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“Yes, sir. When the data starts coming through, we’ll start.”

Her wrists were twisted in the wrong direction, so he turned the right one around and adjusted it. Gideon made sure the artery placement was beneath the needle, then reached across her body, noticing the way her breasts brushed across his chest as he fixed the left one. The sleeping woman showed no response, which gave him so many ideas. He’d send everyone out of the lab for a few hours and take his time doing his brand of testing once they extracted what he needed to begin getting the data.

“Professor Gideon, it appears the team at the facility in Long Island is completely offline. All the intel we’ve been waiting for hasn’t come in. When I checked the previous data, it was missing as well.”

Gideon looked back at Professor Dove. The woman was a new addition to the team. Her credentials were good. She was top of her class, and she needed the money to pay off her school loans. Plus, she didn’t have high morals when it came to patient care.

“Professor, we can cross-reference the new data you’re able to gather from this subject with the ones we’ve collected from other sites.”

He appreciated how Professor Studdard spoke about the patients, calling them subjects instead of by name or even as patients. It meant she saw them as disposable. “Very good, Studdard. Pull up the numbers from the last collection. After I can extract samples from this subject, we’ll be able to make a breakthrough.”

Chapter 23

Severin gritted his teeth. He clicked the keyboard, scrolled through the computer’s charts, and sent the files to himself via an encrypted server. The stupid fucker in front of him, posing as an elite doctor or professor, made him want to rip his throat out.

“Easy, Bràthair. We need to extract Thana before we make any moves. By the way, you make a very ugly female,” Thane said, pushing a little humor through their link.

“Yeah? Well, you’re a total suck-up. Did you hear yourself? You were literally licking that prick’s balls.” He sent an image of the female Thane inhabited on her knees in front of Professor Gideon, licking the fucker’s nuts.

“You’re sick. Truly...goddamn, bro, I don’t know how you can live with such a twisted mind. I knew I liked you.”

“You’re strange, Thane. How did my female get all the smarts? Oh, I get it, you’re the one who was dropped on the head. Now, hush while I distract the bastard before he drops a needle in my female’s arm. I’d hate to rip his head off before I extract some information out of him.”

“That would be a shame. I’ll keep him distracted. I’m the smarter of the two of us, so he’ll respect me more.” Thane squared his shoulders in the starched white shirt.

Severin gave him a side-eyed glance as the send icon hit one hundred percent on his screen. Everything this fucking lab had accumulated was now his. Not even the President could gain access to his accounts without his permission.

“Excuse me. I need to take a bio break. I’ll have the original reports’ results by the time I get back, Professor Gideon. They’re quite extensive.” Thane stood, straightening the female’s lab coat with exacting precision.

“Is that truly necessary at this time, Studdard?”

“I apologize, Professor, but I wasn’t made aware that you’d be arriving with new equipment. If I’d known, I assure you, I would’ve moderated my liquid intake so I wouldn’t have interrupted our testing. Rest assured, the time away will not interfere with the results as they’re still being formulated into my new graphic system.” Thane’s voice was moderated to a respectful, calm level, grating on Severin’s nerves. Bastard.

“I heard you,” Thane said through their link.

“You are such a dick,” Severin said.

“Don’t you need to piss, or is your female wearing an adult diaper?” Thane’s smirking face appeared in his mind.

Severin sent Thane a pic of a pile of shit in a diaper flying at Thane’s head. “Can you help me change, Bràthair?”

“You’re a sick fucker. I just threw up in my mouth.” Thane gagged audibly through their link.

He pretended to scroll through shit on the computer while Thane, in the other body, walked out of the room. He noticed the asshole Gideon gave Thane’s person more respect, which meant that woman must have more seniority than the one Severin popped into. Not that Severin believed the good professor actually believed women were above men. In Dove’s memories, he’d seen not only Gideon’s dismissive treatment of her, but also the other men on their team do the same. If they only knew how amazing women were.

“Professor Dove, I asked you if you’re ready? I’m going to begin with Subject XV as soon as Professor Studdard returns.” Gideon’s calm tone broke into Severin’s thoughts.

Severin wanted to tell the man that if he touched one hair on Thana’s beautiful head, he’d be digging his own grave. And while Severin planned to be the one to end the fucker, and would gladly make one Hell of a scene at his desolate funeral, he’d rather wait a little longer.

“I do love the wicked little stories you come up with while you plot death and destruction, Severin. You know most eulogies don’t tell mourners anything other than how great the dead were when they were alive. I prefer the unvarnished truth. Once, I attended a funeral for an old bastard who literally fucked his wife’s sister and mother, and that is exactly what was said right there in that old white church in front of all his family, friends, and townsfolk who came out to see him off to Hell.” Thane strolled back into their workspace on lighter feet than when he’d left. “By the way, we’re the only three in the vicinity from what I surmised during my walkabout.”

“I know. I sent my senses out in a hundred-mile radius when we entered to make sure there were no guards or other so-called doctors around. They’re working with a veritable skeleton crew here. Makes you wonder why, when the subject is considered a high commodity.” Severin hated the thought, but that’s what the woman called Thana in her mind.

“Yes, Professor. We’re ready.” Severin left the woman's illusion playing behind the computer and flashed beside Gideon. He ignored the flash of anger, wanting to feed off the man’s heavy scent of fear and pain, but getting Thana away from the torture device came first.

“What are you doing, Dove?”

Severin blinked once. His hand flashed out faster than the other could see and stopped Gideon before he could touch the laptop. On the screen, he watched the icon flash over the word start. Again, he felt the man twitch in his hold as if trying to break free.