Chapter 11 #2
But there was no warm puff of air against her head, no chest rising and falling with each measured breath, no gentle caress as his fingers traced circles against her skin. Nothing at all to indicate that Voodoo was beside her like he was supposed to be.
Because he wasn't there.
Something cool and smooth was beneath her, hard but in a different way than the stone in the cave had been, cold in a different way too.
Even before her brain could catch up to what was going on, her body knew that it was bad, that she was in a whole world of trouble.
As badly as she wanted to keep her eyes closed, allowing the thudding between her temples to lull her back into a hazy sleep, Indigo knew she couldn’t do that.
Voodoo was out there.
Unless the men who had captured her had killed him, which she highly doubted, then he would be out there looking for her. He’d come. The certainty she felt about that surprised her because she was so used to having no one to depend on, so sure that no person alive could be relied upon.
Maybe she still believed that to some extent, but not when it came to Voodoo.
It wasn't his words that had convinced her he would never leave her behind, wasn't even his actions. It was that she could sense his honesty when he spoke, when he looked at her, when he shot her one of those smiles that set her whole body alight.
“I know you're awake,” the voice from her nightmares spoke from somewhere close by.
Here.
Right beside her.
The man Voodoo and his team had been seeking to destroy for a decade was so close she didn't even think, just flung herself sideways, in the direction the voice was speaking from, as her eyes popped open.
While she would have killed him without a second thought, felt no remorse about it, just like she didn't feel bad for killing the two men in the forest, unfortunately, Indigo couldn’t get anywhere near the deranged scientist.
He was indeed sitting on a chair, just a handful of feet away from her, but she was lying on a metal table, the kind that a coroner used when performing autopsies. Her wrists and ankles were cuffed to the legs of the table, making it impossible for her to do more than rock sideways a little.
The smirk on Dr. Gardner’s face was more annoying than having the man who had destroyed her life, Voodoo’s life, and the lives of so many others so close and yet being unable to do anything about it.
“They’ll kill you,” she rasped, her voice scratchy and insubstantial because whatever drugs she’d been given were still in her system, but she did her best to convey the depths of her hatred with her eyes.
Dr. Gardner just chuckled. “Actually, my dear, I think you’ve just given me the key to finally getting them back.”
“You’ll never get them back. They’ll kill you and everyone near you before they let that happen.” Although she said the words, believed them, there was a tiny element of doubt. What if Dr. Gardner had too many men on his side? What if those men found Voodoo before he met back up with his team?
“I don’t think so,” Dr. Gardner said, that obnoxious smile of his only growing wider. “I have something they want.”
“Something they want?” The drugs must be making her slow because the only thing Voodoo and the others wanted from the scientist was his suffering and death.
Standing, he crossed the short distance between them and stared down at her with eyes that were so devoid of human emotions that it wasn't just unsettling, it was like being in a horror movie and staring into the evil eyes of the possessed villain.
This man might be flesh and blood, but Indigo didn't really believe he could be described as human.
He was missing a soul, and in the end, she felt like it was a soul that separated them from the rest of the animal kingdom.
“You,” he said simply. “They’re out there somewhere close by. They rescued you, they aren't going to leave you behind because you're one of them.”
Even though she hadn't been having any doubts about Voodoo never throwing her to the wolves, hearing the man who had created them reinforce her belief that he’d find a way to come for her bolstered her confidence.
There was no way she was going to allow herself to be used as bait.
No way in hell.
The guys were coming for her, but they weren't walking into a trap for her.
“Before we dangle you out in front of them, we need to make sure they know what will happen to you if they don’t swoop in to play savior,” Dr. Gardner continued.
“They think that they’ve won. They took my sister, they have my best scientist, and they want to take you as well, my only other living experiment.
That isn’t going to happen. Once I have them back in their cages where they belong, I’ll make them tell me where my sister is, where Whitney is, and then I’ll have everyone back under my control like it’s supposed to be,” he finished on a roar, already slipping back into the madness that consumed him more often than not.
Arguing with the man was pointless. He never listened, and he ran his operation like he was a god and this was his kingdom.
Everyone jumped to do his bidding because if they didn't, they’d be punished for it.
The last thing any of the guards wanted was to find themselves on the wrong side of the cages.
Indigo had seen Dr. Gardner do it before, inject one of his guards with the drugs, the man lasted less than forty-eight hours before he ate through the skin on his wrists to cut open the arteries so he could bleed out.
That kind of fear-dominated environment was hard to overcome.
It meant the guards were one hundred percent loyal to their boss and could never be swayed or bought.
They wouldn't risk their own lives for someone who was already a prisoner.
It also meant that the guards and the scientists fed off the cruelty of their boss.
They enjoyed inflicting suffering and watching as the people unfortunate enough to be injected with the drugs lost their minds to the anger and suicidal thoughts.
Now as a man with a particularly savage smile stepped toward the table she was cuffed to, Indigo knew that she was about to endure something sadistic.
But the thing was, she would endure it.
Whatever it took to buy enough time for Voodoo to meet up with his team, and for her to come up with a plan, so that what Dr. Gardner thought was him luring the men he was desperate to get back into a trap could really be Delta Team finally getting their hands on the man who had destroyed their lives.
She had no idea how exactly it was that Dr. Gardner planned to dangle her out in front of Voodoo and the others, but it sounded like it meant she would be moved at some point.
She also had to assume that wherever they were now wasn't all that far away from where she’d been caught, so that meant Voodoo wasn't too far away either.
Holding onto that thought, allowing it to seep comfort and strength down into her soul, Indigo watched as the man flicked open a lighter and lit a cigarette.
The stench of the cigarette leeched into her nose as he held it above her so she could see the burning orange end, before he roughly grabbed one of her breasts and held the tip to her nipple.
Other than an initial burst of pain, it was just the smell of burned flesh that made her nauseous.
That and the knowledge that the man was ruining her breasts, making them ugly, and she couldn’t help but feel like an ugly body only matched the unworthy inside that had everyone in her life walking away.
Voodoo won't walk away.
It took all her strength, but she clung to that new little voice as the man grabbed her other breast and pressed the burning cigarette to the nipple.
She hoped it was right, because she was opening herself up to the possibility that she and Voodoo might one day be more than friends.
If he walked away from her because of physical damage to the parts of her body that were supposed to be the most attractive, she wasn't sure she’d survive.