Page 59 of A Touch of Treachery (Section 47 #3)

“Aw, are you concerned about your girlfriend? You should be. My men will kill her before she even gets close to the lab.” Bryce looked at the monitor with an appreciative leer. “It’s too bad we have to evacuate. I always enjoy having a little extra fun on my assignments.”

White-hot rage roared through me at the thought of Bryce hurting Charlotte, and I jerked against my bonds even harder than before. Bryce laughed at my useless struggles, then started typing again.

I forced myself to stop moving. I simply didn’t have the physical strength to snap the bonds, so I had to figure out some other way to get free. I focused on the chair itself, curled my fingers around the metal arms, and reached out with my galvanism.

An electrical current hummed through the chair, low and steady, just waiting for someone to press a button to activate it.

Normally, I could have grabbed hold of that electricity with the smallest thought, but the Redburn poison had severely weakened me, and my power kept slipping out of my grasp like sparking grains of sand trickling through my fingers.

Bryce hit a final button on the laptop, then strutted over to me. “It’s too bad Henrika didn’t have more time to work on you, Dez. Watching you scream was the most fun I’ve had in a long, long time.”

“Fuck off, you sadistic bastard.” Admittedly, it wasn’t the wittiest comeback, but I was more concerned about getting free than exchanging bons mots with the former cleaner.

“Although part of me is glad it’s just you and me now,” Bryce continued. “Because I still owe you for getting me kicked out of Section. And for this, of course.”

He traced his index finger down the scar on his face, then reached around to the small of his back and drew out a long knife. The rogue cleaner wasn’t going to leave me here to burn like Henrika had ordered. Bryce was going to carve me up and kill me right here and now.

“What? No gun?” I muttered.

Bryce admired the gleaming blade. “What can I say? Steig inspired me. Besides, guns are too quick and easy.”

My gaze locked onto the weapon, and a hasty plan formed in my mind. I had to get the timing just right, or Bryce would filet me like a fish.

“Any last words, Dez?” Bryce crooned.

Instead of responding, I clutched the chair arms even tighter and tensed my muscles, getting ready for what I knew was coming next.

Bryce surged forward, lashing out with the knife and driving it straight toward my body.

I jerked to the right as far as I could.

Bryce wasn’t expecting the move, and his blade punched into my upper left arm instead of my chest. A sharp, brutal spike of pain still erupted in my body, and I yelped at the stinging sensation.

“That’s not going to save you,” Bryce hissed.

I grunted with a combination of agony and agreement. He was probably right about that, but I still had to try.

Bryce twisted the knife deeper into my arm, and that pop of pain flared up into pure, raw power.

I used the fresh burst of energy to reach out with my galvanism again, and I was finally able to grab the current running through the chair.

I channeled all that power into my right arm, then forced my wrist up as hard and high as I could.

This time, it lifted half an inch. I did that over and over in rapid succession, channeling all the energy into that one sharp, short, jerking motion. Slowly but surely, the plastic restraint began to weaken and give.

“What are you doing?” Bryce asked. “Are you having a seizure?”

He leaned toward me, and I snapped forward, head-butting him in the nose.

Bryce yelped and staggered away. The awkward angle of the blow made an answering spike of pain explode in my own skull, and I channeled that extra bit of strength and energy down into my right arm and jerked my wrist up again.

Snap!

The plastic band finally broke.

Bryce growled, lunged forward, and yanked the knife out of my left arm, making me scream. He twirled the knife around in his hand, and my blood dripped off the blade and splattered onto the floor.

“Time to die, Dez,” he snarled.

Bryce lunged forward again, the knife flashing a wicked silver as it arced through the air. Once again, I jerked to the right, and the blade punched into my left upper arm in almost the same spot as before. More pain spiked through my body, bringing a fresh wave of energy along with it.

I gritted my teeth, reached up, and latched on to Bryce’s arm with my right hand. My fingers dug into his wrist, and I grabbed hold of all the pain and energy pounding through my veins, along with the electrical current still humming through the chair.

And then I sent it all shooting from my body into his.

Bryce jerked as though he’d just touched a live wire. In a way, that was exactly what he was doing. Only I was the wire, and I was determined to give him much more than just a vicious shock.

I strained and clawed and used every single scrap of my galvanism to gather up as much of the chair’s current as possible.

The power poured into me, giving me even more strength and energy, and I reached out even farther with my galvanism, following the current through the floor and up the walls.

The ceiling lights flickered, as did the monitors and the laptops.

Even the industrial refrigerators moaned and groaned as I seized power from them and redirected it into my own body.

Bryce’s eyes widened in surprise and disbelief, and his yellow aura crackled with fear and panic. He tried to wrench away, but I tightened my grip, my fingernails digging even deeper into his skin and drawing blood.

“Time to die, traitor!” I hissed.

I punched all that raw power and sparking electricity through my fingertips and into his body as though I was shooting a lightning bolt at him.

Bryce flailed and jerked, still trying to escape, but I tightened my grip yet again and sent even more power coursing through his body.

The former cleaner might be a strong enduro, but the electricity overwhelmed his system and burned through him just like the Redburn poison had burned through me.

He twitched once, twice, three times. When his heart stopped beating, I finally loosened my grip.

Bryce crumpled to the floor. He twitched a few more times, then stilled.

I released the electrical current, and all the energy snapped back into its rightful place. The lights, laptops, and monitors quit flickering, and the refrigerators’ moans and groans smoothed out into steady hums.

I slumped back against the chair, breathing hard, my head spinning with adrenaline. But my galvanism turned the chemical into energy too, and my breathing quickly evened out.

I might have killed Bryce, but I was still mostly strapped to the chair, so I reached up and wrenched his knife out of my arm. Another scream rasped out of my throat, but I used the blade to cut through the restraint on my left wrist and the ones around my ankles.

Still clutching the bloody knife, I tried to stand up, but my head spun, and I had to sit back down in the chair to keep from vomiting. Sweat streamed down my face, and I gasped for air. My fight with Bryce had further weakened me.

When my head stopped spinning, I tried again, forcing myself to move slowly but steadily to keep the nausea to a minimum. I got to my feet, then shuffled over and kicked my boot into Bryce’s ribs, making sure he was dead.

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Crack!

More gunshots sounded, louder and closer than before. I snapped my head up and listened, but no more shots broke the silence. Neither did any screams. Worry twisted my gut. I looked at the monitors again, but I didn’t see Charlotte on the security feed anymore.

Still gripping the knife, I staggered over to the closest wall. I put my hand on the light switch and reached out with my galvanism again.

The current running through the wall was much easier to access than what had been in the chair, and electricity flowed into my body, clearing my head, healing some of my injuries, and giving me a much-needed burst of energy.

The lights flickered again, even more violently than before, but I kept channeling more power.

Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Crack!

Another round of gunshots rang out. I released my grip on the electricity. The lights stopped flickering, and everything in the lab returned to normal.

I tightened my grip on the bloody knife, went over to the open lab door, and staggered out into the corridor beyond.

I had to find Charlotte.