Page 106 of Two Chambered Heart

Corey’s arms went to him. “Are you hurt?”

“Not yet.”

Kayden took in the long hallway. Nothing but rubble and dead bodies. There weren’t any more doors to check, so they hurried to the end of the hall, ready to round another corner.

“The doors are still locked, and the power grid is off. I was finally able to breach the interior security feed before cutting it. This floor is clear. Jason is on the top floor in the back room. There are men up there. You’ll need to split up.”

“Absolutely not. We go together.”

“Kay, I need you to set up the explosives to bring the building down while Corey recovers Jason. He’s in bad shape. There won’t be time after, and their security backup is coming. Corey can’t set the explosives. There’s only eleven men up there. She can take them out. The stairwells are locked, the top floor will be open for retreat after Corey clears it, and then everything will be bottlenecked on the first floor for extraction. I have control over the elevator. We can send her up now.”

“Corey, it’s up to you,” Kayden said hesitantly.

“This feels too easy.” Her focus was bouncing around the blackened space, the putrid smell of leather over flame thickening.

“No one should be able to do what I can do. Security couldn’t have prepared for this.” With her head cocking to the side, Kayden could tell Corey didn’t understand Archie’s ambiguous comment.

“It wouldn’t be this easy without Archie. We’d be dead already. He has control of every electronic plugged into this building, so he can manipulate them to do what he wants. Archie’s special, but we don’t have time to explain.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet, either—only a third of the way through. You still have to get up there and get out.” The smoke alarm had gone off, and the noise was blaring in their ears. Archie disabled it quickly.

“You trust him?” she asked Kayden.

He’d say with his life, but hers was worth more. “He’s the only reason we’re all alive.”

In the green glow of his night vision goggles, he could see the grim set to her jaw.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

Chapter thirty-five

- Jason -

His brain felt like stew. And it reeked—like piss and vomit. Somewhere in the back of his pain-addled mind, Jason knew it was from him.

All he could recall was the taste of whiskey and cool air on his face, then immeasurable pain, and heaving his guts up as they tore into his skin.

They must have noticed he was somewhat conscious again, because they got back to work.

It was the same questions:Where are the warehouses? Who are the suppliers?

Jason laughed and spat out more blood as they activated the stun belt they’d strapped to him, his kidneys taking the brunt of the electric shock. He kept his eyes closed, letting the pain wash over him. The fuckers didn’t have the tool to keep them pried open. Thank fuck for that. They had enough other tools, though.

They asked him another question, running the scalpel through his chest. He felt it all the way into his bones, the skin so ravaged from their previous ministrations. He couldn’t even flex his hand into a fist. They’d broken that. Couldn’t even clench his jaw. They’d broken that too, an assumptionbased on the pain that radiated up the side of his head with any attempt at moving the joint.

They cut into him again and again, peeling the skin back to get to muscle and then cutting deeper. Maybe it was better he was absolutely smashed off his ass. He was bleeding quick. It’d help him die faster. It was also helping him with the pain. His head felt so heavy and fuzzy, making everything seem like dull static.

He laughed again as one of the men’s voices started rising. Jason couldn’t tell if it was the guy’s thoughts or his actual voice assaulting his brain. He couldn’t make anything out. Couldn’t pick up on any words, didn’t even know if he was still screaming. Everything blended together in a cacophony of white-hot pain. He felt his eyes rolling back into his head and everything went black, though he still felt conscious.

Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard an explosion. The scalpel pulled away from him, and he could sense some panic around him, the voices and the noise becoming more frantic, though still indistinguishable.

Kayden is coming for me.It was a fleeting feeling of both hope and terror before he passed out again, still smiling a bloody smile.

Chapter thirty-six

- Corey -

Instinctively, Corey didn’t want to take the elevator. She figured the stairs would be safer. But Archie had assured her that no matter how fast she thought she could sprint up eight flights of stairs, the elevator would be faster, and she’d be too winded once she reached the top of the stairs. He had also promised her that he would keep the elevator safe. She had no idea who this man was, but Kayden had deferred to him on everything so far, so she figured she may as well too. His instructions in their ear had kept them alive, and not just today.

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