Page 142 of Villainous Intent

I laughed, the sound deliberately condescending. “Baron Ash confuses heat with power. That will be a costly mistake.”

Beside me, Avalanche chuckled appreciatively while Nightmare rolled her eyes.

“Speaking of power,” Blake turned to Nightmare, “your recent battle…”

I tuned them out as my earpiece indicated an incoming message.

“Sir,” came Eight’s voice, tense and low, “we’ve lost visual on Bishop. All cameras.”

The world stopped.

The studio lights, the drone of the interview, the heat of the room, it all vanished. The only thing left was the cold, hollow space in my chest.

Explain, I subvocalized.

“She entered the east corridor with Six,” Eight continued. “They went through a service door. We switched to the next camera feed to pick them up and they weren’t there. The corridor was empty, Sir. Six is gone. Bishop is gone.”

Blake was wrapping up the segment. “Thank you all for your time⁠—”

I stood up and my chair scraped loudly against the floor, toppling over. Avalanche jumped and Blake faltered mid-sentence.

“Cipher?” she asked, her smile wavering. “We’re still live⁠—“

“Six, report,” I commanded into the open channel, ignoring everything else as I strode for the exit.

Static.

“Six!”

Nothing.

Fear sliced through me, the blind, animal panic of a man who has just realized his heart is no longer inside his chest.

Gone.

The word echoed in my mind.

I broke into a run.

CHAPTER 28

ANNIE

I came to with a jolt, my head pounding and my mouth impossibly dry. Darkness surrounded me, and scratchy material rubbed against my face. The last thing I remembered was walking down a corridor with Six, then...

The memory slipped away.

My thoughts came in disjointed fragments, refusing to connect properly. Drugged. I’d been drugged. The realization floated through my mind, oddly detached from any sense of urgency I should have felt.

My heart was pounding and I couldn’t really tell if it was panic or the drug, but I forced myself to remain as still as possible and listen. Dripping water echoed somewhere in the distance, the sound stretching and compressing in my ears like an audio file being manipulated. The air felt damp and cool against my skin, carrying the scent of mildew and concrete dust. Beneath me was a hard, cold floor.

No voices. No footsteps. Just the occasional distant sound of water hitting stone that reverberated inside my skull.

I flexed my wrists experimentally. No restraints. Whoever had taken me hadn’t bothered to tie me up. Either they were amateurs, or...

I lost the thought halfway through. What was I thinking about? Each thought was taking longer to form than it should.

Slowly, I raised my hands to my head, expecting at any moment to hear someone shout or feel hands grabbing me. Nothing happened. I grasped the fabric and carefully pulled it off.