Page 93 of Beyond Reason

“Not sure, I haven’t seen the entire place. I know where London is, where my room is, and the ways to get out. That’s all I need.” He sounded so nonchalant, like his little list didn’t make him sound like a prisoner.

Then again, he knew where the exit was, so maybe he didn’t feel trapped.

“Does Nathaniel West trust you that much?”

Otto paused, and when he turned, he did so with his gun in hand. I let him put it beneath my chin, let him lean into me so his lips were pressed against my ear. “He trusts me because I want him to trust me. He thinks because he brought me back and offered me revenge, that I owe him everything. He’s arrogant, and it makes him weak.”

The metal of the gun bit into my skin for another second before he pulled back with a charming smile that looked absolutely unnatural on his face. He ran his fingers through his hair and jerked his head toward the end of the hallway. “Nathaniel is in his office. Go on.”

He waited until I stepped in front of him, then followed behind. I wasn’t sure if his words had been a threat or some hint on how I could keep myself alive.

I couldn’t get a read on him, and I didn’t have time to try.

I walked forward and found Nathaniel West sitting behind a large, dark desk. Plastered all along the wall were screens, and on each of them were different photos.

I recognized some of them—Kade and Seth, Xavier… though the man that I looked at in the picture clearly wasn’t Xavier. There was something too sweet about his expression, too open and warm.

Marshall, then.

Otto’s picture was there, along with his little torture partners, and the twins who’d been injected while I watched yesterday.

There were others, though. People I hadn’t seen. At least half a dozen. Nathaniel gave me time to take in the wall behind him before he turned to look at it, too. The pride on his face was palpable, almost tangible. He was still trying to sway me to his side with his egomania and accomplishments.

“They’re all in different locations, just waiting for us. Some of them aren’t even in facilities. Can you imagine how interesting it would be to see the reaction to a killer suddenly waking up in the middle of a family home? What would they do? The potential is limitless. I really wish you could see that, Mr. Fetterman. Wouldn’t it be so nice to progress science instead of hindering it?”

This wasn’t about science, though. It wasn’t about anything but lining the man’s pockets and stroking his ego. He’d already made that point. It was probably why he’d let someone like Dr. Northman run wild—he was too arrogant to realize that a person would betray him.

“Not interested.” I offered him my best bored expression, and he let out a soft sigh before leaning back in his chair.

“I suppose I knew that after our first attempt to persuade you. Don’t worry, I’m past thinking you’ll provide any useful information. You have another purpose now.”

Something in my chest tightened. That was exactly what I was worried about. That was what I’d been concerned with all along.

If he realized I wasn’t going to give him what he wanted, and he knew Xavier was here, I was nothing more than bait.

“You’re better off killing me. He’s too smart to waltz in here on his own on a suicide mission.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong.”

I was, too. Coming to rescue me was exactly the kind of thing I knew he’d do.

I had a few options—I could try to bullshit my way through this, tell him something in hopes that he would think it was true. I could try to convince him that Xavier put the flash drive in some kind of safety deposit box…

Or I could turn around and rush Otto—if I did that, there was a good chance he’d shoot me to make sure that he kept himself safe. At least then, they wouldn’t be able to use me against Xavier.

He’d already proven to me we could find one another even through death—did I have faith that I’d be able to find him this time? I knew he would wait for me, but…

There was a crackling sound, and the screens behind us went blank. When a voice spilled through their speakers, all thoughts of rushing headlong into death fled.

“You know, I thought that some big, fancy facility would have better security than this. I don’t know what I was expecting… Robots, maybe? Something better than a few shitty guards who couldn’t even stop me from getting through the front door. The future is not everything they promised.”

Xavier’s voice had to be an auditory hallucination. I hadn’t been here long enough for him to find me. We’d driven for hours before turning into some kind of underground parking garage and popping up in a place that didn’t have windows.

But it was his voice, coming through the speakers on the screens behind Nathaniel West like he was some villain in a movie, ready to monologue his way into disaster.

Only… weren’t we fighting the villains? The bad monologue was Nathaniel’s job, wasn’t it?

“I was wondering how long it would take him to make his way here. I thought he’d come running along after you right away… but here we are, almost twenty-four hours later.” Nathaniel’s voice was so confident, so pleased when he spoke. “It’s almost like he doesn’t care as much as you were led to believe, Mr. Fetterman. Then again, what can you really expect from a killer? They never change their spots, so to speak.”

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