Free Sloane by V. J. Chambers

people misery. But it was
a heavy weight that I carried around, and I was never going to be
the same.
    I nodded. “I remember.” I took a deep breath. “But
that’s not what’s going on with Knox, at least not entirely. His
memory does seem to be screwed up, but he’s also got something else
wrong. It’s like they’ve completely ruined his brain.”
    Griffin grimaced. “And that’s what they’re going to
do to us.”
    Silas stirred on the other side of the room. “Fuck,”
he muttered.
    I went over to him. “You okay?”
    He sat up. “Yeah, great.” He gave the door a dark
look. “Those fuckers. If I get my hands on them—”
    “Don’t do anything stupid, Silas,” said Griffin. “We
have no idea what these people are capable of.”
    “We have no idea about anything,” said Silas. “But
one thing’s for sure. We know that they’ve got us locked up. We
have to find some way out of here. Next time they come back in,
we’ll all pretend to be good little kids facing the wall. Then
we’ll rush ‘em.”
    “And then they’ll shoot us.” Griffin shook his head.
“No, we need more information. We need to find out what they’re
doing. When Knox gets back here, we have to get him to explain it
to us.”
    “Knox isn’t capable of explanation anymore,” I
said.
    “Well, we’ll have to make him that way,” said
Griffin.
    I let out a caustic laugh. “I don’t think torturing
him is going to work this time, Griffin.”
    He shot me a disbelieving look. “Why would you say
that?” He was hurt.
    “You know why,” I said. Because Griffin had tortured
Knox before. I hadn’t witnessed it, because Griffin had stopped
when I got there. But I’d participated in torturing Marcel, the man
who’d raped Griffin in prison. Griffin and I had tortured Marcel
together. So I knew how that worked. And there was no way that I
was ever allowing either of us to do that again.
    Griffin’s nostrils flared. “That’s what you think of
me, isn’t it? You think I’m violent and horrible. You think I’d
hurt Knox.”
    “I don’t think you’re violent and horrible, but you
just said that you’d hurt Knox.”
    “That isn’t what I said,” said Griffin. “I wish you
wouldn’t assume the worst about me.”
    “I only—”
    “Stop it,” said Silas, his expression cold. He
glanced back and forth between us. “Look, we’re all violent people
who did bad things. Can we please get over that shit?”
    I bit my lip. He was right. “Sorry,” I mumbled to
Griffin.
    “No, doll, it’s okay. I guess I can see why you
would—”
    “ Please?” said Silas.
    Griffin sighed.
    I reached for his hand and squeezed it. I was over
it.

 
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
    Axel lived in a penthouse apartment in the heart of
Boston. I had to take an elevator all the way up to the top, and I
was wearing a really uncomfortable (not to mention cold) dress. I’d
gone shopping to pick something up for this benefit, which was
formal, and all the dresses were sort of flimsy. None of them had
sleeves. Heck, I had trouble finding one with straps. So, here I
was, shivering even inside the elevator.
    The dress hadn’t been cheap. I was appalled at how
expensive they all actually were. It wasn’t as if I was strapped
for cash. After Op Wraith had been disintegrated, the assassins
left behind had divvied up the assets, which were pretty
impressive. So, we all had enough money to be set for life. But we
also knew that we couldn’t be flashy about our purchases. If we all
suddenly popped up, living the high life, super rich, then that
would draw attention to all of us, and no one wanted that. So I
wasn’t used to spending money on fancy dresses.
    I didn’t even like dresses. I didn’t see much point
in getting really dressed up. I liked pretty clothes as much as any
girl, and it was kind of fun to put on makeup and do my hair.
However, it was also a lot of work, and it wasn’t something I
wanted to do all the time. I’d had a