Page 47 of Black Bay Protector
Paige Carter approached and placed her hands on his arm, her eyes all big and beseeching. “Please, General. He’s my brother.”
Christ, he was such a sucker. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But I want a full team – no, two teams – assembled and ready to greet him at the entrance. If he gets aggressive, we drop him. Period.”
Only once the requested teams were in position did the General give the order for the final partition to be opened. A moment later Commander Grady Carter strode through.
Jace held Paige back. “Let us assess the threat level first.”
While her first instinct was to run to her brother to ascertain for herself that he was all right, his would always be to protect her.
Undaunted by the number of automatic rifles currently aimed at him, the man approached as his eyes swept his surroundings. Snapping smartly to attention, he saluted the General.
Once General Davies returned the salute and said, “At ease,” the soldier remarked, “This isn’t a prison.”
“No, son. It is not. I’ve been advised that you might prove a valuable asset to us in our coming fight.” The General’s eyes flicked to Lark beside him and he grimaced before returning his attention to the upgraded soldier. “But we can’t let you kill Doctor Dietrich.”
While the General had merely glanced at Lark, Grady Carter’s eyes stayed on her much longer than necessary, Jace noticed. If the man thought the female was an easy target, he’d be in for a surprise. In fact, Lark could kill so efficiently and so quickly, she was arguably the deadliest of all the Beasts.
The soldier’s attention switched back to the General. “What happened to hand-delivering her with a bow?”
The General grunted. “Unfortunately, we need her and the knowledge in her head, for an upcoming mission. But I’d be willing to give you a nice long stick to poke her with in the meantime.”
While Jace thought the General’s joke was damned funny, the soldier’s lips didn’t so much as twitch before he asked, “What mission?”
While that information was need-to-know, and Commander Grady Carter was nowhere on that list, the General decided to throw the guy a bone – probably to keep him from immediately hunting down and killing the Doc. “We’re going to free the others like you and make sure this atrocity never happens again.”
There was no sign of gratitude or even a flicker of interest on the man’s face. “And when that mission is accomplished? What of her then?”
“As far as I’m concerned, you can have her.”
That got a reaction. A slow, cold smile spread over the man’s face.
The General didn’t relax the security surrounding her brother, but Paige finally got a chance to talk to Grady. With Jace at her side, she approached him hesitantly. Not so much because she thought he would attack, but because she still wasn’t sure she could believe her eyes. This was Grady… And yet, at the same time, it wasn’t the Grady she remembered. His robotic upgrades aside, the man before her was harder, his face absent of any softer emotions. Her Grady had smiled often – real smiles of fondness and affection – he’d laughed easily. This man looked incapable of humor. She longed to snatch the sunglasses that hid his eyes off his face. But what if the familiar, ever-present twinkle had been extinguished?
Paige cleared her throat. “I still can’t believe it’s you.”
He didn’t reply, nor did he pull her into his arms for the hug she yearned for. He simply looked her over as if she was a stranger.
“Mom and Dad are going to be so happy.”
“You haven’t told them yet.” He nodded sharply. “That’s good. I’m still having difficulty accessing the majority of my memories. I would prefer they not know for now.”
His voice was the same, heartbreakingly familiar, but the lack of inflection in his tone chilled her. Just how much of him was robotic? “Er. Okay. I won’t tell them until you’re ready.”
He stood at ease, his legs braced apart, his hands gripped loosely behind his back, and offered nothing more in the way of conversation.
Paige racked her mind for something she could say to him. She wanted to ask him how he was, what had happened to him, and if he was in any pain, but at the same time, she wanted to avoid those issues, not sure if she was mentally prepared to hear the answers yet. Jace and the others here were all proof that those scientists had no conscience, no empathy, or remorse. Would Grady’s experience have been any different?
“Are you hungry?” she finally blurted. “We could go get some food.”
“I could eat.”
Paige and Jace walked beside him as they made their way to the mess hall. The security teams followed. While Paige thought two details were a bit much, Grady barely seemed to notice their presence nor did he strike her as being at all intimidated by them.
Grabbing food, she, Jace, and Grady sat at a table while the armed guards formed a circle around them. God, this was awful. Talk about uncomfortable. But a glance around quickly showed her that she was the only one who felt the tension. Or, at least, that was the way it appeared.
Thinking she might help nudge Grady’s memories along, she offered, “Is there anything you want to ask me?”
Her brother’s fork halted partway to his mouth. “Yes. Who’s the redhead?”
