Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
My lips curve. “Excellent,” I murmur. “It’s holding.” I smile at Jocelyn. She’d always been Taylor’s research and development genius. Though it seems a miracle that she’s managed to hold onto the CEO spot considering her recent displays of weakness.
Jocelyn punches another few keys, and coordinates are displayed on the screen. “You will know his exact location at all times.” She punches additional keys, and a long number appears on the display. “That is his individual marker—a code we’ll insert in each GTECH along with the tracking material that makes the signal unique. The technology, alien, of course, still amazes me. We were centuries from such technology on our own.”
“And the torture mechanism?” I ask, clamping down on my growing excitement. Jocelyn had inadvertently made the magnificent discovery that when Red Dart is exposed to certain silent sound waves, it slices and dices the nervous system. Any GTECH injected with Red Dart within a certain radius will react, which, of course, offers limitations for individual interrogation. But as a mass military operation, it would be irreplaceable and capable of bringing down armies.”
Jocelyn holds up a compact remote. “This will activate the sound wave, but we haven’t tested it on humans. Dr. Chin and I both believe he needs to be monitored and stress tested.”
“I do have to agree with Jocelyn,” Dr. Chin injects. “We’ve pulled him from monitoring rather quickly.”
I snatch the remote from Jocelyn. “If we give him everything we’ve got and he survives,” I say, “then you’ve done your stress test, and we move on.”
“If he survives,” Jocelyn warns. “We need to pull back. To test slowly. We’ve come too far to blow it now.”
“The man gets a hard-on for you, and you suddenly want to pull back and protect him? And yes, I know he wants you. You forget the cameras. I was watching when you entered the room. I saw and heard everything.” I grab her and pull her into my arms, my hand sliding over her ass. She gasps, her hands going to my chest as I yell out, “I’m touching her, West. Who do you want to fuck now? Her or me?”
West screams in rage, pacing the cage, and jerks at the bars. “I’ll kill you! Kill you, Lawrence. Skin you alive!” Animalistic snarls slide from the newly converted GTECH’s lips.
I release Jocelyn, who quickly scurries away like some pathetic rabbit.
“You sonofabitch!” she yells. “You’re intentionally trying to upset him. This is not what science and medicine are about!”
I flick Chin a look. “What do you make of his behavior?”
Dr. Chin scrutinizes West, who has stopped screaming and is now running in circles around his cage. He cuts me a look. “I’ve warned you that faster administration of the serum could lead to a more primitive outcome, especially with the new formula.”
I finger the remote. “Even animals can be trained to obey. With the right discipline.”
Dr. Chin glances at Jocelyn, who’s hugging herself as if she’s freezing. “I suspect there is a lifebond connection between you and West.”
Jocelyn gapes and throws her hands up in instant rejection. “I’m not even attracted to that man. Not even a little.”
Chin seems to dismiss her answer. “We’ll have to do some testing.”
Jocelyn scowls. “I’m not going to become a lab rat.”
I look down my nose at her. “I thought you wanted to protect our country?”
“Lifebonding has nothing to do with protecting my country.”
“And yet, it does,” I counter. “We need to understand what makes the GTECHs tick. It’s, in fact, imperative.” I consider her a moment and then shift my gaze back to Dr. Chin, who, unlike Jocelyn, has a stomach for necessity. “I wonder what he’d do if we put her in there with him?”
“What?” Jocelyn gasps, grabbing the table. “I am not going in a cage with that…that thing you created.”
“Hypothetically, Jocelyn,” I snap irritably. “Get a grip on yourself and find some professionalism. This is a science experiment designed to save lives.” I saunter toward the cage. “Let’s get on with progress.”
Expediting my plans quickly is essential now that the GTECHs know about Red Dart, and Creed is not only inside the Renegades’ operation, but sniffing around in Jocelyn’s business. I have to claim control of the GTECHs and do it now, if not with the sound waves alone, then with Red Dart and the Green Hornets combined.
Losing West would be an inconvenience, but one must be willing to endure losses in war if one is to gain enemy territory. He can be replaced.
I stop just outside West’s reach and hold up the remote. “This is why you’re naked,” I say. “Because I’m going to introduce you to death, son, and you will be reborn my follower or not at all.” I punch the button on the remote, and West’s body jerks and then begins shaking. Excellent. It’s working. I turn up the volume, and West slides down the bars and crashes to his knees. Oh yes, I like this. Easing off the volume, I allow West to recover slightly.