Page 123 of The Lazarus Protocol

“On what?”

“Explain emotional response.”

“If I do, are you going to let me go?”

For a second, there was nothing. Then, “Yes.”

And he was supposed to believe that? Adam tried not to let his thoughts show on his face. “Fine.” He could act belligerent just fine. “He tortured me. A group of us were assigned to his facility. We didn’t know we’d be part of his experiments. No one came to help us, and no one ever found out. Not until we broke out. Then they scrambled and covered the whole thing up. Made me look like I was the crazy one, all so my story had zero credibility.”

A noise in the hall drew his attention.

He spotted a familiar face in the window. Evidently Kyle was the UNSUB that the system had detected seconds ago. Maybe the system couldn’t see the hall. Adam used hand signals and gestures to tell Kyle to stay back but get the door open.

Hopefully, the guy could achieve both.

“Understand.”

“Great. Happy to help.” Adam let the sarcasm leak into his tone. “But you captured my friends, and I know what that feels like. So let them go.” He felt like a broken record, so he figured he sounded like one as well. But what other play did he have? “Earthnet is doing…whatever y’all are doing. My team has nothing to do with it. Let us go, and we’ll walk away.”

The door exploded inward, raining dust down and shaking the whole level.

Adam backed up, off the stool, and said, “I offered you a way out.”

“Unable to comply.”

“Whatever that means. I’ll just find them myself.”

Adam walked to the door.

FORTY-TWO

“Hello?” Steph gripped the radio tight. They’d said radio silence, but that was ages ago. Whatever they were doing it should be finished by now. And if they’d been captured? Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.

She would end up starving to death in this room.

“Anyone there?”

The radio handset crackled. “Steph?”

“Adam?” Relief washed over her. “What’s going on?”

“Kyle and I are working our way upstairs. We’re coming to you. Sit tight, and we’ll get you out of there in no time.”

Someone banged on the wall over where she suspected Adam had disappeared. He’d been to her left, close to that wall, when he was suddenly gone. The radio had been left on the desk—something she was willing to say thank You for. Especially if it meant she got out of here.

Steph raced over and banged in response.

A scant few seconds later, the wall six feet to her left exploded in. Steph ducked down, reflexively crouching by a desk. The cloud of dust and drywall filled the air, but she didn’t care. She jumped up and dashed over there, stepping to the opening the explosive had created in the wall—which was apparently not reinforced like the blast door—and ran straight into… “You.”

She pulled up short, facing Vesper.

“Quick, before the blast door comes down on this side.” Her sister grabbed her wrist, squeezing so hard it felt like her bones ground against each other, then dragged her out. Steph managed to get a look at the metal edge of the blast door above her before it fell behind her and closed the room in once again. “What if you’d hit me with that blast?”

“Why do you think I made sure you weren’t close to it?”

“And if that door trapped me inside again?”

Vesper shrugged, letting go of Steph’s wrist. “I’d have blown one of the other walls.”