Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(83)

“The basement is where the morgue is,” she said. “Everything from the ground floor up is child’s play compared to what’s down there.”

I was both intrigued and wary. “Interesting. I’ll bet you don’t get a lot of unwelcome visitors in a place like this.”

“Not usually. Curious civilians occasionally.”

We stopped outside a door where two agents stood guard. Briggs exchanged a few words with them, and they stepped aside. Briggs turned to me before opening the door.

“Only you. Your friends wait here with my men.”

I shook my head and met his dark eyes directly. “I’m bringing my wolf in with me. Trust me when I say he’s the only thing keeping me sane while I’m in this building.”

I stared at the agent with vampire blue eyes and hands humming with power I couldn’t use. Since parting from Arys, my control had been slipping. It wasn’t the building though; it was the cocky suits that thought they could govern my actions.

I had a stare down with Briggs. Neither of us blinked or looked away. I wasn’t sure what he saw in my unnatural gaze, but finally he nodded. “Only the wolf.”

As Briggs opened the door, I cast a warning glance back at Falon. He leaned back against the opposite wall and crossed his arms. His response was a big phony smile. Bastard.

Agent Briggs led the way into a large, dimly lit room. Shaz and I followed with Juliet and two other agents at our backs. The room was relatively bare, housing only a table with a coffee pot and Styrofoam cups. Three chairs sat lined up before a large pane of glass, which I quickly realized was a two-way mirror.

Apprehension filled me as I feared what I might see on the other side. It was dark now, but I knew Kale was in there. I saw no access to that room from the one where we stood. The agents standing guard outside closed the door, sealing us into the tiny room.

Briggs reached for a light switch on the wall but stopped mid-motion. “I trust you know this isn’t going to be pretty. I must warn you, if you try anything or hurt any of my people, you’ll never make it out of this building alive.”

“Spare me the Hollywood movie dialogue. I’m not here to read from a script.” I was snappy and anxious.

Shaz gravitated closer to me, not quite touching but ready for anything. I motioned for Briggs to get it over with. I was ready to wrestle him out of the way to flip the switch myself, cuffs and all.

I wasn’t ready though. Not by a long shot.

Briggs flipped the switch, bathing the room on the other side of the glass in bright fluorescent light. I heard a gasp, unaware it was me. The interrogation room beyond the glass was so white, the walls, the floor, even the table and chairs off to one side. What wasn’t bright white was stained crimson. Blood painted the floor in places. Splatters decorated one wall like crude abstract art. In the center of it all was Kale.

He hung suspended from the ceiling by heavy-duty shackles, and his head fell limply. From where I stood, I could see that those shackles dug painfully into the flesh of his wrists. His feet touched the ground but just barely. Bruises and cuts decorated every inch of his body. One eye was swollen shut, the other badly bruised. The side of his face was caked in dried blood.

He was naked and beaten. And, I was livid. The rage that filled me was like nothing I’d ever known. The need to kill was fierce, and I threw myself at Briggs without thinking.

Like the amazing partner he was, Shaz wrestled me back before I could make a huge mistake. I couldn’t do the damage to Briggs that he deserved. Acting rashly wouldn’t help Kale. I knew it logically, but the wolf within didn’t give a damn about logic. She just wanted to kill Briggs.

“Hold her back if you want her to stay alive,” Briggs warned, drawing his gun.

“How could you treat him like that?” I shouted, my voice rough with wolf. I didn’t fight Shaz, instead letting him hold me tight. An accusatory glare at Juliet was wasted. She wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Lex, chill out,” Shaz’s voice was calm and soothing. “If you lose it now, you won’t be able to help him.”

Kale’s head came up suddenly as if he sensed me. The soundproofing ensured he couldn’t hear my tirade. Did he know I was here?

“If anything, we’ve gone easy on him, considering what he did to Abigail Irving.” Briggs shrugged. Kale was nothing to him, not a person with feelings or several lifetimes of knowledge. Kale was just a piece of meat to treat as such.

“You have your head so far up your ass you can’t see the light,” I growled. “You can’t employ anyone linked to the supernatural and expect them not to betray you. Abigail, Shya and anyone else.” I looked pointedly at Juliet out of spite. “There is no harnessing the supernatural.”

Agent Briggs and I exchanged a long look. He knew there was truth in my words. I could see it in his eyes. Like so many others here, he was following orders and not about to argue that with me.

“What’s he worth to you, Ms. O’Brien?”

There it was, the million-dollar question. So many ways I could answer. I felt Shaz’s tension as he waited for my answer.

“I’m willing to negotiate. Name your price.” I watched Kale through the glass, aching to go to him, aching from seeing him like that. His abuse lit a fire inside me that would not be extinguished until I made the FPA sorry they had f**ked with someone I cared about.