Page 31 of Avenger of Sins

“The Ryan I knew would never have done that.”

“The Ryan you knew didn’t yet realize his life was over.”

“But it wasn’t.” John leaned back against the nearest wall, then slid down it. Ryan mimicked his motion, moving off the couch. They both sat on the floor, level with one another. “You escaped. You could have gone anywhere.”

“With no money and not so much as a high school degree?” Ryan’s mouth twisted. “I had to rely on Jennifer and Marc just to set up a shitty false identity that wouldn’t hold up to close scrutiny.”

“Did they pay for it willingly?” John asked, though he knew the answer already.

Ryan gave him a look that said he knew that John knew. “Don’t play dumb. Of course they didn’t. Everything that happened was their fault. They gave me over, then took cold, hard cash to participate in the cover up. The fact I couldn’t use my real name, that I didn’t finish high school—that’s due to their choices. I just took what I was owed.”

It made a twisted sort of logic. “What about Jo and me? Did we owe you our free will?”

Ryan winced. “You wouldn’t have gone along with my plans.”

“Of course I wouldn’t have!” Anger finally eclipsed betrayal. “I would have tried to come up with some other solution! Something that didn’t include murder.”

“Or you would have gone back to SPECTR. Turned me over, maybe. Not because you’d want to,” Ryan added quickly. “But because they’d leave you with no other choice. Do you think I don’t know the hold the vampire has over you? Or the hold SPECTR has over him?”

John wanted to argue, because he didn’t want it to be true.

But it was.

If it came down to a choice between protecting Caleb and Gray, and protecting Ryan…it would be agonizing, but it wouldn’t truly be a choice at all.

One corner of Ryan’s mouth twisted up slightly in the shadow of a smile. “I’m running on empty, but I can hear enough of your thoughts to know I’m right.” He waved a hand weakly. “There were no good choices for either of us, Jonny. You came as far as you could with me. After that…it was up to me to make the hard choice.”

“Mind-controlling us. Taking our agency away, just like SPECTR did.”

That hit home; Ryan flinched slightly. “I just wanted justice. You wanted it, too. Don’t pretend you’re sorry any of them are dead: Walsh, Foster, Lydell, Jennifer, Marc. They were allmonsters in their own way. And one thing I know about you is that you fight monsters.”

John shook his head. He’d tried to save Lydell, even though, yes, she was a monster. He had no illusions that she’d come to feel remorse over what she’d done. “Maybe it’s not about them,” he said after a moment. “Maybe it’s about us. About the choices we make.”

“They took our choices away!” Ryan insisted, and John was certain he believed it. But SPECTR hadn’t forced him to drug his parents and set their house on fire. And SPECTR hadn’t forced John to try and save Lydell when she lay dying in front of him.

Ryan closed his eyes. God, he looked tired—battered. This had taken a toll on him, physically and mentally, and the sight made John’s chest ache despite everything.

“Gray and Night will get us out of here,” he said in a low voice. “Just hold on.”

“I hope you’re right,” Ryan murmured.

Movement in the corridor outside caught their attention: booted footsteps, lots of them, followed by an electronic beep.

The door swung open, rifle barrels trained on them. “Stay where you are,” one of the guards ordered coldly. “If you so much as twitch a finger?—”

“That’s enough,” said a new voice. Its owner stepped into the doorway.

He looked like the CEO of some bland company: a White man, fit and tanned, dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt tailored to his form. Expensive-looking shoes, Rolex watch, and an unnaturally wrinkle-free face thanks to the miracle of plastic surgery. The harsh lights of the office shone on his immaculate silver hair, his perfect white teeth.

And he had a demon in him.

“Fifteen, Nineteen,” the man said with a pleasant smile. “It’s good to finally meet in person. I’m Reid Harlow, and I’m looking forward to working with you again.”

ELEVEN

“This could be another trap,”Caleb cautions unnecessarily.

Gray pauses at the doorway, peering inside. Beyond lies a large room, its walls reaching high above into the darkness. Silver lines gleam faintly from the floor, connecting to more silver inlaid on the walls, as if the room is a giant circuit. The walls above are covered in sleek panels of black glass.

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