March 11th
5:24 A.M.
The thumping between his temples was the most beautiful feeling he could imagine right now. Because to Thunder it meant he wasn't dead.
More than that, it meant this plan had worked.
Hard as it had been not to kill the eight men who broke into the house, part of agreeing to this plan was following through on what they’d agreed upon.
Which was to let himself get caught.
Still, it had been hard as hell. It would be so satisfying to move faster than the intruders could process. Be on them before they could stop him. Beat them with his fists until they were painted in bright red blood.
Maybe these people weren't responsible for the hell Maya had lived through, but they’d been more than willing to come here and accept money for abducting an innocent woman. If they were happy to be part of something like that, they deserved whatever they got.
Which they would. Just not yet.
Without moving his head or altering his breathing in case he was being watched, Thunder began to process his surroundings so he could work on a plan. The pain pulsing through his head told him that he’d been drugged. Since the plan was to let himself get caught but not make it super obvious that was what he was doing, he’d fired back at them, winged a couple, but allowed them to get in some shots of their own. They’d obviously been given orders to take everyone alive because they’d used tranquilizer guns instead of real ones.
He remembered the feel of the dart pricking his skin. The almost immediate wooziness that told him he’d been drugged. Remembered saying a prayer that Maya didn't get hurt before his team came for them.
One of the advantages of his enhanced body was that it burned off drugs more quickly than most people’s system could. While there was a lingering headache, his thoughts were clear, and he could feel each part of his body.
There were no restraints binding his wrists or ankles, so wherever he was, Dr. Gardner felt confident that he was not a threat. Which meant he was likely in a cage of some sort. When they’d been held captive by the deranged scientist for three painfully long years, it was in a bulletproof glass cage. Since they had been kept in it for so long, they’d had plenty of time to figure out that not even Steel’s enhanced strength could break them out.
For now, though, he wasn't worried about what kind of cage Dr. Gardner was keeping him in, he only cared that the worst thing that happened to Maya while she was there was that she was traumatized all over again. That was a hell of a lot more than he wanted for her, but it was better than her being physically hurt.
Besides, she’d known what she was getting herself into, and she’d been adamant that the way she could reclaim control over her life was to play a part in taking out one of the men who had hurt her so badly. She wanted to do this, and it was his job to be there to remind her that this time she wasn't facing it alone, to watch her back, and then to kill Dr. Gardner and offer her one of her bogeymen’s hearts on a platter.
Which is exactly what he had planned.
They all had more than enough reason to want Dr. Gardner dead, but Maya was the one who had volunteered to play bait and got them closer to the man they despised than they’d been able to get on their own. If anyone deserved to be the one to deliver the death strike, it was him.
Maybe once his girl saw the heart of her tormentor no longer inside his body, she would be able to realize how big a role she played in making that happen, and be able to rebuild her life without ever forgetting the strong, determined woman that she was.
Feeling a shift in the air that told him he was no longer alone, Thunder might not have Dragon’s ability to smell, Blade’s to hear, or Lion’s to see, but that didn't mean his senses weren't still heightened. Add in special forces training, and then six years working for Prey Security, honing his skills further, and he knew when a presence was nearby.
Like he knew who this particular presence was.
In one smooth movement, Thunder was up, on his feet, staring down the man he was itching to be able to unleash a decade—hell, a lifetime—worth of rage on.
Obviously not realizing he was conscious, Dr. Gardner startled and stumbled backward a step before pasting on a cocky grin.
It was a grin Thunder remembered well from the three years he’d been forced to live naked in a cage, taunted daily by the manwho believed he had created a team of super soldiers that he could control and use at his whim.
Only that had never worked.
They’d never been controllable.
Even less so now.
And as Thunder looked closer at the man who he had once seen as almost indestructible, he realized that cocky grin had never been genuine. That was the thing with people who liked to play at being a god, they were usually the least confident, the least self-assured of people, and that was exactly what Dr. Ridge Gardner was.
The man was a lot older than he remembered. They’d had only glimpses of him these last several months when they’d finally gotten a name and been able to make concrete plans to go after the crazy scientist. Now up close, Thunder could see the grayish tint to the man’s skin. Was it a result of Voodoo shooting him, perhaps?
There were lines around his eyes, and bracketing his mouth, he was thin now where he’d been slightly overweight a decade ago. It was more than that, though. There was a glint in those green eyes that hadn't been there previously. The mania was still there, but the cockiness seemed forced now. While Thunder might be standing in a cage, it was pretty obvious where the balance of power lay, and they both knew it.
“You're awake,” Dr. Gardner said, trying to inject authority into his tone and failing.
