Page 29 of Redstone
“Good.” Robbie picked up the official Redstone officer’s tab and pulled up Kyle Alexander’s information, all of it displayed in urgent red tones. “State your name.”
“Kyle Dazemar Holliston Harmony Alexander.” The top line turned green.
“I can see you’re already used to cruel and unusual punishment.”
One side of Kyle’s lips quirked up. “Sir.”
“Age.”
“Twenty-two.” Huh, he’d had a birthday since being in custody. That sucked.
“Planet of origin.”
“Olympus.” Another green line.
“Serial birth number.”
Kyle dashed off the twenty-seven digit number like he was reciting the alphabet. Another green line.
“Good. Personal representative?”
“Demarcos Gyllenny.”
“Put your palm here.” He held out the tab and let Kyle set his hand down on it and waited for it to register his print. It glowed green a moment later. “Good. Just the eyes now.”
“Why rush things, new guy?”
Robbie sighed internally. Of course, he wasn’t going to be able to get through this without another confrontation. He turned around and looked at the two men who’d just entered the room. They were the same guards he’d had to force away from his door just a few hours ago. Pushy.
“Hey there, friend,” the bolder one said with a manic grin. “There’s no need to throw this pretty thing back to the wolves before we’ve had a chance to do a more thorough intake exam.”
Robbie decided to start by playing dumb. “Bot didn’t say anything about damages, so he doesn’t need the tank.”
“How dense are you?” the second guard demanded. “You might have some ass on the side, but the rest of us have to play the field. Just leave the room for five—”
“Ten,” the first guy amended.
“Yeah, ten minutes and then come back and take him back to the Pit. No fuss, no muss.”
“We’re being recorded right now.”
“No, we aren’t.” Robbie could have spread that man’s smug across a slice of bread, it was so thick. “No eyes in this room. Just finish the official intake and get lost for a while, new guy. You said earlier you wanted to be friends, didn’t you? So do we!” He smiled again. “This is a good way to make friends in Redstone.”
Robbie couldn’t let himself be seen as soft toward a prisoner, and not to Kyle Alexander in particular. He couldn’t let Kyle get stuck with these two either, though. It wasn’t an option. Dumb hadn’t worked, so Robbie decided to fall back on belligerent instead.
“No recording doesn’t mean we aren’t being timed by the boss,” Robbie hissed. “I get what this is. You’re comin’ in on my first fucking day on the job, trying to get me written up for stalling or whatever the fuck I can get into trouble for, as if passing around prisoners ain’t enough to get my own ass thrown into solitary for a while.
“Is this your way of making a play for my man? Get me sent to discipline, then you can get your hands on him while he’s alone?” The startled glance the two men exchanged was enough to let Robbie know they probably hadn’t thought that far ahead, but he was on a roll now. “You’re so anxious for some boy pussy,you can go fuck each other because this intake is ending on time, and I’m keeping my goddamn nose clean.” Robbie held the tab up to Kyle’s face and scanned his iris briskly, then slapped his own palm down on the surface to finish the formal registration.
“You don’t know who you’re making enemies of here, new guy,” the first guard said. “You think it’s just us? If you’re not more careful, you won’t have any friends at all. Then where will you and your husband be?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” Robbie motioned for the bot to take hold of Kyle again, retrieved his weapons, and headed for the door, knocking into the other guards’ shoulders to clear them out of the way. He took Kyle back down the hall and steeled himself to let him go back into the Pit. The atmosphere of the place made Robbie’s skin crawl; he couldn’t imagine how it must feel to be there as much as Kyle had to be.
The faster they put the rest of Garrett’s plan into effect, the better.
***
“You’ll be here when he gets in, right?”
