the fact that Maverick killed a man in cold blood right in front of us, despite the fact that Uncle Eddie is apparently a self-healing weapon, it’s Silas who feels like the dangerous one.
I’ve always clocked his intense energy, sure, but this is different. Where Uncle Eddie has clearly matured into his power, Silas is pure, vibrating murder. An atom bomb with a hair trigger. Capable of so much destruction, yet completely self-aware. Painfully so.
I ache at the thought of it.
I turn to Hedy. “You and I discussed giving the test after an operation. I think this qualifies as an operation.”
She looks to the four men on the floor. “Who do you wanna start with?”
“I think your wine flight is theway to go.”
Sending me a little grin, she asks, “And in your mind that order would be…?”
“Maverick, Holmes, Edison, Silas.”
“Good call. I’ve got one more place to show you and Mav, but let’s see if you can get them in this afternoon before you go home. Did you get your office set up this morning?”
“The laptop was delivered while we were at lunch, and Jake just sent over my login.”
“Good. You’ll have plenty to read, I’m sure,” she says, waving Maverick over.
Maverick and I are standing with Hedy in a cavern the size of a football stadium.
Jaw-dropping doesn’t even begin to cover it.
“This is the largest privately owned cave system in the United States. Used to be our main office. Now it’s just the experimental science wing—and where we keep prisoners.”
“Prisoners,” I repeat.
“Extrajudicially, yes. Some people are too dangerous—or too wealthy—for the regular system to handle. We keep them here. Study them. Then kill them.”
Maverick and I exchange a look. “How long do you keep them?”
“No more than a year.” She leads us toward an elevator. “Come on. Let’s get this tour started.”
Maverick redoes his loose bun, and I pull on my beard.
“Oookay,” I say.
We take an old elevator down to the floor of the cavern and follow a manufactured pathway.
“We used to have the mess over here, and over there iswhere we printed out experimental weapons,” Hedy says, like that is a normal thing.
