Sliding over the vent, he went down feet first, dangling from his waist again, before lowering himself. Gripping the edge of the vent, he let go, hitting he floor hard and falling back on his ass. Quickly he got to his feet, ignoring the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The room was cold, and it sure as hell had been used recently. Did the THIRDS know it was in use? They had to. Someone was ordering this stuff.
Dex went to one of the incubators and opened the glass door to find scores of tiny vials and glass bottles sporting names of chemicals and drugs he’d never heard of. What he did know was that they had a shelf life, and these liquids all had expiration dates for the following year. What disturbed him as much as the knowledge the lab was in use, was the mobile stretcher chair with straps parked on one side of the room. He needed to get out of here, and maybe find the First Gen files. They had to be somewhere close. As the thought crossed his mind, he spotted a tablet on one of the tables in the corner of the room. Dashing over, he found an external hard drive was connected to it. He tapped the screen and stifled a gasp.
The sleek screen was littered with rows and rows of personnel files. One name jumped out at him. Sloane Brodie. It was the First Gen files. Inspecting the drive, he discovered it was empty, but the serial number, along with the information on the plate indicated it was property of the THIRDS. It looked like Isaac had transferred the files to his device. A small padded protective case sat beside the tablet, and Dex snatched it up. On the bottom several tabs were open, and he clicked them, his heart leaping in his throat. They were network connections and news sites. To his relief, there was a nice big, red “X.” Looked like Isaac was having trouble logging on, which meant he hadn’t transferred any files. Unhooking the hard drive, he powered off the tablet and stuck it in the protective case, before sliding it into the zip pocket in his tac pants made to hold a ballistic plate. Then he tucked the portable drive into another pocket. Now he really had to get the hell out. If the tablet was here, it meant Isaac couldn’t be far.
Dex snuck over to the lab’s closed door and peeked through the window. His view of the brightly lit hall was restricted. He listened but couldn’t hear anything. Quietly, he turned the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open. When nothing happened, he slipped outside. He turned and was struck across the jaw, sending him reeling against the corridor wall. Shaking himself out of it, he pushed away from the wall and backed up, barely having enough time to block the punch looking to land against his ribs. He pulled his arms in, blocking the fist, digging deep to push away all the pain and sickness he was feeling as a result of the drugs, and he threw a punch at his attacker, a huge, musclebound asshole the size of Ash, and just as mean looking, t
hough admittedly far uglier.
Dex landed a right hook against the guy’s jaw, but he shook it off like a pesky fly. With a growl, Dex moved in with a jab to the ribs when the beady-eyed bastard clamped an arm down, trapping Dex’s wrist. He snatched Dex’s other arm and head-butted him. It was like smacking into a concrete wall. Dex crumpled to the ground, the larger man on top of him, landing a hit to Dex’s nose and bloodying it. Dizzy and gasping for breath, Dex refused to go down without a fight, punching the guy square in the balls. The guy doubled over with a fierce whine, and Dex put all his strength behind his fist, knocking him across the jaw. The guy fell limp to his side, and Dex scrambled to his feet, his knees buckling and almost giving way under him. He stumbled, but righted himself, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. With a wince, he swiped the blood from his nose.
“Dex, what on earth are you doing?”
He stiffened, turning to find Isaac observing him in amusement, three larger men with him. Shit. Dex pushed himself away from the wall and held his fists up.
“If you think I’m gonna go give in, you’re crazier than I thought you were.”
Isaac shook his head with a “tsk.” “Dex, I don’t want to fight you. Believe it or not, seeing you get hurt doesn’t make me happy.”
Dex let out a snort, cringed, and spit out a mouthful of blood. “You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe you. You know, what with shooting me, drugging me, and sending your Gollum here to beat the shit out of me.”
“Gill was only doing his job,” Isaac replied with a shrug. “Gentlemen, if you’ll please restrain Agent Daley before he hurts himself any further.”
Shit. Dex turned to run, but three more men blocked his path. He readied himself for a fight, wishing it were more like in the movies where the bad guys all stood back and came at the hero one at a time. No such luck. The six men rushed him at once, and for all of Dex’s training, he was no match for six large men, and the state he was in didn’t help matters. He struggled as they lifted him off his feet, carrying him back into the lab he’d come from.
“What the hell are you doing?” Dex pulled at his limbs, trying his hardest to free himself, but it was futile. They thrust him down harshly onto the chair and started restraining him. “Get the fuck off me!” The straps pulled tight against his ankles and wrists. His head was forced back, a large padded strap stretched across his forehead. They finished and retreated. Dex tugged against the restraints, pulling, and jerking his arms. Nothing. His heart pounded fiercely, and he tamped down his panic. Isaac came to stand beside him.
“What are you going to do with me?” Dex demanded.
“I only want to talk.”
Dex let out a derisive laugh. “Talk? Okay. Let’s talk. What would you like to talk about? The Knicks? The state of the economy? You losing your fucking mind?”
Isaac pulled up a stool and perched beside Dex. “I’d like to talk about you.”
“Me.”
“Yes. I think it’s time you reconsidered joining me.”
Dex gaped at the guy. Was he serious? Had he really lost his mind? “Why in the hell would you think I’d join you?”
“Dex, despite what you may believe, I’m trying to save you.”
“Save me?” The concern and gentleness in Isaac’s voice as he spoke to Dex confused him. Something had most certainly snapped in the guy’s head. And what was this obsession he had with saving Dex? He decided he needed some answers. “Save me from what?”
“From those animals,” Isaac replied with a sneer. “I couldn’t save my brother, but I can save you.”
That’s what this was about, what it had always been about. Gabe. “Do you think saving me is going to absolve you for what you did to him?”
Isaac jumped from the stool so quickly, it clattered to the floor. His hazel eyes blazed with fury, saliva shooting from his mouth as he spat the words out. “I didn’t kill Gabe! Those animals did! Sloane Brodie killed my brother, and he’s going to burn in hell for it.”
“You confessed. You killed Gabe. It might have been an accident, but you killed him, Isaac. You can’t blame Sloane for that. Your brother’s death is on your hands.”
Isaac shook his head fervently as he started to pace. Dex continued to struggle against his restraints, hoping to loosen something. Did Isaac truly believe if he “saved” Dex, everything that had happened with Gabe would vanish? “What is it you’re expecting to happen, Isaac? That I’ll flip some switch in my head, and suddenly I’ll see things your way? That I’ll start hurting innocent Therians, planting bombs in youth centers?”
“Not at first,” Isaac said calmly.
Shit, the guy really had lost it. Dex watched as Isaac adjusted the straps on his bulletproof vest, put his stool on its feet, and resumed his seat as if nothing had happened.