Page 90 of Dangerous Deviance
We pulled around the corner, then drove off a distance, the cars staggered to avoid detection. Finally, we parked in the trees, then trekked through the woods towards the camp. Then Derek, Axe, and I stared down at the Skyline Shift, scanning the perimeter.
I sucked in a breath of fresh air, but it didn’t comfort me. I coiled my fists, then uncurled my fingers one by one. Nothing seemed to ease the tension.
“It’s bigger than I thought,” Derek said.
A stream of women, half of them dressed in white uniforms and the other half-naked, marched between the buildings. A shorter man with a whip in his hand stood off to the side, nodding at the women, his sneer angry. A few others, like the man with the bullwhip, were dressed in white, scattered throughout, watching the women, making sure they stayed in line. It was as if the women were cattle.
Derek called one of our men over, a slender but tall and reliable man. He wasn’t a man of muscle, but someone we sent for intel. Still, he was armed and could fight. Derek handed him a lab coat and a clipboard. The man pulled the coat over his white clothes, adjusting the fake badge.
“He’s over there,” I said, pointing to Bates. His curly brown and white hair shook in the wind, making it look as if his brain were growing even bigger.
“Get him over here,” Derek instructed our decoy. “We’ll take care of the rest.”
“Yes, sir,” the man said. I clenched my fists. I wanted to do it myself and rip Bates’s fucking throat out, but we agreed that it was better if one of our men lured him out. Bates knew our faces. And we didn’t want to make a scene, because the less of the rest of the camp was involved, the better.
Axe was checking his guns, making sure they were all loaded, when he stopped. He scanned the area, then narrowed his eyes.
“Something is off,” Axe said. “I don’t trust it.”
“We’re invading a camp full of soldiers that have been trained to kill Muro’s competition,” Derek said. “We shouldn’t trust anything.”
“We need more men.” Axe shook his head. “Find his other enemies. Work together to take him down.”
“We don’t have time,” I said. “We need to end this now.”
“Before one of them kills us,” Derek added, his hand rubbing his broken ribs.
Axe gave a subtle nod, then turned back. Bates moved to the side of one of the nearby buildings, reading his tablet. I waved a hand forward, and our decoy, dressed in his lab coat, went to Bates’s side.
“Dr. Bates,” the decoy said, his tone stiff. “There’s a situation I want to inform you of. It’s best if it’s seen in person.” The decoy held up his clipboard, then gestured ahead. “One of the students is lost in the woods.”
Dr. Bates spoke, his words inaudible, and waved a dismissive hand at our decoy. The decoy leaned forward, his expression stretched as he whispered into Bates’s ear. He put a hand on Bates’s arm. Bates nodded, his eyes still staring at his tablet, but then he pulled out a different device, jamming his fingers onto it to type. Our decoy pulled Bates forward, closer to the trees.
“Here, Dr. Bates. Just ahead of you—”
“Yes. All right. Now—”
Dr. Bates looked up, and the three of us stood, our guns pointed at him. His eyes widened, then relaxed, recognizing our faces. He cleared his throat. Then the rest of our men showed themselves, letting him know that he was surrounded. And that brought a smile to Bates’s face.
That fucker smiled. I could have shot him right then.
“Oh,” he said. “It looks like we do have an issue here.”
The decoy jabbed his pistol into Bates’s back. “You’re coming with us,” he said.
“With you?” Dr. Bates asked. He lifted a hand, and a shot came from the woods, going through his hair, leaving a hole behind it. The campus echoed with the crack of the bullet. Who the hell had fired that closely, and still missed? But the women kept marching forward. Only the guards turned towards us, stepping forward, each of them focused on the woods.
“Huh. That is unfortunate,” Bates said.
“You’re coming with us, Bates,” Derek shouted. “And you’re going to end this torture camp.”
“And I suppose once I’m done here, you’ll set me free so that I’m not tied to Muro either?” he sneered. “Not a chance.”
“Don’t fuck with us, Bates,” I warned.
“Ladies!” Bates called, his voice loud over the commotion. All of the women froze in place, then turned their heads towards Dr. Bates in unison.
Fuck.
