Page 4 of Us Defiant Few

“I won’t.”

“You have three seconds to move, or I’m killing you both.”

“Raziel,” Spade cautioned, “hold on.”

“No!” Raziel snarled. “I saw him get shot with my own two eyes. If the Dealers saved him, he’s the one who led them to the Black Heart.”

His trigger finger twitched.

“That’s not true!” Khalani cried, holding up a hand to stop him. “You can’t hurt him. He doesn’t remember.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“When Doctor Strauss took me into his lab, he told me their plan,” she explained, struggling to get through the words. “They’re torturing prisoners to erase their memories. They’ve been implanting chips to take control over everyone.”

Shocked murmurs echoed throughout the alley, but Adan, Serene, and Winnie closed in around her.

“Khalani…they tortured you down there?” Serene’s voice trembled as she took another shaky step forward.

“Don’t move,” Raziel snapped, shifting the gun to Serene.

“If you don’t put that gun down, we’re going to have a bigger problem,” Brock growled, the deep timbre and wrath in his voice sending shivers through her spine.

“I will do no such thing. He’s the reason they found us and killed several of our men. We have no choice but to exterminate the threat.”

Exterminate.

Like a roach that needed to be vanquished.

Over her dead fucking body.

Raziel shifted the gun in her direction. Khalani tensed, ready to tackle him and draw blood.

“Wait!” Winnie’s panicked voice cut through the air. “He’s better use to you alive than dead.”

“How is that?” Jack whipped his head.

“If what Khalani said is true, then who knows how many camps the Dealers have and how many people they’re controlling?”

Jack’s lips formed a grim line, and Khalani latched onto the hesitation in his eyes.

“Doctor Strauss said they were going to distribute the chips throughout Hermes.” She raised her voice, imploring him to listen. “If you help us remove his chip, you can study it. Maybe even find a cure. Isn’t that what you want? To protect Hermes? To help your people?”

The corner of Raziel’s lips turned down as Jack considered her words. The silence stretched on, and she prepared for the worst, but Spade was the one to break it.

“I think she’s right, Jack.”

Raziel spun in his direction. “You can’t seriously agree with this!”

“He might be our only lead to find out what’s happening in the camps,” Spade countered. “And we need to get off the streets, Raz. Your brother needs a doctor.” He gestured to Ryder, whose skin was turning ashen, his eyes fluttering closed.

Khalani blinked. Brother?

She hadn’t known Ryder and Raziel were related, but now that she was looking, she noticed the similarities in their dark hair and sharper features.

“I don’t like it either, Raziel. But I agree,” Jack stated.

The vein in Raziel’s neck throbbed as he studied her and Takeshi. Everyone held their breaths, waiting, but he slowly lowered the gun.