Page 235 of Shadowman

Oh, crap… That’s one of the doctors. From the East.

A chill zips up my spine.

Trevel shifts beside me, and I glance up to find him watching Dr. Love, who’s practically snarling at the old guy. Pure wrath is coming off of him in waves. But even if it wasn’t already palpable in the air, it’d sure as shit be visible in the flames of rawhatredLove is shooting at the other doctor in the room.

The Ivory snorts. “Not very pleased with this turn of events, are we, Lemuel?”

Dr. Love is vibrating.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and say those two aren’t besties.

The Ivory sighs. “Being that I’m allowing you three to stay here, inmyhome, I’ll need to utilize some… extra security.” I peer at him in between watching the doctor, who steps over to us. “My men have their hands full right now, I’m afraid. As do I, meaning we won’t be able to keep an eye on you at all times, surveillance or not.” He gestures to the man, who sets his case down on a nearby table and opens it. “Dr. Johansson here has something that will put my mind at ease.”

The guy—Johansson—removes a device from inside the case, bringing it over to me first. A black circle, maybe plastic or rubber. But when he unfastens and opens it, I realize what it is and back up.

“Wait, what the fuck??” I grunt.

“Hold still, please,” Johansson instructs me, voice meek, with a discernible accent, maybe German or Norwegian.

Doesn’t seem like the type of dude who’d be attempting to fuckingcollarme.But I guess that’s the point.

“No way.” I shake my head. “You’re not putting that on me.”

“Oh yes, he is,” The Ivory says sternly. “You see, I would love to trust you, Byron, but the fact is that I don’t feel I can trust anyone these days…” His voice trails, eyes hardening when they drift from us to Dr. Love. “You give an inch, but they need fuckingmiles.”

“You know what you did…” Dr. Love growls at him.

The Ivory stalks over until they’re chest to chest. “And you know whatyoudid. After everything I allowed… Everything I letslide. Selfishly and thoughtlessly siding with yet another ungratefulputowho could’ve had it all.” His tone is frighteningly low as he spits his words like venom.

I’m not afraid to admit it… The Warden has always been a purely terrifying dude, despite his prim and proper attire and mannerisms. But right now, in this dimly lit room, with gunfire and mayhem in the distance, his composure is slipping. Beat up and bloody, with that manic look in his charcoal eyes… He’s giving off the vibes of someone who has very little to lose, and that makes him a thousand times more frightening, and dangerous, than before.

Johansson uses the fact that we’re distracted to fasten the collar around my neck.

“Fuck you!” I choke, grabbing at my throat. “What the hell even is this thing??”

“Thatis a prototype of an invention we’d been working on,” The Ivory says, still glaring at Dr. Love, lips curving into a sinister smirk. “I’m quite proud of it. A collar with the ability to immobilize a subject, should they leave the designated area. In your case, that would be the mansion.”

Johansson moves to Trevel next, fastening a collar on him. His eyes drift to mine, etched in frightful discomfort.

“When you sayimmobilize…” Trevel mumbles, touching the device curled tightly around his throat.

The Ivory’s eyes shift to Johansson.

“The inner band of the collar consists of a sensor and a series of needles, which are laced with a paralytic sedative,” Johansson explains. “If the sensor leaves the programmedsafe space, or if it is tampered with, the needles are deployed.”

What… in the actual… fuck??

I can feel the shock on my face, mirroring that on Trevel’s. Both of our hands drop away from the collars fast, and The Ivory chuckles.

“Yea, I wouldnottry to remove them.” He grins wickedly. “It’s like when you try to remove one of those security tags they put on clothes in department stores… Only the ink that ruins the clothing is an extremely powerful tranquilizer that will cause immediate muscular paralysis lasting about twelve hours. And the pretty little garment being destroyed isyou.” He turns a wink on Dr. Love.

My mouth is filling with saliva, pulse jumping aggressively in my neck. I swallow slowly and fearfully, suddenly veryawareof my Adam’s apple sliding beneath this deadly device.

“How do we know it won’t, like… go off by accident?” I ask, resisting the urge to fidget in place.

The Ivory shrugs apathetically. “We don’t, really.”

Tentatively, Johansson steps closer to Dr. Love, dripping with unease. He honestly looks like he’s about to shit himself based on the angry glare Love is shooting at him. He’s shaking in his lab coat.