Chapter Thirty-Eight
Lawrence
I stand behind Jocelyn, arms in front of my chest, one finger pressed under my chin, watching West act like a fool about to rule the world.
“Here we go,” Jocelyn murmurs and punches a key on her MacBook. A red dot flashes on West’s chest—painless and silent—followed instantly by another. Brock stiffens.
“That’s the tranquilizer,” Jocelyn explains. “It’s a two-second stun that he shouldn’t remember.”
Sure enough, Brock straightens and turns back to me. “Is that it?” he says. “Am I done? Are we ready to go kick some GTECH ass?”
“Is it done?” I ask, glancing at Jocelyn.
She punches a few more keys and turns the computer screen toward me. I inspect the beeping light on the computer screen. “Walk forward,” Jocelyn calls out to Brock. He does as ordered. The red dot on the screen moves with him.
My lips curve. “Excellent,” I murmur. “It’s holding.” I smile at Jocelyn. She’d always been Taylor’s research and development genius. Though it seems a miracle that she’s managed to hold onto the CEO spot considering her recent displays of weakness.
Jocelyn punches another few keys, and coordinates are displayed on the screen. “You will know his exact location at all times.” She punches additional keys, and a long number appears on the display. “That is his individual marker—a code we’ll insert in each GTECH along with the tracking material that makes the signal unique. The technology, alien, of course, still amazes me. We were centuries from such technology on our own.”
“And the torture mechanism?” I ask, clamping down on my growing excitement. Jocelyn had inadvertently made the magnificent discovery that when Red Dart is exposed to certain silent sound waves, it slices and dices the nervous system. Any GTECH injected with Red Dart within a certain radius will react, which, of course, offers limitations for individual interrogation. But as a mass military operation, it would be irreplaceable and capable of bringing down armies.”
Jocelyn holds up a compact remote. “This will activate the sound wave, but we haven’t tested it on humans. Dr. Chin and I both believe he needs to be monitored and stress tested.”
“I do have to agree with Jocelyn,” Dr. Chin injects. “We’ve pulled him from monitoring rather quickly.”
I snatch the remote from Jocelyn. “If we give him everything we’ve got and he survives,” I say, “then you’ve done your stress test, and we move on.”
“If he survives,” Jocelyn warns. “We need to pull back. To test slowly. We’ve come too far to blow it now.”
“The man gets a hard-on for you, and you suddenly want to pull back and protect him? And yes, I know he wants you. You forget the cameras. I was watching when you entered the room. I saw and heard everything.” I grab her and pull her into my arms, my hand sliding over her ass. She gasps, her hands going to my chest as I yell out, “I’m touching her, West. Who do you want to fuck now? Her or me?”
West screams in rage, pacing the cage, and jerks at the bars. “I’ll kill you! Kill you, Lawrence. Skin you alive!” Animalistic snarls slide from the newly converted GTECH’s lips.
I release Jocelyn, who quickly scurries away like some pathetic rabbit.
“You sonofabitch!” she yells. “You’re intentionally trying to upset him. This is not what science and medicine are about!”
I flick Chin a look. “What do you make of his behavior?”
Dr. Chin scrutinizes West, who has stopped screaming and is now running in circles around his cage. He cuts me a look. “I’ve warned you that faster administration of the serum could lead to a more primitive outcome, especially with the new formula.”
I finger the remote. “Even animals can be trained to obey. With the right discipline.”
Dr. Chin glances at Jocelyn, who’s hugging herself as if she’s freezing. “I suspect there is a lifebond connection between you and West.”
Jocelyn gapes and throws her hands up in instant rejection. “I’m not even attracted to that man. Not even a little.”
Chin seems to dismiss her answer. “We’ll have to do some testing.”
Jocelyn scowls. “I’m not going to become a lab rat.”
I look down my nose at her. “I thought you wanted to protect our country?”
“Lifebonding has nothing to do with protecting my country.”
“And yet, it does,” I counter. “We need to understand what makes the GTECHs tick. It’s, in fact, imperative.” I consider her a moment and then shift my gaze back to Dr. Chin, who, unlike Jocelyn, has a stomach for necessity. “I wonder what he’d do if we put her in there with him?”
“What?” Jocelyn gasps, grabbing the table. “I am not going in a cage with that…that thing you created.”
“Hypothetically, Jocelyn,” I snap irritably. “Get a grip on yourself and find some professionalism. This is a science experiment designed to save lives.” I saunter toward the cage. “Let’s get on with progress.”
Expediting my plans quickly is essential now that the GTECHs know about Red Dart, and Creed is not only inside the Renegades’ operation, but sniffing around in Jocelyn’s business. I have to claim control of the GTECHs and do it now, if not with the sound waves alone, then with Red Dart and the Green Hornets combined.
Losing West would be an inconvenience, but one must be willing to endure losses in war if one is to gain enemy territory. He can be replaced.
I stop just outside West’s reach and hold up the remote. “This is why you’re naked,” I say. “Because I’m going to introduce you to death, son, and you will be reborn my follower or not at all.” I punch the button on the remote, and West’s body jerks and then begins shaking. Excellent. It’s working. I turn up the volume, and West slides down the bars and crashes to his knees. Oh yes, I like this. Easing off the volume, I allow West to recover slightly.
West groans and lifts his upper body onto his hands, his face red and his eyes bloodshot. “What did you do to me?” he wheezes.
I kneel down to his level. “I didn’t do this. Jocelyn did. This was her invention.” I tilt my head and study him. “You said you would do what was necessary to be my commander. Now. Why don’t you tell me how Zodius got those Green Hornets?”
West snarls. “ I don’t know. ”
I hit the remote again, and West’s hands fall from underneath him, the shaking flattening him on the ground. I ease off and allow him to find reality again before I ask, “How did they get Green Hornets?”
West pushes himself up on his hands again. “I don’t—”
Again, I shock him, the wave on a slow simmer that keeps West flat on his face and shivering.
Jocelyn jerks on my arm. “Enough, General! You see it works. Enough!”
“Control yourself,” I warn. “Our agenda is bigger than one man’s pain.”
Defiance flashes in her eyes. “You have no agenda but playing God.”
“Careful now, Jocelyn, my sweet. You’re stressed and saying things you might regret later. Because if making weapons of mass destruction as Taylor does is not playing God, I do not know what is.”
But logic prevails. I need her. I turn to her and settle my hands on her shoulders, softening my voice. “I know how much you want to amend the past. We’re a peaceful nation. With super soldiers in our arsenal, we will force peace on others without ever lifting a hand. We are doing a good thing here. Circumstances simply demand we act swiftly.” The challenge in her eyes fades as I add, “We must know this man’s physical and mental limitations so that we properly gauge their effectiveness against the GTECHs.”
She hesitates, but shakes her head. “Yes. Yes, you’re right. Okay. I just…I can’t watch.”
“Then don’t,” I say. “Go to the other room, and we will call you when this is done.”
With an inhaled breath, she silently agrees, turning and walking away.
With her in check, I refocus on West, easing up on the remote. West’s body goes stiff, then limp. Brock abruptly pushes up on his hands again, blood trickling from his lips. “I was trying to protect our mission,” he hisses.
I arch a brow. “So, you did give Lucian those bullets?”
“They wanted proof that I could be trusted. I knew we’d seize the bullets back when we overthrow Zodius Nation.”
“So, you did betray me,” I say, hitting the remote and turning it to high volume. West’s body positively quakes.
I turn it off, and West screams, “No. I was trying to protect you.”
“What else are you not telling me, Lieutenant Colonel? Because when I capture Lucian and tag him with Red Dart, I will make him talk. He will tell me what you have not, and Lord, help you when he does.”
Inhaling sharply, West jumps to his feet and stands there naked and stiff at attention—prepared for pain. “Right before you called me to that bridge, sir, your daughter left her apartment with Creed of her own free will. Lucian believes she’s helping Creed try to find the Red Dart formula to destroy it, and Lucian’s plan was to use me as the middleman. Creed would convince Addie to find Red Dart, but I’d give her reasons to distrust him. When the time was right, I’d step in and save her from heartache, and she’d give me the information on Red Dart.”
Everything in my mind goes red. I hit the remote, and West falls to the ground like a stone block off a high-rise. Lucian will pay in pain for his plan to manipulate Addie. And Brock will live in pain for allowing this to happen.
I hate Creed—hate him for taking my little girl from me and destroying her trust. For holding that knife at my throat and making me beg for my life. But then, an idea forms.
A good general knows how to turn an enemy’s action to benefit. Creed is still a direct connection to Taylor Industries. He is still one of the most powerful GTECHs in existence. And he knows both Caleb and Julian well. With the influence of both Red Dart and my daughter, he’s the perfect commander of my army—on a leash, that is. I’ll capture Creed, break him, and then build him back up.
Ultimately, I’ll own him.