Page 54 of Stryker

“We have to be patient.The new test subjects will arrive soon,” the second maleanswered.

“Yeah, but it’s been weeksalready, and still nothing. We’ve been set up and ready to go fordays, and there’s still nothing. I’m bored out of mymind.”

“Once the subjects arrive,you won’t have time to be bored. They must be processed and rankedaccording to ability before they can be housed in theircages.”

The word “cages” made Stryker want togrowl.

“I don’t know why thesefreaks are causing such a shit show. We would have just bagged andtagged the whole lot ten years ago. No questions asked. Now, wemust guard and sort them before they can be exterminated;seriously, who the hell needs some kid that can change the color ofhis skin? Big deal. You can use makeup for that shit.”

Conor didn’t have to say a word;Stryker knew what the man was thinking simply by the look on hisface. He was also horrified at the callous way this person wastalking about someone’s life—a kid’s life.

“They’re more valuable nowto the bosses. Back in the day, they were just meat puppets toexperiment on, slice and dice. Now that they have proven abilities,they must be brought under control to be useful to this division.The entire project could be at risk if they were allowed to runfree. That’s why they need to be rounded up.”

“Under control,” the firstman huffed. “Put a fucking collar around those animals and shockthem into submission; works on dogs, that ought to do the trick.None of this hand-holding bullshit.”

“That’s not too far offfrom what they have planned for them.” The second man laughed.“Let’s get back to the control room; my television shows are aboutto come on.”

Stryker and Conor listened asfootsteps went farther and farther away until they wereinaudible.

“Did everybody get a readon that conversation?” Stryker asked into the comms.

“Yep.” Brick’s tone wasflat.

“Yes.” Shaw soundeddisgusted. “Those guys were something else.”

“There’s some fucked-upthings going on around here. Finish up with your recon and get out.We’ll meet back up at the rendezvous point,” Brickordered.

Stryker glanced out into the hallway,finding it empty; he and Conor moved down the hall. Room afterroom, they contained more hospital beds and restraints right upuntil they found the cells—small, dark, and dingy. The place was ahouse of horrors, and Stryker wanted to burn it to theground.

He would if given thechance.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Stryker

Before dawn, the team rendezvousedback at their rental house not far from the facility, where Spencerwas busy accumulating all the data and information they’drecovered.

“I say we take them outnow before they have any chance to cause further harm,” Shawsaid.

“Agreed, a few expertlyplaced charges ought to do the job,” Stryker stated.

“Yeah, we could do that,but they’d only haul the test subjects to a different location. Ifwe wait, we could free a number of these people while taking theNoah Group down,” Brick explained.

“It feels like every timewe take out one facility, another two pop up in its place,” Jasonsaid.

“We have to find the headof the snake,” Brick said. “It’s the only way to ensure this shitstops happening.”

“We have to start thinkingabout the long game here,” Spencer said.

“The long game?” Conorasked.

“Yeah, one in which we canfollow the chain of command to find the powers that be.”

“That’ll mean gettingsomebody on the inside. That’s easier said than done,” Fletchersaid.

“We’ll have to considerall our options,” Brick said. “For now, we keep an eye on thisfacility, and the moment test subjects start arriving is when wemove in to free them and take these assholes down.”

“What do you think theymeant by rounding up the subjects?” Fletcher asked.

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