Page 140 of Sawyer

“You aren’t going to like this.” He runs a hand down his face. “That pipe you crawled through…”

Nope, I already hate it.

“There are a few of them,” he says. “The first night I was here, they washed someone out one of them.”

I freeze and glance at my hands and body. My mouth opens and closes a few times, and I look out the locker room door.

Rumor gives me the answer I didn’t want, but here we are. “Yes, they are body shoots. You crawled your way here through a body shoot.”

I think back to how I found the pipe. It was at the bottom of a hill. I’d walked around the facility and into the woods for hours, and I had to walk alone on a steep ledge to even get to it. There was water far below, but I couldn’t really see it.

“Nope, I can’t think about it, not right now.” I erase the image from my head, because fuck that noise. “Carry on.”

“We are on the bottom floor. There are six stories. Three were the dorms for the women. One is this floor. One of the higher levels is for the beta scientists, and the very top floor is all security. There are cameras everywhere in here, except for this floor because, records.”

“Scientists.” I shut the water off and turn to Rumor, who hands me a protein bar. My stomach tightens and demands food, even though this conversation makes me want to vomit. I need the food, though, because I need to get my pack out of here. “Wasn’t Stefani’s brother a scientist? We’re supposed to find him.”

I rip into the protein bar like the savage I am.

“Yeah, he’s the one in charge,” Rumor snarls.

Shock rushes through me for a split second until I realize we were on a wild-goose chase. “She set us up,” I say as I chew the chocolate chip bar. It tastes chalky on my tongue, and the flavor has nothing to do with the revelation and everything to do with just how disgusting this thing is.

He nods slowly, handing me another protein bar as I finish this one.

“I suspect that while Tomi ran the clubs, Stefani was really in charge, recruiting the girls and working with the other heirs—or at least the ones who know about this place.” He pushes off the wall to grab a towel from a shelf. It’s wrapped up in shrink wrap, so he has to rip it open before he hands it to me.

I finish the protein bar and hand him the wrappers before I dry off. I suspect he isn’t done yet, so I let a moment of peace wash over me.

Stefani said Finch was the one who came by the strip clubs. “She’s lying.” I chuck the towel across the room. “Finch was never in the clubs, not once.”

“How would you know that?”

“Where did you find me, Rumor?” My bare feet slap on the tile as I make my way to another shelf full of scrubs. I guess I need to blend in.

“At Haven.”

“Exactly,” I scoff, because irritation swells inside of me. “I spent the last six months strung out in the same booth, cataloging my life, so I would have seen Finch.”

“Maybe he just went to the other club.”

I’m already shaking my head. “The other girls had offers, the ones from Haven, not just Bliss, but I recall seeing a woman with an entourage walk through. I just never got a good look at her when she walked to the back.” I could kick my ass for missing the connections.

“Fuck. We got played.” He sits down on the bench seat, hanging his head. “Doesn’t matter now.” He runs a hand down his scruffy face. “I placed bombs all over this place. I was checking to see if those pipes would work as a backup getaway just in case.”

“Blowing it up.” I nod and slip on scratchy pants. “When?”

“The plan was in an hour.” He looks up at me, and his entire expression changes, as though he’s afraid to say more. All of this sends a spark of worry through me. “There’s more.”

“Give it to me, big guy.” I clap my hands as excitement builds inside me, the food and the healing elixir kicking in.

“Here.” He hands the tonic over, which I snatch up and throw back. This one is bitter and tastes like vitamins. “Sit down, Sin.”

“No.” I point at him. “I don’t like your tone, Rumor. It won’t work for me.”

“Fine.” He gets up. “I’ll just show you, and we can talk about the problem on our way.”

“Is this a good news or bad news situation?” I eye my shoes on the way out and decide to grab one of the sizes on the shelf. Mine smell like dead bodies.

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