and buried her face against his chest. Knox braced himself, but the mercenary didn’t exact revenge for his bleeding cheek or bruised thigh. He secured Maya’s wrists with a dispassionate efficiency Knox recognized all too well.
These weren’t desperate criminals or angry outlaws who had turned to killing. Ava had hired pros. Pros were not going to go down easy.
Once Maya was bound, Gray allowed the mercenary to secure him. The man approached Knox last, and he turned his back in silence for the search. The plastic tie went around his wrists and pulled tight, and he found himself staring into Ava’s amused eyes as she gestured again. The mercenary forced him to his knees with one rough hand.
“Excellent.” She slipped an injector from her pocket and crossed to kneel beside Nina. Dani jerked forward, but the woman had already held it to the side of Nina’s neck and jammed the button.
Nothing happened. At Ava’s direction, several of the hired guns put Nina into a chair and drew her arms around behind her. By the time she stirred, lifting her head, they had secured her wrists with the same plastic ties as everyone else.
Ava placed another chair a few feet away and sank gracefully into it. She crossed her legs and studied Nina. “Are you back with us?”
After a moment, Nina shook her head—not in denial, but as if to clear it. “What happened?”
“I had to take some precautions. Don’t worry, your team hasn’t been harmed.” A bitter little smile twisted Ava’s lips. “I know how much you care about them.”
Nina’s eyes finally focused, and she looked over at the six of them, bound and kneeling. Her chest heaved as she studied them, her distress growing.
Then her gaze landed on Knox. Her shoulders slumped as she tilted her head and mouthed, I’m sorry.
Ava could have stabbed him in the gut and hurt him less.
But the woman wasn’t done. “Captain Knox has a confession to make, Nina.”
“Let them go, Ava. None of them have anything to do with this.”
“Are you going to correct her misconception, Captain? Or do I have to do it for you?”
“Nina—” he began, groping for the words. For the least painful way to deliver the truth before Ava laid it out in agonizing, bloody detail.
No, he’d waited too long for that. He’d rationalized over and over, found dozens of ways to cling to the way she made him feel for just one more day, one more hour, one more minute, one more moment …
“Captain,” Ava warned.
Knox swallowed and met Nina’s confused gaze. And he made the cut clean. “I’ve been lying to you from the beginning. The server was a trap. I was hired to retrieve you.”
* * *
SECURITY MEMO
Franklin Center for Genetic Research
Subject HS-Gen16-B has gone missing. So has her employer.
She is going to be a problem.
Dr. Keller, March 2082
* * *
TWENTY-TWO
Nina was having a nightmare.
It was the only explanation for this horrendous turn of events. She’d spent too much time thinking about the past, pondering her ghosts, worrying about Knox—and it was all catching up with her. Any moment now, she’d jolt awake. The sudden movement would startle Maya all the way in the backseat, and Dani would make a dry joke about how being on the road made Nina twitchy.
Any moment now.
But Dani and Maya were still on the floor along with everyone else. Knox kept staring at her, the bright light casting the planes of his face in harsh relief, as his confession rang in her ears.
She stared back at him and jerked her wrists against her sharp plastic bindings until tears of pain welled up to blur her vision.
She still didn’t wake up.
“I’m sorry,” he told her, as if they were the only two people in the room. “I didn’t know it was your sister. I just knew someone had kidnapped Luna, and she’s the only one with a chance of saving my men. I was going to tell you tonight, I swear.”
“Yes, first you betrayed her, and then you were going to betray me.” Ava’s chilly smile was vicious. “I have to say, you’re not living up to your reputation on any front, Captain.”
“Stop it,” Nina whispered, her stomach twisting.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Ava’s voice trembled almost imperceptibly. “The stab of treachery. It hurts, doesn’t it? Honestly, I didn’t think I’d survive it. But you get past it, if you’re lucky. You get angry.”
For a heartbeat, Nina thought she was talking about whoever—probably some vaguely bored bureaucrat in a suit—had made