Page 1 of Atone in Darkness
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“Time to dance, Number Five. Let’s go.”
Chase stared up at the blank ceiling above his cot and didn’t move a muscle. They’d been through this same routine too many times to count, but damned if he’d respond to a number when he had a perfectly good name they could use. No matter what they thought, he was a man, not a lab specimen. The small act of defiance might cost him some additional pain,but what the hell. Everybody needed a hobby.
The guards and the woman remained lined up on the other side of the glass just like visitors at a zoo watching to see what the predator inside the cage would do next. It was notable that although the guards outnumbered him three to one, they made no move to open the door to his cell. They’d learned early on that he was far more dangerous than theywere even when they came at him armed with Tasers and batons.
The guard in charge rapped his knuckles on the thick glass. “You know, Mr. Mosely, you could make it easier on everyone concerned and walk out on your own.”
Okay, even Chase had to laugh at that. They all knew that wasn’t going to happen. Besides, even if he did try to cooperate with them, he was in for a lot of pain the second heleft this cage. At least if he forced them to come in after him, he might have a chance to inflict his own special brand of hurt on them. That only seemed fair, but it wasn’t how they liked to play this game.
An instant later, a familiar hiss filled the silence. As soon as he heard the sound, Chase’s heart kicked into hyperdrive. No matter how many times he’d survived this same routine more orless intact, it was impossible not to panic as the gas began to fill his cell and then his lungs.
Damn, he hated this.
He finally turned his head to face the glass wall that separated him from the men who took such pleasure in torturing him. The woman was gone. No surprise there. His keeper never stuck around when the going got rough. There was no telling if they made her leave or if she walkedout of her own volition. Regardless, he wouldn’t see her pretty face again until after they dragged his bruised and battered ass back from whatever little party they were throwing for him.
For now, he focused all his attention on the clock on the far wall of the lab to see how long he lasted this time. When his lungs finally rebelled and forced him to draw in the tainted air, he smiled. Two minutes,forty-seven seconds. Whoo-hoo, a new personal best.
Before he could celebrate, the world went black.
•••
MARISOL RIGGS WASmany things—a woman, a scientist, a physician. She was proud of those particular attributes in her life. Unfortunately, she’d recently come to the realization that she was also a coward. When the guards ordered her to leave her lab yesterday, she should’ve protested.Should have found some way to stop what she knew was going to come next, but she hadn’t even tried. Once again she’d failed to protect her patient from harm.
Thanks to the type of childhood she’d had, she was well acquainted with the flavor and texture of shame. It wasn’t the secondhand clothes and food bank meals. Lots of people were poor. No, it was knowing she never mattered to anyone, despitehow much she tried to earn their love. She’d worked so damn hard to put the effects of that pain behind her, but maybe she’d lived with the mistrust it had engendered so long that it had become embedded in her very bones. Because her family had failed her, she had failed Chase Mosely.
During the night, sleep had been hard to come by. Now it was finally morning and time to drag herself out ofbed. Even if she felt like a slug, there was no telling what the guards had done to Chase in the hours they’d had him. No doubt it had been brutal; it always was. Now she needed to see what could be done about his latest crop of wounds. Banished to her quarters, she’d spent the previous afternoon and evening reviewing his latest battery of tests.
There were specific operational protocols shewas obligated to follow if the study she’d been hired to do was to have any real scientific value. She’d draw more of his blood today and start the testing process all over again. Otherwise his suffering and her living every day in never-ending fearwould have been all for nothing.
It was time to get her day started. She ate a bowl of microwaved oatmeal and washed it down with two cups of blackcoffee. After a quick shower, she dressed in her usual sensible blouse, black slacks, and a freshly laundered lab coat. After taking one more deep breath, she walked out of her quarters and immediately spotted two guards headed her way. Half expecting to be ordered back inside her room, she forced herself to meet their gaze head-on and prayed they wouldn’t see past her pure bravado to the fearbeneath. Neither one acknowledged her by so much as a nod, but at least they didn’t try to stop her from returning to her lab, the closest thing she had to a sanctuary in this godforsaken place.
It was a relief to cross the threshold into her personal domain, pausing just inside the lab door to study her surroundings. Nothing appeared to be out of place this time. That didn’t guarantee no onehad invaded her space during the time she’d been banished to her quarters. Just last week, her notes had been rifled through and left out of order. She also strongly suspected her computer files were being monitored constantly. While her employer paid the bills and therefore had a right to know how things were going, she would prefer to provide formal reports that included both her data and her interpretationof what it all meant. Instead, it was as if they didn’t trust her and felt the need to spy on her every move.
There was one positive change since she’d been ordered to leave yesterday: Subject Number Five was back in his cell. On several previous occasions, the guards had tossed his unconscious body through the door and left him lyingwherever he happened to land. At least this time he was stretchedout on his cot. Unmoving, but breathing. That much was clear even from where she stood on the other side of the room. Something inside her chest loosened and eased the tight band of fear there as she edged closer to Chase’s cell.
Right now he was resting easily, so she moved slowly and as quietly as she could to avoid disturbing his slumber. Coasting to a stop about a foot from the thick glassthat separated the two of them, she studied the man who’d become the sole reason for her existence in this place. Even sound asleep, he radiated an intensity unlike anyone else she’d ever known. Nothing the guards did to him ever diminished that in the least.
She noted his shirt was torn and bloody, and his sweatpants were ripped in places. Based on past experience, there would be an injury correspondingto each hole in his clothes: burns, cuts, bruises, even bullet wounds. She clenched her fists hard enough that her nails dug into her skin. What kind of people did that to another human being?
It was a stupid question with an easy answer. She knew exactly who was responsible for the damage that had been done to him. They prowled the halls and walked the perimeter of the compound twenty-four/seven.Back when she’d first arrived on-site, the guards had been a mix of men and women. A few had been friendly, and the rest had at least been respectful. Shortly before Chase Mosely had appeared in the cell with no warning, all of the original guards disappeared, replaced overnight with the current all-male crew. Thugs, every last one of them. They might stylethemselves as soldiers, but their coldeyes and vicious natures gave them away.
They liked hurting people. To date, they’d left her alone, but she didn’t fool herself. It was only because whoever held their leashes needed her specialized skill set. The minute that changed, she would become a liability and therefore fair game just like Chase.
Any other man would’ve died the first time the bastards played their vicious games with him.Well, maybe not the first time, but the level of violence had escalated with each new session as if they were testing the limits of his endurance. In all of her years in medical training, she’d never seen anything like his body’s amazing ability to heal.
The scientist in her wanted to know what about his genetic makeup made it possible. The doctor in her wanted to ease his suffering. And whatthe woman in her wanted... well, she didn’t let herself think about that part. There was no denying he was a handsome man, big and ruggedly built. An alpha male in all his glory.
Her accelerated pace through school hadn’t left much time for a social life, but she’d dated a few men along the way, most of the time other medical students. They’d all been bright, reasonably good-looking, and physicallyfit. The relationships had been short and not particularly intense. She’d always thought that was because school sucked up most of her time and focus. Neither she nor the individual men involved had much energy left over for building long-term relationships. They’d shared a few meals, maybe gone to a movie or two, and sometimes scratched a mutual itch. When it was over, they’d each walkedaway with few regrets. Thebottom line was that their careers had been more important than emotional entanglements; at least that had been true for her.
She could barely recall the names of the men she’d dated, and their images had faded to the point that the specific details had blurred into a sort of mishmash of hairstyles and eye colors. Maybe it was because of the dangerous circumstancesthat had brought her and Chase together, but she knew she’d never forget a single detail about him. That warrior’s body. Those odd calluses on his hands that nothing in her training or experience could explain. The predatory way he moved. Those intensely intelligent blue eyes, which were currently full of ice-cold fury.
He was awake and glaring at her from his cot.
“I’m coming in. If you giveme your word that you won’t attack, I won’t call for the guards.”
Chase’s temperament was unpredictable, especially when he first returned from his sessions with the guards, but he’d never tried to hurt her. Not so far, anyway. Still, it wasn’t as if their relationship was based on mutual trust. Calling in the guards for support might guarantee her safety, but she was reluctant to do that againhaving learned early on their presence only complicated the situation.
