Chapter 5
Hunter
“Are we almost there?” I turn towards Jax.
Even though I’ve ben to the compound already, this an unfamiliar route.
I need to get Cynthia comfortable. I'm still reeling that I have her back. Thanks to Pretty Girl.
“Yeah, just a few more minutes,” Jax responds without taking his eyes off the road.
Jax cuts his eyes to Cynthia, his unspoken question answered with a raise of my eyebrows.
I seriously don’t know how to help her. I have to find out everything she remembers, and if she’s been there the entire time she’s been gone.
Fuck. It's been seventeen years. Almost two decades without her. Two decades of torture and hell. It's no wonder she’s slightly mad—I just hope I can help pull her from the abyss.
I squeeze Cynthia tight against my side.
“I love you, sis,” I say, kissing her on top of the head.
Her eyes dart all over the place. I can see her sanity coming and going. She keeps looking behind us at Pretty Girl, a small smile gracing her lips. I’m so grateful to my girl for befriending her. Valley and Bryan, as well.
Finally, we pull up to the back of the compound.
This place really is massive. It looks like a chain of warehouses to disguise its true purpose.
It's completely fenced in, the fence taller than the buildings and completely electrified. There's security everywhere. I know for a fact there’s always a couple of snipers on the roof. There’s also a fingerprint and retina scan at the gate.
The cars are parked in an attached underground garage. This is where we pull into.
Everyone looks like a bunch of fish—mouths gaping open at the size of the property.
“We’re here,” Jax announces. “Stay with me, okay?”
A lot of oohs and aahs come from the lot of them, and I chuckle to myself.
Cynthia comes to my side, taking my hand.
The Six all group together, surrounding Pretty Girl, Valley, and Bryan. 3 grabs Pretty Girl’s hand.
We get to the solid steel door, following Jax inside.
There aren’t usually many people back in this area, so we traverse the hallways to the stairs that lead up to Jax’s office.
Once we get to it, he turns and tells me, “Harris, a word, if you will,” gesturing to his office. To the others he says, “Please wait here, I’ll call you in shortly.”
I follow Jax inside, taking a seat.
He sits behind his desk. “I have concerns about your sister and the boy with no name,” he starts. “They both show signs of mental issues. It's not surprising, considering. However, I want to be sure they don’t bother the rest of the team, or cause disruptions.”
“I understand your concerns. I can’t guarantee anything, but I will keep Cynthia close to me. I'll ask Phoenyxx to keep the boy, 3, with her also.”
Jax steeples his fingers, thinking. “The best solution for now is for you and your sister to share a room, and the girl and the nameless boy to share one. We don’t have therapists here, but I do have access to someone who can come in when needed.
Though I realize it’s too soon for that.
I want to give everyone time to adjust.”
I nod. “I agree.”
“Good; now can you call the others in?” Jax requests, leaning back in his chair.
I stand, opening the door, and motion for them to crowd into the office.
Purge makes a sound of appreciation. “Nice digs, man.”
They all stand close to Jax’s desk, waiting.
“Alright, I want to go over the rules of how things operate here,” Jax explains.
“The most important thing you need to know is this place is covert. It must be kept a secret. You won’t be able to communicate freely with anyone outside.
However, you will be allowed to take calls and make them with disposable phones, after explaining to me who you’re contacting. ”
Synn raises a brow. “Our fathers will be blowing us up. Powerful families are deadly serious about contact. They’re going to be looking hard for us.”
Jax nods. “That’s why we have signal and location scramblers throughout the entirety of the property. They won’t be able to track you here.”
Purge whistles. “Nice.”
“Moving on,” Jax continues, “any altercations with any of my team members must be brought directly to me. And no fighting between you in common areas. If you have issues with each other, take them up in the ring we have in the gym. I don’t tolerate disruptions.”
Everyone murmurs agreement.
Pretty Girl pulls 3 in more tightly to her, whispering to him.
I squeeze Cynthia’s hand in reassurance.
“I’m going to tell you about how ZYGOS came about.
I started this because of my own experience with trauma, and having fallen to the dark side for a while.
I strongly wanted to do something about the innocent getting justice.
I met a couple of the others, and we formed ZYGOS.
It stands for balance and justice. Every single team member has trauma and shady pasts in common.
And now, we have Harris as part of the team. ” Jax tells us all.
Nods of appreciation go around the room. I incline my head towards him to continue.
“Lastly, anything you learn here stays here. Now, do you have any questions?”
Cynthia pipes up. “Can I find boyfriends here? Like, my own harem? Like my wifey has?”
“Oh my God,” Pretty Girl cracks up, along with Trikk and Razor.
“Um...” Jax fidgets uncomfortably. “You’re free to get to know whomever you want. Just don’t make a scene about it.”
Cynthia claps loudly. “Yay!”
“Anyone else?” Jax asks.
“I need 3 with me,” Pretty Girl says.
“Already planned, dear.”
“I have a question,” Frost chimes in. “How did you know to look into The Retreat?”
“I received an anonymous tip that had enough receipts with it to render it valid. I had my guys check the validity, of course. I've had my eye on Harris for a while. This seemed the perfect opportunity to try him out.”
“Understood. Thanks.”
“Do we get to pick which room we have? Because I call dibs on a room next to Pazessca,” Synn announces.
“Hell no.” Trikk frowns.
Ghost steps up. “I get the room on the other side.”
Groans go around, and Razor throws his hands in the air.
“Fuck’s sake,” Frost mutters, his face screwed up like he sucked on a lemon.
“Okay, okay.” Jax wrangles the attention back to him. “Any more actual questions?”
“How long will we be here?” Pretty Girl asks softly. “And where will we go after?”
Jax stands up, moving away from his desk, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “No need to worry about that, young lady. You are all welcome here for as long as you want to stay. As for how long, it depends on when we wrap up everything in motion.”
“Good, thanks.”
Jax looks to each person. “I’ll have Harris give you a basic tour. Here’s a list of room assignments,” Jax hands me a paper, then continues. “We have a shooting range, a gym, several computer labs, a theater room, a library, a media room, and a lovely space on the roof if you need some quiet time.”
“Holy shit,” Valley squeals. “Nyx, we can finally watch Beetlejuice.”
Pretty Girl loses it, hunching over with laughter. It warms my heart to see her happy.
“Wait—media room?” Trikk asks.
“Yes. It has tons of games—arcade ones, all the latest game consoles and video games, a large screen TV, and a lot of comfortable seating. There's also a wonderful surround sound system for music.”
Trikk fist pumps the air. “Oh, hell yes.”
I shake my head at his reaction.
We all file out, and I take the lead. They all follow as I decide to show them the roof first, then move down from there.
Phoenyxx
Hunter takes us to the roof, and I make a sound in my throat as I see the gorgeous and peaceful setup. There's honest to shit gardens, with comfy-looking chairs and loungers around a fire pit. The view is beautiful. It seems so peaceful.
Next, Hunter shows us all the rooms Jax told us about.
I took a minute in the library, geeking out at the books I’ll be able to read, for pleasure, for the first time ever.
When we get to the media room, Trikk loses his mind, running around and touching literally everything. “I’m going to move in here,” he announces.
I laugh, asking, “I don’t see any music...?”
Frost steps forward, a smile on his face. “Watch this, Killer.” He speaks loudly to the room. “Alexa—play ‘Under the Influence’ by Chris Brown.”
Music immediately fills the room. I recognize the song from the sexy as fuck dance he gave me.
I look at Frost, waggling my brows. “I want a repeat of that dance...”
“Count on it,” he whispers in my ear, giving me goosebumps.
“Alright, come on,” Hunter mutters.
The theater room is next. “Oh my God, Nyx. Look at this. Oh yep... I’m going to introduce you to all the classics,” Valley says with big eyes.
“I’ll hold you to that, bestie.” Linking arms with her, we stroll on.
We finish up by seeing the shooting range, then the computer labs.
“Hey, guys!” Hunter calls out to the two guys sitting at the computers.
The shaggy blonde whips around, jumping from his chair. “Dude. Is this them? Holy crap, man. I'm Thor. I know who all of you are.”
“Calm down, freak boy,” the other guy says with an eye roll.
“Fuck off, BILL,” Thor tosses back.
“Bill?” Purge snickers at the nickname.
Thor beams at him. “Bro-dude—we're going to get along great. You're the hacker, Purge, right?”
“Sure am. I can’t wait to check all this out.” Purge is practically salivating seeing all the latest tech.
Thor salutes us as he turns back to his computer, and we file out of the room.
“I’m going to show you the kitchen, then your rooms so you can put your stuff down. I think Jax wants to make introductions after that,” Hunter tells us, side-hugging me. I smile up at him, a goofy, love-struck grin on my face.
We follow him to a huge kitchen.
“Damn!” Trikk starts freaking out again, as our resident cook.
There's a couple of guys at the table, and they nod in greeting.
We’re then taken down a series of hallways until we reach a bunch of closed doors.
“These are some of the resident rooms. We'll all be in this wing,” Hunter explains.
He unlocks the one on the end. It's huge. It has two king-sized beds, a full living room suite complete with TV, and massive bathroom.
“This one is for me and Cynthia. Since its two of us.” Hunter looks down his nose, mainly at the guys.
Cynthia jumps up and down in excitement. “For us? Oh my gawd. I feel so lucky. See this, wifey? I get a giant bed.”
“You deserve it.” I smile sincerely, meaning it.
Hunter then goes to the room at the far end. He opens the door, and it’s almost as big as the first one. There's one king-sized bed instead of two—otherwise it’s the same as the first.
“This is for you, Pretty Girl, and 3 to share,” Hunter says, eyes sweeping my face.
“Um, one bed?” Razor shouts, his face turning red.
“Yeah... I don’t motherfucking think so,” Synn rages.
“This is bullshit,” Ghost pouts.
“Okay, settle down. You need to understand the boy needs the closeness with her. Be reasonable.” Hunter shakes his head, his face looking weary already.
Synn flips him the bird.
Hunter sighs, showing us the other rooms. The one on the left of mine is Synn’s. The one on my right is Ghost’s. Then, Valley and Bryan’s room is across the hall from me. Trikk, Razor, and Purge are across the hall. Frost is a couple doors down from mine.
We all drop off our bags, and head out with Hunter to meet the other team members. Hopefully, they’re all as cool as Jax, Thor, and Bill.