Page 10 of Unchained

“Contain him!” Leonetti bellowed.

Brooks slashed his mouth into a smirk just before driving his fist into the window. Glass shattered at his feet.

More darts hammered his flesh. Brooks wheeled around. He’d have to kill the guards to get out. He launched himself at the closest man of the three. Getting his arms around the guard’s waist, he jabbed his fist into his kidney.

“Get him down, now!” the man howled. The two other guards latched on to his biceps on either side of him. The darts were kicking in. Not enough to put him to sleep yet, but enough to make his movements clumsy. The metal door behind him opened. Brooks looked over his shoulder just as Dr. Leonetti inserted a syringe into his bicep. No.

The liquid entered his bloodstream.

He had to do something. Now. Reaching up, he grabbed the doctor’s face, knocking his glasses off. Leonetti stumbled backward as the guards pinned Brooks’s arms. The sedative lit his veins, mixing with the drug and battling to come out on top. The mist rolled in. He thrashed and kicked, sending one guard flying only for another to clamber on top of him.

He was losing his strength.

He lifted his gaze to Dr. Leonetti’s face. Scratches marred his cheek where Brooks had attempted to rip off his skin. Red blotches of anger covered the rest of his face. He lifted his phone to his ear and spoke softly.

Brooks focused on reading his lips, the whisper of the doctor’s voice just barely reaching his ears, despite their heightened abilities.

“We need to take him to a secure location. The facility isn’t suitable anymore.” A beat passed. “I’ll move him in the morning.” He disconnected and slipped the phone in his pocket. His gaze zeroed in on Brooks. “You got what you wanted, Brooks. You’re out of here.” He flashed him a smile and strode out of the room.

Brooks let loose a roar but the medication took over, garbling the sound. Darkness came crashing down fast and hard.

CHAPTER 4

Camryn stepped in the elevator, inserted her key . . . and hesitated. She swallowed and then inhaled deeply as the door shut. She was ten minutes early for her shift. Brooks’s words had haunted her all day, despite her best efforts not to think about him. She’d noted a few red flags, but not enough to convince her beyond doubt that something shady was going on.

Maybe now was the time to investigate.

Her finger hovered over the 7 then punched 12. She’d start at the bottom and work her way up until it was time to start her shift. If she got the chance during her work hours or once she finished, she’d hit the rest of the floors. The elevator descended and her stomach rose. All she needed was a quick look around, something to confirm that Brooks was lying.

Maybe then she could sleep.

Ding

The doors opened and a short beige-painted hallway with windows met her. Her running shoes moved soundlessly on the linoleum floor as she stepped out. Shattered glass covered the floor. She stopped in her tracks. A chill hit her skin. She stared at the window next to the hall’s only door. The entire pane was missing. Had someone broken in? No way the staff would just leave glass lying on the floor of the lab. Her senses screamed at her, urging her to run.

She crossed her arms, bringing her tote bag tightly to her side. She walked to the end of the hall and tried the handle of the door. It didn’t budge. A scanning screen sat beside the door. She lifted her ID card and ran the magnetic strip over the laser. It beeped.

Access denied.

Well, shoot. She peeked into the window of the large dark room. A few lights flickered. She pulled out her phone and shone it inside.

Her stomach flipped. A metal bed lay on the floor, and a vitals machine was turned over. What in God’s name . . . ?

She retracted her phone and slipped it into her pocket. Had there been some kind of accident? An explosion or something? She scraped her teeth over her lip. No. They would’ve evacuated the building if that were the case. Was this floor no longer in use? Or had something happened recently? She shoved her hand through the space where the glass used to be and fumbled around until her fingers found the cool metal lock. She turned it and then pulled her hand out, opening the door.

The sound of metal against metal rang through the empty space. Camryn jumped and pressed her hand to her chest. Turning her phone’s light back on, she entered the room. Her soft-soled shoes crunched over the glass scattering the floor. She knelt to inspect the bed with her light. Leather straps hung on each side. One of them had snapped off and was dangling.

Her blood skittered to a halt in her veins. She stood and scanned the rest of the room. The vitals machine and an IV stand were turned over on the ground as if they’d been thrown. She swallowed. Her throat felt like sandpaper. She skirted around the room to a desk, where a laptop sat open. She tapped the keyboard. A blue background lit up the screen, and a password bar appeared. Dammit. She scoured the desk for paperwork. If she could find out what the doctor had been working on down here, it might point her in the direction of what happened.

Her gaze fell to the vitals machine. She approached it and squatted. The screen showed a flat line, as if the machine had been disconnected before the power was shut off—or the patient had died. White letters at the top of the screen caught her eye:

Patient: Brooks Ivanov

Her body turned to stone. Her lungs squeezed in her chest. She lurched to her feet and raced out of the room, her shoes scattering glass everywhere.

My god, what have they done to him?

She stormed down the hall, pressed the button to open the elevator, then jabbed her index finger onto the 7. She raked her hand through the smoothed-back hair that fell into a ponytail. Her body shook. She sucked in one deep breath after another. Nothing calmed the twister of terror inside her. Whatever she’d stumbled into wasn’t right. No treatment should result in a room being destroyed and restraints being torn. She had to get help. Had to report this sick facility.

---