“Hold himimmobile,” Charles barked at a soldier. “Donotlet him look anywhere but me, understand?” he added as the soldier nodded briskly and held Reece’s face steady.
“You don’t want me to look?” Reece’s eyes were still wide. “Why not? What don’t you want me to see?”
Good chance Charles was trying to stop Reece from seeingGrayson himself, drugged and captured. “Reece,” Grayson tried to call through the hand on his mouth.
Reece made a choked sound. “Who was that—” He twitched in his captors’ grip, and the soldiers tightened their grip, holding him in place.
Charles stepped closer, only inches from Reece. “What is the last thing you remember?” he demanded.
“I—I don’t—Vancouver, maybe? A dock, a boat? We can talk about it later. Just let me go,please,” Reece said, hoarse and begging. “I have to get to Cedrick—”
“Absolutely not.” Charles was gesturing at the waiting SUVs with his free hand. “Get him away from Cedrick at once.”
“What?” Reece looked like he’d been slapped. “No, no, don’t, I’m going to help him—”
“Blindfold him.Immediately.And don’t let him touch anyone, not a fucking soul.” Charles was addressing some of his soldiers. “You two: Take Cedrick back to the hospital, far away from Mr. Davies. And you three, prepare the transport car. Mr. Davies must be brought to a lab at once.”
“Wait.”Reece was shaking his head rapidly. “We can’t go. What about Cedrick—”
“Not now,” Charles said impatiently. He gestured at Reece. “You appear to have reverted to a pacifist! That has always been thought impossible. The implications—the potential for us to control your abilities—I can’t risk any of that by letting you touch Cedrick. Take him away.”
“But—”
“Mr. Stone, sir!” A new soldier was sprinting around the corner over the stadium. “The police are on the next block.”
Charles scoffed. “I don’t care about the police—”
“They’re looking foryou,” said the new soldier. “One of them said something about a warrant for fraud.”
Charles stilled. Then he burst into movement. “Clear out,”he barked, already striding away. “You two with me. The rest of you, keep the empath away from Cedrick and Evan at all costs.”
His Maybach was there on the street, but Charles and his two guards were heading for the parking garage—where he might have his helicopter waiting on the top floor. Grayson yanked at his captors again. This was why Alex wanted him stalled—Grayson wasn’t gonna fail his brother yet again—
From in front of Charles, behind the loading gate, there came a roar. Then twenty jersey-clad men, Grayson’s size and bigger, came pouring out of the loading gate like they were rushing the field for kickoff.
“For Alex!”
One of the defensive linemen launched himself at Charles just as the rest of the team leaped forward with the same battle cry.
Through the din, Grayson caught Reece’s noise of distress as the sidewalk erupted into chaos. He kicked out at one of his captors, putting all the force his drugged muscles could muster behind it. Bone snapped, and the man went down. An elbow to the stomach took care of the second guard, and Grayson was free and into the fray.
Up ahead, brakes squealed as the van holding Cedrick Stone gunned it, scraping a Do Not Enter sign as it swung around the bend of the street and sped off. Grayson ducked a punch, staggering forward as he looked for the small, slim figure in a sea of football players and Stone Solutions responders.
He dodged another kick, then finally caught sight of an oversized hoodie and dark hair stumbling into the empty space where Cedrick Stone’s van had been.“Reece.”
One of the Stone Solutions responders was heading straight for Reece, who seemed as lost and unaware of his surroundings as a lemming heading straight for a cliff’s edge. Grayson put on a burst of speed, shouldering the man hard enough tosend him careening off into a cop, and reached Reece just as he crumpled to hands and knees on the pavement.
“Where did Cedrick Stone go?” The hitched whisper cut through the crowd noise as surely as if Reece had shouted it. “Why are theyfighting—”
Reece was lifting his head, looking at a linebacker and one of Charles Stone’s men locked in combat, and if there was any chance his pacifism was back, this scene was going to overwhelm him quick. Grayson stumbled forward, grabbing Reece off the ground and half tugging, half carrying him toward the empty Maybach up ahead.
Down the street, the first police cruiser had gone right through the barrier, and adding whirling lights and sirens to the chaos was not helping. Grayson managed to duck around the Maybach’s trunk just as his drugged knees gave out and sent him tumbling to the pavement behind the car.
Grayson caught Reece just before the impact, twisting to keep him from hitting the ground. Despite the fight around them, Reece was soft and unresisting against him as Grayson leaned against the Maybach’s tire for support. Not exactly a fortress, but the closest to shelter they were gonna get.
“Reece,” he said again, getting a better hold on him and trying to prop him up. “Can you look at me?”
Reece didn’t seem to hear him. His head was down, shaking back and forth in a helpless kind ofno. “Pain—vengeance—they need help too—”
