Page 85 of Fury

An idea struck and she pretended to trip. Quietly spat on the ground.

“Get moving!” Bouncer Two gruffed, yanking her up the stairs.

Gathering every gram of strength she could muster, Hollyn walked compliantly. Decided to use the time to her benefit. “Why did you fake your death?”

Leila didn’t answer. Just kept taking step after step.

“The night of the gala”—Hollyn wanted answers—“why did you get me out of the car? Why not kill me too?”

“On the off chance my people could not figure out how to modify the program, I had to keepsomeonealive who could.”

She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t that.

Leila didn’t look back as she climbed the stairs. “After I brought Archie into line, he was only successful in obtaining the first half of your code. So I had to keep you around as insurance.” She went silent for a moment before continuing. “Did you tell her about howyoucontactedmeto sell the program, Arch?”

Shocked, Hollyn faltered. Her stomach churned. “What?” She looked to Archie, who did have the decency to look remorseful. “Is that true?”

The look in his eyes was answer enough.

“He bragged”—Leila really dragged out that word, the resonance echoing in the stairwell—“about having access to a groundbreaking program and offered it up to the highest bidder. Lucky for me, I convinced him to give me a great deal.”

“Great foryou,” Archie muttered from behind. “More like blackmail.”

More like, but not completely? That meant . . . “I can’t believe I ever trusted you,” she bit out. Tried to jerk free of Bouncer One, but it only resulted in him clamping her arm even tighter. “I defended you at every turn. How could you do this?”

Forehead creased, he swung a hand out. “I?—”

“Do you know how many more people will die now?” Was she the only one of her so-called friends with a moral compass? Compassion? “The fallout could be catastrophic. You of all people knew how adamantly I rejected the military’s bid to buy the program because of what they could’ve turned it into. Why my dad and I insisted we not go public. Then you . . . you . . . dothis?”

With that, his mouth drew into a firm line. He looked away. “I have my reasons.”

Hollyn couldn’t stop her jaw from falling open. “What reason could convince you that killing my parents was okay? We welcomed you into our lives, and you destroyed everything!”

Head lowered as he climbed the stairs, Archie was decidedly silent.

Anger shot through her veins, burning hotter and hotter. He was responsible for her parents’ murders and . . . he wouldn’t say anything other than he hadreasons?

Then again . . . there wasn’t a defense in the world she’d accept! Her parents would still be alive today if not for him.

On the landing, with that thought lingering, Hollyn reconsidered the whole “good girl” thing. A distinctive poke in the back—not a finger, but likely another weapon—nudged her through the door and down a hallway to the right.

Leila stopped at a door, and Bouncer Two opened it.

They stepped into a large apartment. Four marble columns added a touch of over-the-top luxury to the main space, though with a long table and about a dozen chairs, it reminded her more of the command room back at the safe house than the living room it was meant to be. The far side of the room was just a wall of windows.

On another wall, five screens were mounted in a row. Each featured a video feed, different angles around the high rise—no sign of Benn or Glace on the streets below. There was one camera that showed the hospital across from their location and one of the Emirates Palace across town, but both views were highly zoomed out to the point that the whole building could be seen. That likely wasn’t a good sign.

Bouncer One shoved her away from the screens toward a pillar near the windows that looked out over the busy street below.

As he bound her hands around the pillar with zip ties, she could feel defeat rising. She didn’t bother trying to fight him off. Between the bouncers and the gun holstered at Leila’s hip, Hollyn wouldn’t get far anyway.

But before the brute blocked her view, Hollyn saw a familiar Jeep parked halfway onto the curb.

Hope welled anew. Maybe the team would find her before it was too late. She needed to stall.

Hollyn’s mind raced. “It wasn’t you who attacked me, and it wasn’t Archie that the team captured before, so who was that back at my home?”

Leila didn’t take her eyes off the screen. “Someone who’ll be dining with Nemo from now on.”

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