“You may share Dani’s questionable morals, but you don’t share her impulsivity. This isn’t your moment, Gray, and you know it.”
Gray clammed up, and Ava responded with chilling laughter as she led them down the darkened corridor. “Yes, I’ve researched you all. Not sufficiently, I suppose, since I underestimated Nina’s ability to thoroughly corrupt your poor captain. It’s the one disadvantage to being unwilling to employ a truly unsavory element. Luckily, the Center taught me to be flexible with my thinking. I don’t love improvisation, but this might work out even better than I’d planned. For me, I mean. I anticipate it will be significantly worse for you and your men.”
“Fucking hell,” Maya groaned. “Just murder me, already. You know I’m going to remember every word of your second-rate villain monologue for the rest of my life?”
A snort of amusement came, unsurprisingly, from Conall. “Go easy on her,” he murmured, deadpan. “Nobody really nails the evil monologue the first time.”
Knox didn’t find the situation particularly amusing, but their digs landed. The woman’s posture stiffened, and the smart click of her boots on tile faltered for a heartbeat before she squared her shoulders. “Keep going,” she said, struggling for—and failing to find—a casual tone. “I told you I find pluck charming.”
“Oh, obviously,” Dani muttered, grim amusement lighting her eyes.
The clone stopped in front of a door and shot Dani and Maya a cool look. “Maybe you two should focus on the important things,” she said as she pulled the door open to reveal the floor of a cavernous, brightly lit room.
Knox’s heart jackknifed into his throat.
Nina was sprawled on the floor inside, unconscious. Dani was kneeling by her side in what seemed like an instant, cradling her head. The clone had stripped Nina’s clothes for her attempted ruse and re-dressed her in sweatpants and a tank top, but there was no blood, no obvious injuries. Knox still didn’t take a breath until he saw her chest rise and fall.
“Luna.”
Rafe shot past him. Luna was on her knees a few feet from Nina, her hands zip-tied together in front of her. Shifting slightly to the side gave Knox an easy view of the rest of the room—and the mercenaries lined up in professional formation, guns fixed on their targets, their laser sights lighting up everyone Knox cared about.
Nina and Luna were the perfect bait in a perfect trap, displayed with such flair that Knox couldn’t help but appreciate the artistry.
And the irony.
Maybe this was the cosmic justice he’d been waiting for. He’d lured Nina into a pretty trap that exploited all of her best impulses—her thirst for knowledge, her hunger to help people, her stubborn refusal to give up on thinking the world could be fundamentally good.
Ava’s trap was exquisitely direct. She was exploiting the ragged pieces of his heart.
It worked. As Knox stepped into the room and watched the little red dots bloom on his chest, he wasn’t sure if he was angry or relieved that enough of his heart remained to make this trap work. Maybe the TechCorps hadn’t torn it out of him after all.
Too bad he hadn’t figured that out a week ago.
Once they were all in the room, Ava stepped in and closed the door. She lifted a finger and gestured toward the front of the room, and one of the mercenaries holstered his weapon and pulled a handful of zip ties from his back pocket. “Let’s all be polite about this, now.”
Conall rose from his spot beside Luna and turned obediently, allowing a mercenary to frisk him for weapons before securing his wrists at the small of his back. Rafe snarled when the soldier tried to pull him to his feet, but a laser dot on Luna’s forehead got him moving. Dani had to be dragged away from Nina’s side, and her eyes burned with the promise of face-peeling vengeance as she submitted to a search—which turned up two more concealed knives.
“Fuck you,” Maya exploded as the man approached her. She wheeled backward, panic in her eyes, and when the mercenary caught one wrist, she exploded into movement. Her nails raked the man’s face and her knee drove up toward his balls so fast he barely twisted in time to take it on the hip.
Gray intervened, tugging Maya back before she could launch another attack. He folded his arms around her, held her head still, and whispered in her ear.
Maya dragged in one unsteady breath, then another. Squeezing her eyes shut, she turned in Gray’s arms