Free Fallen Rogue by Amy Rench

directly in her eyes, blinding her as she squinted against the sudden beams. She raised her hand to shade the light until she could adjust her vision.
    Footsteps clomped grimly against the solid concrete floor. Two sets of arms grabbed her on each side and secured her hands with cold metal clamps, then dragged her upright and out into the cool, dimly lit hallway. Harper’s sight cleared and she noticed the usual fourman posse had been joined by six more black-clad goons. These guys looked a little unusual somehow, but it was hard to say what was different about them. The normal four passed her off to the big six.
    Leading her roughly down the corridor, they surprisingly turned right instead of the dreaded left that had become her customary routine. Was that good or bad? Of course, bad was relative. How much worse could it get?
    After climbing countless flights of uneven stairs, they reached a level area and turned down yet another eerie hallway. At the far end, a sliver of natural light poked through the bottom of a thick metal door.
    Harper was a touch curious. Was she not coming back this time? Fine with her. Again, how much worse could it get? Unless they were taking her away to kill her. That could definitely be worse. She hazily hoped she was wrong and they were just going outside. One modest breath of fresh air would sure make her day. Although there wasn’t much that wouldn’t make her day right now.
    The closer they came to the door, the more it looked like they were going outside. Her mind faintly rejoiced. Sunlight at last.
    “What are you doing here?” Jeff Donovan’s distracted question hit Rome the second he walked in his boss’s office. Jeff hadn’t even looked at Rome, his attention on the papers in his hand.
    What indeed? Rome had asked himself the same question nearly every second since he’d arrived at the isolated government facility. Located just outside of downtown Portland, only those who needed to know were aware the site existed. Underground and hidden from the unassuming world. Though not many up on the surface would want to know what went on down there. Lucky bastards.
    Which was the real reason he couldn’t stop himself from coming. Rome didn’t sit down, instead leaning against the unadorned wall just inside the door. “Just checking in,” he answered with cool but fake nonchalance. Since the moment he dropped off the unconscious Harper Kane three days ago, he’d been restless. Edgy and unable to sleep, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. About the cold despair in her fascinating green eyes and the barren tone of her husky voice as she rasped an apology for the horrific act she’d committed.
    “Checking on what?” Jeff asked curtly, resting a page facedown on his desk, continuing on to peruse the next. Jeff’s abruptness had that same anxious tone he’d tasted when the man had given him the job.
    Most of the time, Rome highly appreciated Jeff’s nononsense brusqueness. And even more of the time, hedidn’t much care what happened past the completion of the job.
    But not this time.
    “Just curious.” Rome tried to inject an appropriate amount of casualness in his attitude. “What happened to the woman?”
    “We’re taking care of her,” Jeff answered in his normal cold monotone as he read.
    Not good. Not good at all. Rome knew exactly how they took care of people where there were no prying eyes of official intelligence and even less accountability. Down here you did what you had to do to get what you needed from your captives and your methods were your own.
    It was what he’d been afraid of since an hour after he’d left her here three days ago. And really, what had he expected? He’d washed his hands of her once he saw what she was capable of. As confident in his skills as he was, Rome knew he couldn’t handle anything with that kind of power. He’d watched her kill eight men with it. He knew in that intense moment why Jeff had wanted her dead or alive. She was