Chapter 19
19
“ N o!” My heart shatters into a million pieces as I stare at the dark screen of Damien’s chest cam. “No, no, no.”
More shots sound, and then the room falls silent, the only sound the static crackling over the coms.
Then a voice cuts through the silence.
“Fucking hell, that hurt,” Damien groans. “The vest took the shot. I’m fine.”
Relief crashes over me, so intense I shake with it.
He’s alive. Hurt, but alive.
His video feed comes back into focus as he sits up, and one of his men comes forward to help him to his feet. After only a few heartbeats to recover, Damien turns and leads his men into the room the guards had been protecting.
My breath catches in my throat as the camera pans across the room, revealing the true extent of the horrors inflicted in that place.
Cages line the walls, the metal stained with rust and blood. Restraints hang from the ceiling, the leather straps frayed and worn. And everywhere are vials, hundreds of them, filled with unknown substances, their contents glinting in the harsh fluorescent light.
Nausea curdles in my stomach as memories of my time in this place come rushing back. The pain, the fear, and the helplessness threaten to drown me.
Like a nightmare come to life, a new figure appears on the screen, a man I recognize all too well. The Doctor.
He holds a scalpel in his hand, swinging wildly as Damien advances on him. Old hatred and fear rise within me as I remember the way he looked at me, like I was nothing more than a lab rat. The way he smiled as he cut into my skin, as he pumped me full of drugs and ignored my screams.
Now, seeing him trapped and powerless fills me with a twisted sense of satisfaction. Fear mixes with those feelings, too. Because even now, even with Damien there, I can’t shake the memory of the Doctor’s hands on me, the sound of his voice in my ear.
Damien disarms and takes him down, pinning him to the ground with a knee on his back. Part of me wishes for him to end it, right then and there. Put a bullet in the Doctor’s head and be done with it.
But that’s not the plan. Damien promised to bring the Doctor back alive so I could face him one last time before he died.
It’s what I wanted. What I thought I needed. Now, I’m not so sure.
I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself as Damien hauls the Doctor to his feet, his hands bound behind his back. This is it. It’s finished.
On the way back out of the lab, Damien’s team plants explosives at key structural points.
Then they rejoin Team Two, which Caleb had led, taking out the other guards in the building. In the background, one of the guards escorts a small, blanket wrapped woman toward a vehicle, and anger surges through me to know another Omega suffered the same way I did.
The twins share a look, and Caleb presses the button on the controller he holds.
An explosion rocks through the facility, fire and clouds of dust shooting out the sides of the building.
As the walls crumble into the flames, the lab collapses in on itself, burying the horrors of my past beneath tons of concrete and steel. One chapter closed, and another step toward reclaiming what was stolen from me. It’s not everything, but it’s something.
My eyes flicker between the screens as the hit team moves toward the extraction point. The men are battered and bruised, a few limp from injuries, but they are all alive. They made it out.
Damien’s body cam shakes and lifts, turning toward his face, and he winks into the camera. “Be with you soon, sweetheart.”
For the first time since the mission began, tension drains from my shoulders, the knot of fear in my chest unraveling. It’s not over, not by a long shot, but for now, it’s enough.
“Good job, everyone.” Milo takes off his headset and turns to me, concern creasing his brow. “Are you sure you’re up for going to the interrogation location? It’s not at the manor house.”
I swallow hard, my mouth dry. The thought of facing the Doctor again, of being in the same room as the man who tormented me for so long, sends a shiver of fear down my spine. But I need to see this through. For myself and for the others who suffered at the Doctor’s hands.
“I’m ready.” With a deep breath, I set my safety blanket aside. “I want to be there when Damien brings in the Doctor.”
“Okay, I’ll notify Damien,” Milo says. “If it gets to be too much, say the word, and we’ll leave. Deal?”
Even as my tense muscles tremble, I take another breath to settle my nerves. “Deal.”
As Milo puts his headset back on, my attention returns to the monitors, where Damien’s team now loads into the transport, the Doctor secured in the back under heavy guard.
My pulse races as they head out, knowing I’ll soon stand in front of my tormentor again.
But this time, I won’t be alone. This time, I’ll have Damien by my side.
The heavy metal door creaks open, revealing a dimly lit hallway.
My pulse races as I follow Milo inside, trying to steady my breathing. The air here holds the familiar, sterile scent of bleach and antiseptic, and my stomach churns.
I clench my fists, willing myself to stay calm as I follow Milo deeper into the building.
Milo gestures down the hallway. “We’ve got holding cells in the back, reinforced steel doors, and guards posted twenty-four seven. No one’s getting out of here unless we want them to.”
I only half-listen as I take in our bleak surroundings.
Milo seems so at ease, like he’s done this a hundred times before.
What does it take to become comfortable with this side of the Rockford family’s business? Will I ever become numb to it? Or does it take a specific personality I lack?
I search for a crack in Milo’s calm exterior, a hint of vulnerability, but he remains inscrutable. He reminds me of Caleb, cold and capable, but not scary. Just like death doesn’t bother him the way it does me.
Leo hadn’t been front and center during the hit, choosing instead to wait in the library. I think, had it not been the Doctor that Damien was going after, I would have joined him, instead. My anxiety can’t take another round of watching Damien put himself in danger.
“Seven?” Milo snaps me out of my thoughts. “You with me?”
“Yeah, sorry.” I give him a weak smile. “Just… taking it all in.”
Milo stops in front of another heavy metal door. “Brace yourself. This area doesn’t smell great.”
Warning delivered, he enters a code into a panel and pushes the door open.
The room beyond holds the distinctive copper tinge of blood and the stench of sweat, all overlaid with more of that burn of bleach. I lift a hand to my nose as my vision adjusts to the gloom.
Jail cells line one wall, all of them empty except for one. Shock jolts through me when I recognize the man within. Mr. Bugrov, the man who managed the apartment building where I was kidnapped, sits in a barren cell, with nothing but a toilet attached to the wall.
My steps slow. “What is he doing here?”
“He helped kidnap Leo for ransom from the same apartment complex where you vanished from.”
My mouth drops open. “What?”
He’d always been so kind, checking to see how I was doing and asking about my family. I’d confided so much to him.
“He’d been doing it for a while, luring Omega’s in with cheap rent, then watching to see who would kick up a fuss before tipping off the traffickers.” Milo’s lip curls as he stares at the older man. “He’s also the one who priced me at the auction like I was nothing more than a piece of meat.”
A surge of empathy washes over me, mingling with the rage that bubbles up from deep within. I’m not alone in this. Milo, Leo, and countless others have all suffered at the hands of monsters like him.
My nails dig into my palms as my fists clench. I had trusted this man, and he sold me into torture. He’s a devil, just like the Doctor. “Why is he still alive?”
Milo tosses his head, his fiery braid whipping over his shoulder. “As much as it pains me to say it, we need to keep him alive. For now, at least.”
“Why?” He doesn’t deserve even a second longer to breathe.
“He’s our leverage in case we need someone to trade for Jade.” Milo’s beautiful face hardens. “His associates will want him back so they can silence him themselves.”
Unease ripples through me, but I trust they know what they’re doing.
The sound of the door opening breaks the tension, and I turn as Damien and Caleb stride into the room, dragging a figure between them that sends a chill through my veins.
The Doctor.