Page 100 of Taken By the Convicts
* * *
JAYCE
“Yes, she got hurt,”Jayce said. “No worse than any of us when we’ve crossed a guard. She’s a prisoner, Ivan, and it’s dangerous here, especially for a woman. There are no guarantees for any of us. But keeping her down here will hurt her as much as any guard. She hates contained spaces and there’s no mental challenge for her here. You’ll steal her sense of worth.”
Ivan sank to his bed. “I know.”
Jayce opened his mouth and then shut it. He didn’t expect Ivan to agree. She’d gotten to him, the way she’d gotten to all of them. Slowly, by being herself.
Ivan massaged his thigh muscles. “I can’t let her go back.”
Pain still plagued Ivan. They’d both heard her say she had the cure back at the med-center. Ivan saw the need to let her go, but he wouldn’t let her, not even to get the cure. He was still thinking like a soldier, protecting the unit’s asset.
Protecting an asset—Melina—was Ivan’s area of expertise. Jayce dealt in trading and selling them. Despite how he didn’t like it, Melina was an asset to be bought, traded, rented by the men on Veenith.
Had Hawke’s offer come that first day after they’d taken Melina, Jayce would have accepted. Jayce had planned to sell her after he’d had his fill of fucking her first. He could have been living in the lap of luxury by now, as much luxury as there was to be found on Veenith. He’d been such an asshole.
God, what if he’d followed through with his plans? He’d no longer be cleaning toilets or mopping floors for Thorne and his guards. He’d be sitting back, watching the other prisoners break their backs in the mines while he occupied one of the few single and secure rooms in prison housing. Strike that. Hawke had connections with several of the guards. Jayce probably could have been in one of the guard’s private houses, in the secure section, behind barbed wire where he wouldn’t have to worry about someone attacking him in his sleep.
The bunker was good, but even he was getting tired of the stale air and stark walls. If he had to stay down here full time like Melina, he’d probably hang himself.
Then again, if he could spend all of his time down here withMelina, that would be a different story.
“You’ve got a plan, don’t you?” Ivan asked.
“I was imagining life if we didn’t have Melina with us.”
“Get that thought out of your head. We’re not going to lose her.”
“If you’re worried about security at the med-center, then we should make it safer.”
“We couldn’t even get in there to save her from a beating today. Someone removed your access.”
“Yeah, I still haven’t figured out how and who did that. Thorne’s not that great with computers, which is why I can hack in when I’m cleaning his office. But whoever’s disabled my ID from accessing the med-center won’t be focused on internal access.”
“Explain.”
“The labs and storage rooms inside the med-center have access plates. I can make one or more accessible only to Melina’s ID. A safe room, essentially. If she feels threatened, she enters. No one else would be able to get in, not even the guards.”
Ivan clapped Jayce’s shoulder. “That’s brilliant. And it could work. You want to deliver the good news to her?”
“I’ll let you. I think you need to smooth things over with her. And I have third shift. I’m cleaning Thorne’s office tonight, so this is the perfect chance to adjust the security.”
* * *
Thorne’s officewas located inside the zurlite-powered secured area that included Thorne’s house and office, the guards’ quarters, workout facility, dining hall, and their laundry and maintenance buildings. Jayce had only seen one man stupid enough—drunk enough, actually—to attempt to climb the fence. The current had killed him immediately. Then his body had burst into flames, sending off a horrific smell of charred human flesh. His body burned until there was nothing left but ash. That alone had scared Jayce into never drinking alcohol again, especially the stuff the prisoners made.
The guards nodded to Jayce as he collected his cleaning supplies from the maintenance shed and waved his tatt by the scanner at Thorne’s office. He entered, relieved Thorne wasn’t working late. After barring the door with his cleaning cart, Jayce hacked into the system.
Changing the security to the chem lab and Melina’s office to allow only her id took a few minutes. He sifted through the permissions file but didn’t see any evidence of who had removed his access from the med-center. As Jayce continued digging, his worst fears were confirmed. Someone had removed his universal access. He no longer had access even to the bunker, only the areas he cleaned and the port curiously enough.
Fuck. Hawke had to be behind this somehow. Jayce would never make it past the guards at the security checkpoint. That was the only part of escaping Veenith he’d never figured out. But apparently, Hawke had.
No, Jayce couldn’t hand Melina over. He couldn’t betray any of them. Their unit had started to feel like. . . hell, like a family. It’s what he had wanted his entire life, but had never been worthy enough. His mother had abandoned him in Turul, and he’d never known his father. Ivan had been his only family. Now Reece, Zev, and Melina. No, Zev was gone. That’s why the entire dynamic in the bunker had been off lately.
Jayce spent a few minutes cleaning the bathroom before shutting the lights and leaving Thorne’s office. He gave his usual smile and salute to the guards as he exited the compound.
By always thinking about his next move, he wasn’t always paying attention to the present, at least that’s what Ivan always harped on. And he was right.
