by Jayne Rylon
“Yes, sir.” She leaned into his touch.
“Verify Sterns has warrants and is standing by to raid.” Jeremy rose, setting Lily on the floor. “If we find what we’re looking for, today could be the day.”
“I hope you’re right, JRad.” Matt clapped him on the shoulder.
He snatched the vial off the desk and handed it to Clint. “Be careful.”
“We’re not the ones heading deeper into this mess.” The men bumped his outstretched fist then took turns hugging Lily.
“Tell Izzy I love her,” she whispered to Matt.
“You can tell her yourself as soon as this is over.” He reached out as though to rumple her hair, but stopped short when he caught her do-you-want-to-keep-those-fingers glare.
“Right.” He chuckled. “Later.”
Jeremy wondered what the hell was wrong with him. He cataloged Lily’s tight black jeans and matching lace tank along with her flat-bottomed shit-kickers and missed her usual racy Mistress gear.
“What?” She swiped a hand over the triple strand of onyx beads draped over her fair décolletage then down her chest and flat belly.
He would have paid a million dollars to lick the same path.
“Do I have something on me?”
“No.” He twined their fingers as they followed Ben’s scribbled directions toward the holding cells. “It’s nothing.”
Without the drastic heels she preferred enhancing the shape of her legs, most of her wicked curves were hidden. The solid six inches she’d lost in height didn’t help him forget how easy it would be for someone to hurt her either.
“You’re tense.” Her thumb caressed his knuckles. “Jumpy. What’s your gut telling you?”
“I don’t know.” Jeremy cursed. “For the first time I understand how fucked up Razor was when he lost his edge. He doubted himself constantly. It’s like living with a false alarm ringing nonstop in my brain because I want you as far away from this as possible. Having you here screws with magnetic north. Instead of honing in on the right path I feel like I could chase my tail for hours.”
“I’ll go.” The line of her tight lips went white on the fringes when she pursed them.
“What?”
“After this little stroll.” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “You have your scrambler on?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Tell Morselli I freaked about Sex Offender. That I don’t want to end up like Malcolm or my father. It’s bothering me to have the guys in danger. They didn’t ask for this, and it’s worse than I anticipated. On top of that… I’m a distraction to you.”
“No shit.” Lucas muttered from where he trailed a pace behind them.
Jeremy glared at the other task force member. “I didn’t say that to pull a guilt trip.”
“I know.” She slung her arm around his waist. “If you had I wouldn’t be offering.”
A shriek rang off the walls around them.
“What the…?”
Jeremy didn’t stick around to answer Lucas’s question. Instead he grabbed Lily’s hand and took off at a run in the direction of the wail. Lily sprinted, impressing him with her speed. They barreled down a staircase then into a stone-lined foyer. Three passages led out of the junction. Torches flickered on the wall, lending to the dungeon’s atmosphere.
No doubt intended to be serious, the surreal decor reminded him of a cheesy film set in a way Black Lily and Gunther’s Club never had. They didn’t need to consult Ben’s map when another howl bounced through the space. The three of them ran shoulder to shoulder in the wide alley.
Walls became bars before long. Malnourished prisoners huddled on bunks while some, more alert, pressed against their cages for any hint of the action. Maybe they sought advance warning of impending danger. Whispers rushed along from captive to captive faster than the trio could sprint.
Jeremy counted as they passed. He lost track of the blend of addicts and Sex Offender waste products somewhere after two hundred ruined lives. With every stride, the audible pain grew louder until moans and cries formed an insistent cacophony.
“The gate!” Captives shouted at them as they ran. Distress from individuals blurred into a single message as they streaked by, “It’s closing. They’ll all be trapped inside with him. Someone open the gate.”
Illumination ringed the bend in the hallway ahead. Dread coalesced in Jeremy’s gut as a sinking suspicion developed. Could this be the pit Morselli had showed him from their lofty perch while slaves were prepared for last weekend’s auction?
Sure enough, when they rounded the final corner, the stark white surfaces of the chamber loomed in front of them. Only today, it was clear The Scientist’s temporary laboratory had been constructed here. Mobile stations made it easy to roll away the evidence when guests arrived.
A woven steel lattice descended, blocking escape for the herd of men and women wearing white lab coats, while preserving the view. They had been corralled into the far corner of the space. The captive audience had ringside seats to The Scientist’s epic meltdown.
A tall, thin man—he might have been handsome once—he thundered from his perch on top of a stainless steel preparation table. “None of you will reveal my secrets. I developed this masterpiece. It’s mine. Not to be stolen by a moron, who lucked into the drug. If Morselli thinks I’ll work for his prosperity like a common laborer, he’s crazy.”
You would know all about that.
The psycho drew another shriek from the crowd as he launched a beaker at the floor in front of them. A trapped technician dove for the glassware. It shattered before he could reach the drug-filled bomb. The miss meant he was the first of many to inhale a lethal dose of Sex Offender.
At least his suffering would be relatively quick.
Spurred to motion, Jeremy, Lily and Lucas stormed the gate. It had already covered most of the entrance and descended from mid-thigh to knee height as they surveyed the scene. Lucas grabbed hold at the same time Jeremy did. They wrapped their fingers around the grate and heaved.
Fuck! Jeremy yanked his hands back, shaking the sting from his digits. All the effort had netted them were sliced fingers.
Welling blood, Lucas’s hands must have grown as slick as Jeremy’s. The man crouched anyway, having more success in slowing the narrowing gap by counteracting the pressure from the bottom of the portcullis. Still, it continued to close. Tendons in his neck strained.
“Jeremy,” Lily shouted. She pointed to a box on the wall. “Over there.”
He raced to the pinpad, leaving them to battle the inevitable. In matters of brain versus brawn, he opted for the intelligent method every time. The faceplate popped off with a hint of pressure. Using his jeans to swipe most of the blood off his hand, he traced wires to their sources. He wasn’t going to make it in time.
“Lucas!” Lily’s scream drew Jeremy’s stare like the world’s strongest magnet.
The man’s grip had slipped. He toppled off balance. The gate dropped a solid foot in one instant, crushing Lucas’s knee beneath the weight. His roar didn’t faze The Scientist. The insane bastard continued to rain Sex Offender on the staff, who had unknowingly helped to create and distribute the vile substance.
Chaos consumed the world.
Too far away to help, Jeremy yelled, “Noooo!”
He couldn’t make it to his teammate or the woman he’d claimed before she risked her life to save Lucas from amputation.
His heart stopped in his chest when Lily dropped to her belly. Thinner than Lucas’s thigh, she slithered beneath the gate, which threatened to bisect her vulnerable body.
“Don’t do this.” Lucas growled through gritted teeth and the pain that had to be rampaging through his receptors. “You’ll be trapped.”
“Jeremy will open it again. It’s just for a minute.” Her shoulders flattened out as she stared straight into Lucas’s eyes. Jeremy had seen her wear similar determination when she whipped her slave at Black Lily. “I’m sorry, this is going to hurt.
”
“Lily!” Jeremy’s cry didn’t matter.
Lucas yanked up on the barrier as Lily shoved his leg through to the outside. Agony forced Lucas to abandon his grip. The gate clanged shut. With Lily on the wrong side.
“One puny pinpad is a walk in the park for you.” She stared straight into Jeremy’s eyes and smiled. “I’m going to find Ellie.”
“Stay and we’ll search as soon as I fix this.” Even as he issued the command he knew it would be too late. Frenzied men and women tore at clothes—theirs and their neighbor’s—in the ruckus, which drowned out everything else, even Lucas’s brutal curses. People would be raped, trampled or maimed beyond recognition if they didn’t overdose on the vapor dispersing in a noxious cloud around them.
“You’re too honorable to sacrifice someone else’s safety for your own.” Lily blew him a kiss. “Don’t ask me to lower my standards. You wouldn’t respect me for it later. Besides, I took the antidote less than twenty-four hours ago. I should be covered, right?”
“Son of a bitch.” He rushed to the steel separating them and poked his fingers through. “I don’t know, Lily. Maybe. I’ll have this thing open in three minutes or less. Get your pretty ass back here by then or I’m coming in, drug be damned.”
“Yes, Master.” She kissed his knuckles then tugged the hem of her shirt up over her mouth, baring her abdomen.
Jeremy hoped the men and women under the influence of Sex Offender didn’t catch a glimpse of her stunning physique and try for a taste of their own. Tearing his gaze from her progress across the stadium floor, he flew to the access panel and employed the tricks Gunther had taught him so long ago to compartmentalize his mind and focus despite the distractions swirling around him like a typhoon.
Failing Lily was not an option.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lily decided stealth had flown out the window as a viable option the instant four men noticed her alone and charged. She grabbed a hose off a nearby table of supplies and swung experimentally. The resulting whistle reminded her of her favorite bullwhip. She could do this.
If the drug amplified sensual caresses, she bet it also multiplied painful stimuli.
She didn’t hedge when she aimed carefully and swung full force at the man approaching. Deterring him from the start was her only hope. He screamed then retreated—nursing the fiery mark she’d left across his cheek. The three others with him decided their fallen pal would serve them better than her and dove on his writhing carcass.
“Oh God, I’m sorry.” She couldn’t watch as they forced themselves on her would-be attacker. Despite his grunts and groans she couldn’t call his participation consensual when The Scientist had stolen his inhibitions.
The ratio of men to women in the frenetic crowd made her search a little easier. Most of the lab assistants deteriorated into jumbled piles of limbs comprised of masculine parts. She climbed on top of a supply chest to survey the crowd. Though no guarantee, her gaze naturally honed in on the two or three blond manes dotting the room.
Ryan’s extra-fair features supplied her only clue to his sister’s appearance.
Lily hunched low to the ground as she made a beeline for the nearest candidate. The woman bounced on top of a twiggy guy hard enough Lily feared the tech might permanently injure him. Her bloodshot eyes and the visible pulse slamming in her neck didn’t bode well for the stability of her vital signs.
“Ellie!” Lily shouted at the woman, but she didn’t blink. The patch on her lab coat proclaimed her Julia instead.
Lily moved on. She scrambled around five or six unmoving bodies near the impact site of one of the Sex Offender bombs. The faint odor of lingering chemicals assaulted her. Determined to resist their lure, she braced herself for the overwhelming urge to fuck. Except the craving for rough touches never materialized.
Thank you, Jambrea.
Lily called out as she ran past any of the women. “Ellie!”
The holler drew unwanted attention. She managed to evade grasping hands by staying on the fringes of the atrocity. Interspersed with fucking bodies, she saw more than one person in mortal distress. Several grabbed their chests and keeled over before being swarmed by others eager to slake their need. Their bodies couldn’t endure the racing of their hearts or the hyperthermia that would cook their brains.
How many of the lab workers would survive this horror? How many would wish they hadn’t?
Lily glanced toward the entrance. Completely separated from it by the mass of addled people, it remained firmly shut. Jeremy would come through, she had no doubts. But the moment the gate opened, she would have to flee—Ellie or no Ellie. She wouldn’t risk Jeremy coming after her only to become another senseless victim.
She raced for the last blond in the room. “Ellie!”
The woman ignored her. Dazed, she stared as a man fucked her pussy, another pounded her tits and a third filled her mouth. As Lily approached, she realized the woman was too old to be Ryan’s little sister. Damn it, no.
“Ellie!” She pivoted and screamed into the throng.
“Help me.” A faint response caused Lily to hold her breath, afraid to risk a peep that could obscure the thready entreaty.
“Ellie?”
“Here. Ahhh.” The young woman moaned, deep and guttural. Whether in pain or pleasure, Lily couldn’t say for sure.
She took two giant steps toward the thin girl buried beneath a pile of feverish men. Lily hadn’t even seen her on the first pass, so many bodies engulfed her.
The whiz of Lily’s improvised weapon zinged through the air as she advanced, swirling it over her head. Prepared to battle, she didn’t notice the man hovering on the desk beside her until he jumped into her path.
The Scientist.
She allowed him to stumble closer, laughing manically. Foam gathered at the corners of his chapped lips. He’d inhaled too much. It wouldn’t be long before his heart exploded in his chest. Either that or his own creations would destroy him.
“You.” A long line of drool stretched to his shirt.
The dazed victims pairing off and fucking each other senseless blurred in the background, as close to a real life zombie apocalypse as Lily could imagine. Worse considering none of the impacted humans attempted to fight the drug mutating their natural tendencies as surely as some sci-fi virus.
“You were supposed to be mine.” He lunged faster than she would have believed possible. The drug hadn’t stolen all of his coordination. His ragged yellow fingernails scraped across the exposed skin of her chest, snapping the necklace she wore.
Beads bounced in every direction.
“No, fuckwad.” She refused to be cowed. If she died here, at least she’d make sure he suffered at the end. “It was my sister, Isabella, you tried to buy and rape. She was a virgin and you didn’t give a shit. How many other innocents have you destroyed?”
“Maybe just one more…” Zealous light entered his eyes as he stalked closer.
“I’m no innocent.” Instead of backpedaling, she ran forward and slammed her knee into his groin. “That’s for Izzy.”
He doubled over, grasping his crotch.
“And this is for me.” Lily channeled the mixed martial artist she’d traded tutoring for topping close to ten years ago—after the first time one of her father’s associates attempted to force himself on her. The Scientist became all of the slimy motherfuckers she’d been exposed to in her lifetime all in one. Before she realized it, her foot had launched into a roundhouse kick. She heard the crack of his jaw when her boot connected with his face.
The Scientist flew backward. Blood and something that looked like a tooth spurted from his mouth. He smacked his head on the corner of the desk. The ragdoll flop of his body as it crashed to the floor ensured he’d been knocked unconscious…or worse. A nearby cluster of men stopped tearing at each other long enough to descend on the fresh meat.
Lily gagged when one humped the limp man, pinning his body to the industrial linoleum while another yanked The S
cientist’s head toward his exposed hard-on. The sick pop that resulted left no question they’d broken the evil bastard’s neck.
That didn’t stop them from ravaging his lifeless body.
From the epicenter of anarchy, pandemonium raged around her.
Shock paralyzed her.
“Lily!”
She peered over her shoulder. The gate rose steadily. Jeremy ducked beneath it before it rose waist-high.
“Stay back.” She waved him off. “Sex Offender. It’s still in the air. It’s strong.”
He slowed, watching cautiously.
Lily closed her eyes for a fraction of a second then screamed, making as much noise as she could. Along with her battle cry, she lashed out with the segment of tubing, whacking a half-dozen men from the crumpled form on the floor. Ellie no longer fought them. Instead, she gazed with blank eyes at the avenger blazing toward her.
“Move,” Lily yelled, holding the guys at bay as best she could. Sooner or later, one of them would snag her feeble weapon. “Now. Go!”
If she could save only one of the unfortunate people here today, she wanted it to be this one. She had to do some good.
“Ellie. Get up.” Lily grabbed her arm and dragged the woman. She couldn’t do much while staving off the pack. “Ryan needs you to move. Now.”
“Ryan?” The girl blinked. A trickle of blood leaked from her eye. If Lily couldn’t smuggle her to safety soon, she wouldn’t survive. She might not anyway.
“Yes. Ryan.” She stared straight at the girl and told the truth. “He needs you. Run.”
Ellie scrambled to her feet. Clumsy and uneven, her strides carried her toward Jeremy, away from the disaster they left behind. Lily turned and paced her, throwing one arm around Ellie’s waist. Jeremy met them halfway. He mirrored her supporting grasp and half-carried Ryan’s sister from the chamber.
The instant they cleared the gate he stabbed a code into the reconstructed pinpad.
Metal creaked and groaned as it separated them from the Sex Offender targets.
