Page 7 of Black Bay Defender
Things like Resurrection, Tanner mentally filled in.
“It looks like she discovered the lie and went to Black Bay.”
Sliding his hand into his pants pocket, the Deputy Director pulled out another piece of gum and unwrapped it. “If they didn’t kill her on sight, they must be holding her there.” Shoving the stick into his mouth, he chewed a few times. “Finding out one way or the other is tricky business though.”
Kill her on sight? There had to be a story behind that, but currently, Tanner was more interested in the last part. “Tricky how? You just said they work for you.”
There was a glint of cunning in those eyes as the man shot him a somewhat condescending smile that rankled. “Remember, human DNA spliced with predatory animal DNA.” Straightening up from his leaning position against the desk, Grant added, “Imagine you have a rather vicious attack dog and he’s found a new chew toy – that chew toy being Doctor Dietrich in this scenario – now, are you going to stick your hand in there to try and take that chew toy away?”
“They’re that savage?”
“No. They just hate her that much.”
Chapter Four
Hehatedher.He.Hated.Her. There were no windows in the brig, no way for him to see her, but Erik knew she was inside. Worse, the General had set up guards to keep an eye on her, not because they thought she would escape, but toprotecther.
Erik curled a lip over his teeth in a snarl but only one side of his mouth rose at his command. He had no fine muscle control on the right side of his face and could no longer see out of his right eye all because of that monster in the brig. And the General was protecting her.
“Erik? What are you doing here?”
Having sensed her approach, he didn’t startle at the sound of Lark’s voice or spin guiltily around to face her. He continued to stare at the building that held his prey as if he’d suddenly spontaneously manifested x-ray vision to see inside simply because he willed it so.
“Keeping an eye onMother.” His hatred practically dripped off the term. Doctor Anne Dietrich may not have carried them in her womb or bore them, but she’d created them, raised them, and had been as close to a mother as they’d ever had. She’d also tortured them in the name of science for the first seventeen years of their lives.
Turning, he spotted Lark’s grimace of distaste. He knew it was for the term he’d called Doctor Dietrich rather than the horrific sight of his scarred face, yet he still turned his face away out of habit so that she didn’t have to look upon the damage.
Lark suffered from guilt. She shouldn’t. She hadn’t done this to him. But it was her venom that Doctor Dietrich had sprayed in his face as a test. Undiluted, it had eaten away at his skin faster than his healing capabilities could counter, leaving him with deep channels and pockmarks on the right side of his face, the skin a dark pink color on that side. Because he could heal from most things, his eye, which had dissolved on contact with her venom had grown back, but instead of the original greenish-blue color, it was permanently hazed in milky-white and he had minimal sight in that eye.
He supposed he should consider himself lucky that he had the super-healing genetics spliced into him. Without that, Lark’s venom would have continued to eat through flesh and bone, would have destroyed his brain, and anything left of his body, once the venom finally went inert, would have been thrown into the incinerator like the other failed specimens Doctor Dietrich had killed in her quest for perfection.
“Take comfort that she’s locked up, Erik. Just like we once were. But unlike us, she’ll never be free.”
Erik let out a growl. “Is she scarred from abuse?” he demanded. “Beaten? Broken? Begging for mercy?” Like they’d all had once begged her for mercy that had never come – not at her hand.
“We still need her.” Lark reached out as if to touch him and he stepped back with a snarl before she could make contact. He didn’t need her sympathy, her compassion. He needed vengeance. His equally scarred soul screamed for it.
“Wedon’t need her for shit.”
“Those soldiers like Grady…”
He held up a hand to cut her off. He’d heard all about Commander Grady Carter and the soldiers that had fallen victim to Doctor Dietrich’s latest experiments but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Unlike Erik and his brethren, those soldiers had no memory of what had been done to them.They’dbeen given mercy in his opinion. While Erik remembered everything. Every single moment of torture.
He’d thought he’d come to terms with things after all these years. Thought he was finally healing here at Black Bay and had even found a sense of peace through his art. But thenshe’dshown up and he’d been thrown right back into the abyss.
His eyes returned to the brig and narrowed. Hewouldkill her. Doctor Anne Dietrich would die. Painfully and by his hand. He’d earned the right.
But not today. Today,Mothercould sit in her cage, cozy in the belief that she was safe, but her clock was ticking down. Erik could be a patient hunter. Eventually, there would be a shift. Her usefulness would either dry up and the General would pull the guards, or Grady Carter would leave Black Bay, negating the need for the current protective detail, and that was when Erik would strike.
Lark was still hovering but he didn’t remove his gaze from the building. “Why areyouhere?”
“I needed to kill some time so I thought I’d question her some more.” She shook her head. “But now I’m thinking I’ll wait.”
Erik nodded thoughtfully. “Kind of hard to stay neutral when you’re staring at the proof of her evil straight in the face.” Deliberately, he turned so she could see the scarring and raised the brow he was still able to move at will.
Lark winced, her face paling, and with a sigh, Erik relented. “You’ve gotta stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
