Page 49 of Omega Alliance

I'm startled when the man looks not to me, but to Dani. "Ms. Danielle Babbitt," he says with cold eyes. "Please step out of the vehicle. You're coming with me."

JAX

When I wake up I'm in a cold white room. No bed, no furniture, nothing but me.

"Hello?" I call out while drowsily pulling myself into a sitting position. I tap my pockets in search of my phone, but they’re empty. In fact, they’re gone altogether. I'm now wearing drawstring cotton pants and a long lab coat. Black and gray, the OA's official colors.

What the hell happened? The last thing I remember I was at work, talking with Ted, and then headed to meet our newest potential investors. After that, it's all a blank.

Even though I'm dizzy, I rise to my feet, searching the room for anything I can use. "Hello? What do you want?" I shout, because even though I don't know what's going on, I know that it can't be good.

And then one of the walls disappears, the milky white expanse replaced by thick glass block. Lights flicker to life on the other side of that divider, revealing a lusciously outfitted lab, one that rivals my own. In the center, a worktable stands slightlyabove waist height, and on top of it lies a motionless form covered with a plain sheet.

Oh God. Do they have Sin? Have they brought me here to confront her lifeless body? To show me what my hubris has accomplished?

Now I have no doubt as to where I am.

This is the Omega Alliance complex. They know I infiltrated their system. They know I helped Sin escape, and if they know I was part of the effort, they likely know the others were involved too.

My breathing hitches as I think of Dani, Kieran, and Levi. Are they safe, or does the OA have them too?

I'm just about to shout again when the body beneath the sheet stirs.

I squint to get a better look, but text flashes on the glass before me, temporarily obscuring the lab and its mysterious occupant:

Jax Thorin, you have been selected to perform an important task for the Omega Alliance.

The words blink three times then disappear. A new swatch takes their place:

You will be required to serve a residency of three years, at which point you will be relieved of your duties and offered a handsome retirement.

"What? No!" I shout and rush at the glass, banging my fists against the words as if I can break them by sheer might. "I did not agree to this. Let me out of here!"

Thank you for your service to the Alliance.

After making this final announcement, the glass recedes into the floor, connecting the two rooms into one larger space.

The figure on the worktable stirs again, and I race forward. "Sin!" I shout, not even bothering to hide our connection. It's got to be her. It has to be. And the OA must know. That must be why they've taken me and sentenced me to a work order.

"Sin!" I shout again as I frantically work to tear the sheet from her body. The heavy cloth is strapped down firmly, and my fingers fly to the restraints, loosening each in turn as I offer her gentle reassurances. "It's okay. I'm here now. I won't let them hurt you. We'll get out of this together. We—"

I gasp when I finally pull the covering clear. The woman beneath is thin and pale, and she looks familiar somehow, but she's not my Sin.

The woman licks her dry, cracked lips. "Wh-who are you? How do you know my Cindy?" she croaks.

My Cindy.

Sin.

twenty-three

SIN

Iwhip around in my seat to face Dani. She can't seriously agree to go with this random guard. Not when we're so, so close to freedom.

But she's already unbuckling her seatbelt and reaching for the door handle. She's going to comply, even if that means they might kill her…

And it's all my fault.

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