Page 92 of Scorned
“I haven’t, actually. Didn’t the walls used to be beige?”
My eyes bulged, knowing it was a risky move for Sage to lie.
Randal smiled, turning his head toward her. “You have a great memory. But they weren’t actually beige. They were white, but it had been so long since this place was painted, they’d become discolored.”
At the end of the corridor, we went right and Randal turned his attention toward Lyric.
“I noticed you were new to this position, Ms. Cox. Since you’re unfamiliar with the building, let me explain. This is the outer ring of the lab where everyone comes to get decontaminated. The entire facility works as a hive, the seven inner rings contain different departments like hematology, immunology, surgical pathology, you get the point.”
“This is an amazing experience, sir. One I’m truly grateful for.”
I cocked a brow at Lyric’s extremely fake demeanor. The guard seemed to enjoy it, sporting a smile. I really hoped he didn’t make a move on her. I’d hate to have to kill him early and ruin this mission.
Randal stopped in front of a door, scanned his card, and entered.
Erik, still gripping my arm, pushed me in first and my mouth fell agape. There were shower heads positioned along the backside of the wall, with no dividing walls separating the cleansing stations. On the rack to my right, I noticed long animal control poles adorned with silver wire collars hanging from them. My ass cheeks tightened immediately when I saw boxes of gloves and lube on the counter to my left.
“Latch the two men by their ankles over there,” the guard said, pointing to a wall with chains attached to it, spiked handcuffs at the end of them. “We’ll start with the foul-mouthed woman first.”
Sage pulled the detector I’d given her out of her pocket and pressed the button as Randal continued to bark orders. “Each guard is in charge of their prisoner. One by one you will do body cavity searches, shower them, and then—” The machine beeped, clearing the area of any cameras or microphones, and Zeke’s fist immediately landed on Randal’s face. He melted to the ground, out cold.
I grinned. “Nice.”
“What a dickhead,” Sage said before putting her scanner away, eyeing the room. “This place is fucked up.”
“I hate it here,” Erik said, moving fast, uncuffing my wrists.
I rubbed them before turning toward Randal, ready to break his neck when Lynx stopped me.
“He’s mine,” she moaned. “I need the blood.”
Marcus released Lynx’s cuffs, then helped her hobble over to the guard. He knelt down with her, holding her steady as she pierced Randal’s neck. She took forever feeding, and I realized she’d drained him dry, which was good, one less person in our way.
By the time she was done, we were all ready to move to the next step in the plan. I stripped off my flannel button up, revealing my solid black T-shirt and Venom-issued windbreaker. Under the light jacket, I had my dual chest holster, containing both of my custom Springfields, so I zipped it to conceal them. Next I pulled off my baggy jeans, which had Venom-issued pants underneath them. Digging into one of the large pockets, I yanked out my fake badge and clipped it on my shirt. Knowing it wouldn’t give me the same security clearance as Randal, I quickly grabbed his badge and shoved it in my pocket in case I needed it. My back holster had Luka’s Sig in it. I pulled it out to make sure there was one in the chamber, before I moved the holster to my hip, and slid the gun back in.
Ravage and Lynx had also shed their street clothes, each of us now looking like Venom guards before we left the decontamination room.
“Everyone got their earbuds in?” I asked, and each person nodded, before glancing around nervously at each other, knowing there was a possibility some of us might not make it out alive.
“Let’s go team,” Marcus said, opening the door.
Since he and Zeke had been high ranking in the Venom society, they walked ahead of us, taking on fake leadership roles as we casually sauntered the halls like we knew where we were going. Thanks to Randal explaining the setup of the building, we ignored any door we saw, knowing the rooms wouldn’t have anything useful.
We were at the end of a long corridor that had a large door that said HIVE, the exact place we knew we needed to be. I pulled Randal’s badge from my pocket and tapped it onto the security pad, then waited for the keypad window to open. After I typed in his code, the door unlatched.
Each of us stood in silence, fully aware that a potential threat could be present and we might have to engage in combat the instant we stepped into the Hive.
Marcus pushed the door open and I did my best to keep my eyes from going wide. The walls and floors were the same bright white as the outer ring of the building, but the smell of disinfect mixed with chatter, beeping machines, ringing phones, and people made it all feel like I’d just walked into a hospital.
To the left was a large reception desk where two men in lab coats stood talking. They both glanced at us and then continued conversing as if we weren’t a threat.
The blonde woman sitting behind it had on a silk blouse with a floral pattern covering it and a phone to her ear, shuffling through a folder.
She peered up, catching sight of us. “I’ll call you right back.” After hanging up the phone, she sprang to her feet. “It’s about time.” She came from behind the desk, straightening her pencil skirt as she beelined straight for Marcus. “Do you really need this many people?” Her gaze darted over each of us before she huffed, then shook her head. “I guess you do since there’s seven of you, one for each department. Sorry, I’m on edge. Charles said he’d send someone down yesterday and it never happened. Follow me.”
I had no clue who Charles was, but I really wanted to thank him.
She turned into a hallway on the left, and as we walked it there were windows on both sides revealing rooms filled with lab personnel. None of them even looked up from what they were doing as we passed.
