“No, I see your point. I also see you think a turn signal is a suggestion.” Reece watched Grayson’s profile for a moment, shadowed in the darkness of the truck’s cab. “What’s corruption?” The word tasted wrong in his mouth, like milk gone sour.
“It’s what we call it when an empath changes,” said Grayson. “They get stronger powers. Brand-new powers.”
Despite the seat warmer, Reece was suddenly cold. “New powers?”
Grayson nodded. “But at a terrible cost. All that empath pacifism twisted to sadism. Empaths don’t just become capable of killing; they enjoy it.”
Reece bit his knuckle, his teeth sharp against his bare skin. “And how does an empath become corrupted?”
“I’m not gonna tell you that part.”
“Seriously?Agent Grayson—”
“It’s classified for good reason, Reece. No one should know how to corrupt an empath. For the empath’s sake; for the world’s sake.”
Reece sat back with a huff, mouth thinning as Grayson drove past a sixty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit sign without slowing in the slightest. “You said we were going for a drive, not a spot of your reckless endangerment.”
“All these opinions about my driving might give me a new opinion on your arrest.”
Reece scoffed. “You can’t arrest me for pointing out you drive like crap.”
“Try me.”
“Please. You’d have to stop the truck, and then who’d violate the three-second rule and ride all these bumpers? That Civic isn’t going to tailgate itself.”
Grayson took a breath. Let it out. “I don’t have to stop this truck to get you in cuffs—or a gag.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Reece sniped. “And on the subject of your wretched driving, how about we stop pretending this is an aimless trip and you tell me where you’re really taking me at unsafe speeds?”
“You’ve got to stop trying to read me.”
“You’ve got to stop thinking you’re completely unknowable.”
Grayson’s gaze stayed on the road. Thankfully. Then he said, “We’re going to a private airstrip. And then you’re going somewhere safe.”
Reece clenched his jaw. “You’re locking me up—”
“No,” Grayson said, surprising Reece with the straight answer. “Not prison. Protection.”
“Protection.”
“Yes.”
Reece scrubbed a hand over his face, and found his palm clammy with sweat. “I’m not going.”
“Reece—”
“Cora’s my friend! I’m not getting stashed somewhere safe to hide until all the bad stuff is over. I’m going to help her.”
“Help her.” Grayson gave Reece a searching look. And a heart attack, as it meant his eyes were off the road as he passed an eighteen-wheeler at ninety miles per hour. “You gonna help her murder her way through Seattle?”
Reece drew a sharp breath.
“Corruption can happen to you too,” said Grayson. “With every passing moment, there’s a chance you’re closer to it. I’m not protecting you from the world; I’m protecting the world fromyou. So I think you’re gonna go where I take you, and stay where I put you, because you’re not gonna put the world in danger, are you?”
Reece’s righteous fire fled. He slumped, eyes squeezing shut. “I just—”
But the words stuck in his throat. Because what could he say?
