The next few documents showed proof, with pictures, of his dealings with the Russians. Shit. She even recognized one of the Russian soldiers meeting with Jory from her time at the NSA. Definitely a bad guy.
Exhaling slowly, she closed the screens. Her father had told the truth.
A chill swept down her spine, while her cheeks heated. She shouldn’t have doubted him, especially for a prisoner in a cage. And now she’d hacked into a very secure area. What would her father do if he discovered her infiltration this time? This time, her motivation wasn’t to help him. It was to find the truth about Jory.
Chance stopped typing and stretched his neck. “You done hacking?”
Her head jerked up. “What?”
“Don’t worry, lady. I don’t really give a shit.” He still didn’t look at her.
She shook her head. “How old are you, anyway?”
“Old enough.” His voice was already low, so maybe early teens?
“Are you an intern here?” she pressed, her instincts humming again. Who was this kid?
“Yep. Just on loan for a few days earning some high school credit.” He popped his knuckles. “Back to work?”
Movement sounded beyond the door, and the three orderlies carried in a still-unconscious Jory to drop onto his cot. The second they’d locked the door to the cell, all three men breathed out heavily.
Piper glanced at the silent soldier in the cell and then at Chance’s profile. What exactly was going on in this place?
Jory kept silent in the cell while Piper and Chance typed away on keyboards. He’d awakened nearly ten minutes ago, instantly sitting up to watch. For now, he wouldn’t worry about whatever his PET scan and MRI had shown. Hopefully his brain had looked normal.
Did Chance have extra abilities, too? The kid had dark brown hair like Shane and Nate, Matt’s square jaw, and Jory’s mouth. Shit.
Just how many brothers did Jory have out there? This would fucking kill Matt. The idea of another one of them being held captive and trained to kill was almost too much to carry. The Dean brothers had only escaped five years ago, so where had this kid been?
Jory couldn’t ask the questions with Piper in the room, but he’d damn well get answers.
While the kid typed away, he’d looked over his shoulder several times, curiosity in those gray eyes. Apparently he knew better than to question Jory in front of Piper.
Good.
Piper ignored Jory completely, her shoulders stiff, tension all but cascading from her. The woman seemed to be getting angrier and angrier every time she was in Jory’s vicinity. He sighed. Whatever was going on, he’d have to handle it. The clock was ticking down not only on Madison discovering his extra abilities, but with his chip about to explode, he had to get to his brothers.
Finally, Piper excused herself to head to the ladies’ room. She’d barely cleared the door when the kid stretched to his feet and approached the cell. He kept his face stoic, hard, but his eyes burned bright.
“Who are you?” Chance asked.
Jory flicked his gaze to the camera in the corner. The meet-up was deliberate, and surely Madison was scribbling in a notebook right now. “Jory.”
“You look familiar.”
“Yeah.” Would telling the kid the truth put him in danger? Or rather, more danger than he lived with daily? Jory stood and approached the glass. The wave of protectiveness nearly floored him. “How many kids are here?”
Chance shuffled his feet, his lip curling. “Why?”
“Because I’d like to know how many brothers I have that I didn’t know about,” Jory said slowly. Forget the cameras. This was a brother, and he never lied to a brother.
Chance blinked. “I’m not your brother, asshole.”
Jory grinned. The kid had balls. “Right. Because gray eyes are normal. I was created by the commander and Dr. Madison, trained as a soldier, and I’m not the only one.”
Chance’s shoulders went back, and his Adam’s apple bobbled. “What do you mean?”
“I have three older brothers.” Jory cleared his throat. And now one younger brother. At least. “That is, you and I have three older brothers. Same sperm donor.”
Chance glanced at the closed door and back. “This is a setup.”
“Yep.” Smart kid. “But not by me.”
The kid’s hands clenched into fists, and he glared up at the hidden camera. So much anger rolled off him, Jory’s gut heated. “Chance?” Jory asked.
In a clearly Matt Dean Fuck You head bob, Chance began to speak, defiance in every nuance. “Our sperm donor’s name was Bruce Wilcox, he supported the program and voluntarily gave up sperm, and then he died on a mission.”
The blood roared between Jory’s ears, and he stepped closer to the glass. “You found him?”
“Yeah. I hacked the records.” Chance shrugged, rawness in his eyes. “I can hack.”
Something had hurt the kid and bad. Jory’s throat closed with the need to help. The brutal need to break out of the cage and clasp the kid made Jory’s hands shake. “Any records of our mothers?”
Chance exhaled, his already broad chest moving with the effort. “Just the program directives of buying top-grade genetic material and then hiring surrogates. Some grad students, some single moms, some whores. All records of who and when have been destroyed.”
The records had been in Utah? That made an odd sense. The kid knew more about Jory’s history than he did. Pride lifted his chin. “You’re smart, kid. Now how many gray-eyed brothers are running around with you?”
Chance blinked, silent for several moments. Jory let him work out the thought on whether to reveal information or not, impressed when not one emotion crossed the kid’s face. Well trained, now wasn’t he?
Finally, Chance scratched his chin, a veil dropping over his gaze. “Two brothers younger than me.”
Jory blinked. “There are three of you?” God. There were three more brothers. “Three brothers.”
“We’re not your brothers, so don’t get any ideas. You’re on your own.” Chance still refused to look at him.
Jory eyed the kid. What was he hiding?
High heels clicked down the hall, and Jory stiffened along with Chance, their movements an exact mirror. The door swept open, and Dr. Madison clipped inside, four soldiers behind her.
She smiled sparkling white teeth. “What a nice reunion.”
Chance shifted to the side, keeping her in sight. Everything in Jory stilled with the need to protect this newfound brother, and his body settled into fighting mode. “More experiments, Madison?”
“Yes.” A gleeful gleam filled her blue eyes. “Same but different.”
“Meaning?” Jory tilted his head to the side.
She shrugged. “Chance, get back to work. Jory, your brain showed some interesting activities on your tests earlier, and now it’s time for a physical.”
“No.” The last thing he wanted was more poking or prodding. Although getting out of the cell held certain appeal.
“Yes. We need you awake this time.” Madison jerked her head at the soldiers, who immediately fanned out and drew weapons. Madison then drew a small pistol from her lab coat and pointed the barrel at Chance.
Jory growled.
To the kid’s credit, he didn’t flinch, although his muscles tightened in anticipation of a fight.
“Fine.” Jory backed away from the glass, and Madison turned the gun on him.
A soldier punched in numbers on the pad next to the door, and it slid open.
Jory gauged the men’s stances and their weapons. He could get two of them quickly, but he’d have to kill the other two, and who knew if Madison would shoot him or not. He debated his options, his decision made the second Piper walked back into the room. Too much danger for somebody untrained.
Her eyes widened, and she faltered. “Wh—”
“Please get back to work. We’re running out of time,” Madison said, her cheerful voice contrasting with the gun in her hand.
Piper swallowed and glanced
from Jory to Chance and back.
Jory tried to make his smile reassuring. “I would appreciate it if you found a way to deactivate the chip near my spine.” There wasn’t a chance, but he needed her focused and out of the way. So he allowed one soldier to shackle his wrists and ankles, shuffling out of the room, an ache pounding in his gut as he left his brother behind.
Again.
The walk through hallways took over two minutes. They reached a medical lab, and he hitched inside to jump on a table. “How could you?” he asked Madison.
She blinked, glancing up from a computer tablet. “Excuse me?”
“More creations?” he asked, fire bubbling up his throat.
“Yes.” She squinted. “Four boys, an experiment to see if they’d bond like your family did. We wanted to see if the four behaved like you four boys did.”
Jory stiffened. “Which is why you made Chance the oldest? To see if he’d behave as Matt did.”
“Yes.” Madison slid to the side as a pretty nurse entered the room. “He has. Treats those younger boys just as protectively as Matt did you.”
Jory swallowed. “You said four boys, and Chance told me there were three of them. Why?”
Madison clicked her tongue. “We lost one months ago on a mission.”
A rock slammed into Jory’s gut. “How old was he?”
“Eleven.” Madison sighed. “He showed such potential. What a pity.”
Fire burned Jory’s ears, and his hands clenched with the need to wrap around her slim neck. “You fucking bitch.”
The door burst open, and heavy combat boots clomped inside. “Watch your mouth, boy,” the commander muttered.
Jory lifted his head to meet the black-eyed gaze. “So you finally got one of us killed. Nice job, dickhead.” With his hands shackled at his back, and his feet all but tied together, he’d need leverage to tackle the commander while keeping Madison from shooting him. So he shifted slightly on the table.
Madison smoothly shoved a needle into his leg and depressed the plunger.
Instant warmth filled his thigh, and his vision swayed. Damn it.
The commander widened his stance. “Soldiers die all the time, and it’s a miracle you’ve never lost a brother. Hell, I can’t figure out why you’re still alive. As a kid, you were pathetic.”
He was still alive because his brothers had made sure he survived. Without question, without his brothers, he never would’ve made it through early training before he grew. Now, he was a stone-cold killer who’d do what he had to do—even use Piper against the commander. He wavered on the table, trying to remain conscious. “You’ll pay for getting that kid killed.”
The commander glanced at his wristwatch. “Take blood and do a full mock-up, and then toss him into the training field. Let’s see how fast he heals now.”
Jory’s head lolled. “Why don’t you join me?” he slurred.
“I might.” The commander clasped his hands at his back. “I haven’t beaten you in a while, although I did have a good time with Nathan in DC.”
Jory forced a grin. “You mean before he escaped with Audrey and blew the place up?”
The commander frowned. “He’ll pay for his disloyalty, I promise you.”
“Right.” Jory sucked in air and tried to focus his vision while Madison drew blood. “Your daughter has no clue what a bastard you are.”
Pain flashed in Madison’s eyes, to be quickly veiled. Jory cleared his throat. He’d forgotten how much the batty scientist loved the evil commander. “Did you know the commander had a kid?” Jory asked.
She turned to tap info into her tablet. “Your vision should be graying.”
Yeah, it was. He faced the commander again. “One-night stand?”
“Yes. She was a receptionist at the Tennessee compound. She was good in bed.” The commander leaned to read over Madison’s shoulder. “My first instinct was to force her to get rid of it.”
“You didn’t, though?” Jory concentrated on the blood pumping through his veins and tried to speed up the action. He needed to move the drugs quickly to absorb them.
“No.” The commander sighed. “Ego, I’m afraid. I’d hoped for a boy to raise here, but alas, it was a girl. So I just left them alone.”
Jory shook his head, his heart cracking for the poor girl. “Yet she’s here now.”
“Turns out she knows something about computers.” The commander turned and smiled. “Good genes.”
Was that fatherly pride or just ego? Jory couldn’t concentrate. Pain flared along his leg again, and he glanced down to see another needle.
Madison sniffed. “We can’t have you trying to escape again, now can we?”
His eyes fluttered shut as he sank into unconsciousness, his last thought of a little black-haired girl with sad green eyes, wondering why her father didn’t visit.
CHAPTER
7
PIPER STRETCHED HER neck, pleased when the code finally uploaded. Chance had long ago left to do something else in the compound, and she missed his company. While he wouldn’t talk about his life, the kid had been knowledgeable about everything from history to current politics, and she’d enjoyed bantering with him.
But he’d kept his face averted most of the time they’d talked, completely avoiding making eye contact. Maybe he was just shy. Really shy.
Why was such a young person at the compound? If it was some sort of internship, why wouldn’t he talk about it? Nothing seemed to be adding up, and her mind worked overtime to make sense of the entire situation.
The door burst open, and two soldiers dragged in a nearly unconscious Jory. His feet thumped on the ground, and his head lolled on his neck.
Piper jumped up and gaped at Jory’s face. A cut above one eye trickled blood, while a purple bruise swelled along his jaw. Mottled bruises and lumps showed on his neck, and torn flesh marred his knuckles. “What happened?” she breathed.
One soldier eyed the other and typed in the code. “The guy is a fucking machine. Did you see him take out Anders? And Jonese?”
The other guy nodded, heaving Jory inside with a harsh grunt. “Guy ain’t human. No way, no how.”
Jory lurched forward to land on the cot. Blood dripped across the entire cell.
The door closed, and both soldiers heaved sighs. The first rubbed his neck. “If the commander hadn’t darted him, this guy would’ve taken us all out.”
The second soldier nodded and patted the glass. “Thank goodness for cells.” They hurried from the room as if something predatory chased them.
Piper swallowed and slowly approached the cell. “Jory?”
He groaned.
“How badly are you hurt?” She squinted to see better. Maybe the soldiers were supposed to take him to the infirmary.
He rolled over and fell onto the floor, his eyes closed. Blood sprayed across the cell to land on the far wall.
Oh God. She pressed her hand on the glass. “Jory?”
His eyes opened, dark gray and in pain. Then his mouth worked, but no sound emerged.
“Take a deep breath. How badly are you hurt?” she asked, turning to eye the door. She should find help.
He huffed out a breath, and his eyes rolled back in his head. That quickly, his entire body convulsed, his head hitting the metal end of the cot. More blood spurted.
The world tilted. Dizziness swung her head around. Her stomach lurched. “Jory?” she breathed. He was going to kill himself. If he hit the metal any harder, he could nail himself in the temple. God, he might even puncture the kill chip, thus deploying the blades. His body continued to convulse, his large frame slamming the concrete.
Going on instinct, she rushed to the keypad and punched in the code the last soldier had used, her eidetic memory easily keeping track of the numbers. The door breezed open, and she rushed inside, dropping to her knees. Putting a hand to his heaving chest, she glanced frantically around for something to put in his mouth to prevent him from biting off his tongue.
His hand wrapp
ed around her wrist.
She tried to shrug him off. “I’m trying to help you,” she said as gently as she could.
“I know.” Faster than a whip, he jumped up, taking her with him.
Her brain fuzzed. “What—”
An iron band of an arm wrapped around her waist, turned her, and lifted her against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he murmured against her ear, his warm breath brushing tender flesh. More than a foot off the ground, her back against his chest, her butt against his groin, realization slapped her hard in the face.
“Let me go.” She struggled against him, her nails scraping his arm.
“No.” He tightened his hold until she couldn’t breathe. “Don’t fight me, Piper. You won’t win.”
Her lungs screamed. Tears filled her eyes, and she stopped moving. Slowly, his hold relaxed marginally, just enough to allow her air. “Don’t do this,” she whispered.
A shout echoed down the hall just as an alarm blared through the facility. Jory rushed them out of the cell and through the computer room, kicking open the door and carrying her easily. Way too easily.
Soldiers ran from the northern end of the hall, their boots clomping.
Jory turned the other way, grabbing her key card and swiping a pad without missing a beat. The door closed behind them, and he pivoted, kicking the pad square in the middle. Wires popped out, and sparks flew. Then he calmly proceeded down the hall again and through another doorway.
Chance barreled around a corner.
Jory paused. “Chance! Come with us.”
Chance faltered, his gaze going from Jory to Piper. “No. Can’t leave them.”
“Damn it, Chance,” Jory hissed. “Come with me now, and we’ll come back for them. You have my word.”
Chance’s eyes veiled. He shook his head. “No.” He disappeared around the corner again, and running footsteps echoed.
“Fuck.” Jory closed the door and kicked off the faceplate. “I can’t figure out what that kid is hiding.” Scrutinizing the circuitry, he frowned. “If he’s working with the commander, I wouldn’t hold it against him.” Still holding her tight and seeming not to notice her struggles, he yanked open a desk drawer. “Hmm.”
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