Page 76 of Caught By Menace

Terror’s face relaxed as he pocketed his victory. “You’re going to meet with your contact and find the location of the weapons, the Sixer gang hideout or the headquarters of the Splinter cell. All three would be nice.”

“My contact?”

“Dankirk, the Red Feather fixer,” he clarified. “I know he has his dirty little fingers on the pulse of the Calyx underworld. You’ll be given an address where you’ll ask him to meet you.”

She narrowed her gaze. “What makes you think I’m going to draw my friend into a setup?”

“If you don’t, I’ll have him picked up by one of my strike teams. I can assure you the amenities will be nowhere near as comfortable as these.”

Naya didn’t doubt him for a second. “Danny’s not stupid. He’s going to know something is wrong. He takes his oath to the Red Feather very seriously. He’s not going to compromise the chain for me.”

“Then you had better turn on the charm and convince him,” Terror warned. “Or else it won’t be just your ass on the line.”

Who else could he possibly rope into this?

“I know all about Hallie’s involvement with the Red Feather. Forgery. Smuggling. Maybe I’ll haul her skinny little ass in here next. Wouldn’t that be humiliating for Vicious? He’d find out that the wife he worships has ties to known terrorists. I can’t imagine how quickly the government would jump in and sever their mate bond. With that useless, barren womb of hers, she’s easily disposable.”

Awash in horror, Naya could only stare at Terror. Hallie considered this man her friend and he spoke about her in that awful way?

“Let’s not forget about Menace. He’ll be stripped of his rank by the morning. Over two decades of honorable service gone like that!” He snapped his fingers. “He allowed a terrorist to infiltrate the armory and steal classified information. He’s responsible for the deaths of eleven men. It’s the firing squad for him if I don’t put in a good word.

Even if I do, the Kovark—”

“Stop,” she interrupted weakly. “Just stop. I’ll do it.”

Terror’s mind was made up. The deck was stacked against her and she had no access to a lawyer or any kind of justice here. Her impending death had become a cold, hard fact. She refused to let anyone else be hurt because of the stupid things she’d done as a teenager.

“Pierce, take her to the segregation unit.” Terror considered her for a moment. “Let her have a meal and unrestricted fluidaccess. We don’t want her fainting on us before she finishes her mission.”

“Oh, you’re so kind.” Naya rolled her eyes as Pierce hauled her out of the chair and guided her to the door. She’d expected rough handling but he was surprisingly easy on her. Apparently not all of the Shadow Force operatives were dicks.

Within a few minutes, she was locked in a tiny cell and uncuffed. There was a metal rack with no mattress or blanket and a silver toilet and sink in the corner. The door was solid metal with a food tray slot and observation window. Taking advantage of her moment of privacy, Naya used the restroom and washed her hands.

Alone in the quiet cell, she refused to cry. This wasn’t the first time she’d been abandoned. She’d survive. She always did. The knowledge that Menace had turned his back on her hurt worse than anything she’d ever experienced. Part of her wished that Terror had put his hands on her, that he’d beaten her to a bloody pulp to extract the information he wrongly believed she possessed. At least then she’d have real physical pain to distract her from the gnawing, burning ache of ruined love.

“It’s your own damn fault,” she whispered angrily. It was. There was no denying that. If she’d told Menace everything about her past, he wouldn’t have been blindsided and so easily convinced by Terror. After the way the Shadow Force agent had come after her, she could only imagine what tricks he’d used to convince Menace that she was a lying, murderous terrorist.

That Menace could believe her capable of something so sinister tore at her heart. She’d been certain he was going to tell her he loved her this morning. She’d been waiting with bated breath for him to say the words so she could return them to him without the fear of being rejected.

She hoped that his friends would rally around him and protect him from the blowback. Her love for him didn’t end withthis betrayal. She wanted him safe and alive, even if that meant she would never see him again. It wasn’t his fault that he’d chosen and Grabbed her. Her sky warrior had no idea what he was doing when he brought her and her murky past into his life.

Metal hinges creaked. A food tray slid through the slot. She didn’t hesitate to snatch it free from the door. If this was going to be her only meal, she needed to eat all of it. A flattened prisoner cup in a plastic package came through the slot next. She ripped open the package and assembled the thin paper cup. It had a leak along the bottom so she could only drink over the sink. Not the most glamorous situation, but it quenched her thirst.

After polishing off every last morsel of food, she placed the tray in the slot and pushed it through to the other side. She moved to the rack and tried to get comfortable on the cold metal slab. It reminded her of her early days of sleeping in alleys and on sidewalks. In those first days, she hadn’t learned the various tricks to make her nights more comfortable and warm like salvaging cardboard, newspapers and blankets.

Sleep didn’t come easy, but she managed to quiet her mind finally. If she had any hope of surviving and finding a way to save herself, she needed to recharge her batteries before they dropped her back on Calyx. She wasn’t sure how long she slept, but it felt like hours.

Two loud bangs on the door startled her. She bolted upright. The cover on the window opened and Pierce’s face came into view. “Five-minute warning. If you need to pee, you better do it now.”

The window cover slammed closed and she jumped off the bed. Not wanting to have an audience, she used the bathroom in a hurry. She sat down on the rack again and clamped her shaking hands between her knees. The full weight of what these men expected her to accomplish crushed her. She didn’t even knowif it could be done, but she had to try. She couldn’t let Hallie or Menace be hurt.

There was another knock before the cell door opened. Pierce dangled a pair of cuffs from one hand and a black hood in the other. Her gut soured at the sight of the hood. The man gestured for her to stand. He pointed to her neck. “I need your collar.”

Naya took a step back and brought her hands to her throat. She touched the soft blue leather and the dangling silver tag. “Why?”

His expression softened. “Your bond has been dissolved. You don’t have the right to wear it anymore.”

Dissolved? Divorced. Like a pallet of bricks dropped on her head, the realization that she and Menace were no more left her dizzy. Her heart beat wildly and her chest constricted painfully.

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