Page 112 of Prey

“They lied.” I free his wrists and help him sit up. “What’s your name?”

“Subject Seventeen.”

I close my eyes for a moment, fighting back tears and rage in equal measure. “What did your parents call you? Before here?”

“I…” He struggles with the concept. “Tommy? I think… Tommy?”

“Tommy.” I smile at him, keeping my voice gentle. “That’s a good name. Tommy, my friends are going to get you out of here, okay? Take you somewhere safe.”

“Extraction to Basement Seven,” Nikolai reports. “Priority one package.”

“En route,” Raphael confirms.

I hear footsteps in the hallway—heavy boots, multiple people. Nikolai moves to the door, finger on the trigger.

“Get him behind the desk,” he orders.

I guide Tommy to cover as the door explodes inward. Three men in tactical gear rush in, military assault rifles raised.

Nikolai drops the first one with a headshot before he clears the doorway. The second manages to get his weapon up before I put two rounds center mass. The third tries to use the doorframe as cover.

He doesn’t make it.

“Basement Seven clear,” Nikolai reports as the gunsmoke settles. “Three hostiles eliminated.”

Tommy stares at the bodies with the flat expression of someone who’s seen too much violence already. That look breaks my heart more than his fear ever could.

“They’re the bad guys,” I tell him quietly. “We only hurt bad guys.”

“Are you bad guys too?”

The question catches me off guard. I look at Nikolai, then at the dead men bleeding onto concrete floors, then at this damaged child who’s asking if we’re monsters too.

“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “But we’re your bad guys now.”

Raphael appears in the doorway with Marcus and Theon. “Package secured,” Raphael confirms, kneeling beside Tommy. His voice becomes impossibly gentle. “Hey there, little man. We’re going to get you out of here.”

“How many more?” I ask.

“Thermal shows thirty-six heat signatures remaining,” Marcus reports. “Most concentrated in the eastern wing.”

“Children’s dormitories,” Theon adds grimly. “Based on the facility layout, they’re keeping them together.”

“Personnel?”

“Scattered throughout the building. Probably trying to implement a containment protocol.”

“Not going to work,” Nikolai states. “Elimination team, continue sweep. Find Dr.Elena Martinez.”

We leave Tommy with the extraction team and move deeper into the facility. Each room reveals new horrors—conditioning chambers, medical suites equipped for neural surgery, laboratories full of compounds designed to break young minds.

My rage builds with each discovery until it feels like acid in my veins.

“Door twenty-three,” Nikolai signals.

This one requires more than a keycard. Biometric scanner, multiple locks, security that screams important people work here.

“Stand back,” I tell him, producing the small explosive Theon gave me.