Rebecca Zanetti - Blind Faith

Dr. Madison nodded and slid her tablet onto the granite counter. “Very well.”

One of the soldiers reached behind Nate and released him from the table. Unfortunately, his wrists remained bound. He jumped off, smiling when both men tensed.

Audrey backed toward her mother. “Where is he going now?”

Dr. Madison rubbed her neck. “The tests have just begun. Next we’re going to see how well Nate handles pain. A lot of it. Plus, we do need to show other soldiers what happens when the commander is betrayed. Nate will make a good example.”

“No.” Audrey darted toward him, and one of the soldiers snatched her away.

Nate growled low.

Audrey furiously struggled, tears sliding down her pale face.

“Audrey.” Nate put enough bite into his voice to halt her movements before she got hurt. “Stop it. Now.”

She paused, confusion clouding her eyes.

He kept her gaze. “Stay calm and take care of the baby. I’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“Now.” This time his voice cut hard.

Audrey blinked and stilled.

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured as the soldiers shoved him out of the room to head toward pain.

Whips and electricity hurt less than simple needles pumping drugs into his veins. Nathan spit out blood, aiming for the commander’s boots. Chains held his arms high above his head while cold concrete bit into his bare feet. Blood and other fluids slid across the floor and into a drain in the despondent cell.

The commander threw an electric prod across the room to smash against a table holding all sorts of interesting devices. “How’s the head?”

Cloudy as fog. “Fine.” Nathan concentrated on the concrete beneath his toes. Cold. Hard. Real.

“I doubt it. There’s enough sodium barbital in your veins to make a priest confess.” The commander eyed a grate in a far corner of the ceiling. Through the night, rain had poured down the grate, and a couple of trucks had passed over it, sending down leaves and water. “Dawn is breaking.”

So dawn had broken before he did. Nathan eyed the locks on the one door and smiled with cracked lips.

The commander nodded, an odd pride glowing in his black eyes. “I made you tough.”

“No, you didn’t.” Nate tried to roll his bellowing shoulder to snap it back into place. “Matt made me tough.” Nate tried to bite back his comment, but the words flowed freely. Stupid drugs.

“Yes, he did.” The commander twisted his wrist, frowning at a growing bruise from one of Nate’s early kicks. “Mathew’s obsession with training, with learning, with becoming so deadly—I was impressed. Not once did I see his true motivation.”

“Which was?” Nate fought to keep his head from lolling forward.

“Escaping me.” Injured ego and bewilderment glimmered in the man’s eyes for the briefest of seconds. “Training you. Training Shane and Jory to survive. To someday leave.”

“Yes. Leaving was always our plan.” Nate couldn’t stop the truth.

The commander’s gaze hardened. “But your duty, your role, differed from your older brother’s, didn’t it?”

“What role?” Nate’s words slurred on the end.

“Oh, don’t think I don’t know you, Nathan.” The commander chuckled, low and deep. “Matt taught Shane and Jory to avoid death. You taught them to embrace life.”

Nate shook his head. He’d never embraced shit. “You’re crazy.”

“Am I?” The commander scraped blood and tissue off one boot with the heel of the other. “You tried to give them a childhood. A sense of normalcy, of being wanted and protected in this environment.”

Nate spit out another clot of blood. “You’ve been reading too many of Madison’s psychology journals.”

“You gave them the one thing you wanted more than anything else in the world. To belong. To have a family .” The commander smirked.

A slow smile lifted Nate’s bruised lips, the feeling malicious. “I succeeded, you prick.”

“Think so?” Anger burst red across the commander’s face. “You will never have normalcy. You’re abnormal. We created you like a science project.”

Nate started to laugh. “So?”

“So? Freaks can’t have family.”

Nate laughed harder and rattled a broken rib. “You tried so hard. So damn hard to make us cold killers. I’d never realized how badly you’d failed.”

The commander shot a punch into Nate’s gut.

Nate folded over with a harsh oof . He spit blood. And laughed harder. “No wonder you’re pissed.”

“I’m not pissed.” The commander straightened his bloody uniform. “I won. You are a killer.”

“Maybe, but I ain’t cold.” The current environment notwithstanding. “Neither are my brothers. You tried so fucking hard, but you couldn’t break us. Not one of us.” The muscles in Nate’s back vibrated from the pressure of keeping him from dropping and injuring his wrists. “Matt survived the pressure you put on him. Even more so, he survived the pressure he put on himself to save us. He fucking survived and found love.”

The commander punched Nate in the face, sending spittle flying from his mouth.

Nate’s head rocked and his vision fuzzed. Pain radiated through his ear. So he smiled. “Shane is happily married. Fucking married, Commander.”

“And Jory?” the commander said softly. “You didn’t save him.”

“Maybe not.” Nate lowered his chin to look evil in the eye. “But I gave him the best childhood possible here, and he thrived. When we escaped, he became truly happy. Almost twenty, a trained killer, he went to Disneyland and rode the rides like a kid on holiday.” The memory would always warm Nate.

The commander reared back. “Disneyland.”

“Yep.” Nate finally let the past go. “If he’s dead, he’s in a better place.”

“You think you creations go to a better place?” the commander spat.

“Yes.” Nate exhaled in release. “I actually do.”

“You’re still in this place.” The commander manacled Nate’s hair and jerked back his head. “What if I forced you to choose?”

“Chocolate chip. Forget the vanilla.” Nate forced his eyes to remain open. “You meant ice cream, right?”

“No.” The commander smiled, malice carving grooves next to his mouth. “How about a choice between Audrey and your brothers?”

Nate tried to chuckle, but more blood slipped out of his mouth. “My brothers are free, and Audrey will be soon.”

“I’ll kill her. Cut her into little pieces while you watch, unless you get your brothers here.” The commander reached into his boot and drew out a fresh blade he hadn’t used yet on Nate.

This time Nate did chuckle. “Right. Killing Audrey while she’s pregnant with my baby. Not a chance would you do that.”

“I can wait six more months.” Sharper than the blade he played with, the commander’s smile promised pain. “Let’s be honest. While she’s done a good job with the senator, Audrey lacks commitment to my organization. Once the baby is born, Audrey will be a hindrance.” The commander lifted a muscled shoulder. “I will have to kill her.”

“You fucking touch her, and I’ll rip you apart tendon by tendon.” Rage sped up the drugs in Nate’s blood, making him even more light-headed. Even so, he held the son of a bitch’s gaze. “Trust me. I. Will. End. You.”

Dark amusement echoed on the commander’s chuckle. He peered closer at Nate. “Listen to you tell the truth. Your pupils are three times normal size.”

Not a big surprise considering the drugs infecting his blood. “What’all did you give me?” Nate’s long-hidden Southern accent broke free.

“Truth serum, drugs to increase pain, and some others we’re not quite sure about.” The commander tightened his hold. “Now that you’re in a talkative mood, let’s talk.”