‘I remember.’
‘You healed right in front of me.Care to explain that?’
‘I’ll tell you everything if you let me speak to Harker.’
‘I want to move you to a secure holding room.Let us take you there, I’ll question you and then, if you co-operate, you can speak with my boss.’
Lachlan briefly falters.‘Yourboss?’
‘Yes.’
‘You work for him?’
‘I’m his bodyguard.’
Something about that seems to absolutely floor Lachlan, whose vacant expression gives little away beyond shock swimming behind the tears that fill his eyes.He masters himself after a few tense beats.
‘OK, fine.I’ll go quietly.’
By now, Kade has figured out a transport method.
‘I’m going to pass you two pairs of handcuffs.Put the handcuffs on your ankles first, then wrists, I’ll give you a body bag to zip yourself into.If you do that under my supervision, we’ll bring you to holding, secure you there and you can speak to my boss after me.Deal?’
Lachlan exhales raggedly, tears falling down his otherwise stoic face, still bloody from being shot.The tears cut tracks that smudge the dry blood when he wipes them away.The older man looks at Kade, determined.
‘Deal.’
CHAPTER THREE
Lachlan Tanner cuffs himself before shuffling inside the body bag and zipping it up at the top.He then lies there on the floor, quiet and compliant.
Riley unlocks the bars.
Kade, Luca and Mara move in.With guns trained carefully on him the entire time, they check he’s secure.Mara locks the zip at the top and then two others bring in a body box from the Cold Room.
‘You’re going inside now,’ Kade tells him.‘Remember our deal.’
‘I remember,’ the muffled voice assures him.
Kade and his team keep their guns trained on the box the whole journey to the basement.There are four rooms used for holding.People are already working on fixing the hatch and securing everything.The tunnels are locked up tight.The Mesh is still down in various places.
‘In here,’ Kade directs.
TheDrowner.
Dark composite walls, seamless and pressure-sealed, lit by submerged ceiling strips bleeding thin blue light through reinforced glass.The floor slopes gently toward a central drain.Recessed nozzles sit dormant overhead.The air smells of metal, stone and machinery.The acoustics are dense.A fixed chair sits at the centre, bolted to the floor.It’s a holding room, yes, but it’s also an interrogation room.A really fucking effective one.
They rest the metal box upright against the wall.‘We’re removing you now,’ Kade informs Tanner.‘If you want to talk to—’
‘I already agreed,’ he interrupts Kade.‘Just get me out.’
Kade steps back, gun in hand.Luca mirrors him.‘Do it.’
They manoeuvre Tanner out of the box and into the chair where they strap him down.He allows it all, passively neutral but for the way he never once takes his eyes off of Kade.
He is, Kade decides, sharp, intelligent and objectively attractive.
Kade was told his own age by his boss.He has no memory of birthdays before waking up here, a member of the Iron Star family without memory of anything before.He’s twenty-seven years old.
