Chapter 65 The Hospital Breach
Aria POV
The ride in the back of the Syndicate’s black van was silent and cold, and I sat there with my hands zip-tied in front of me while I watched the blurry streetlights through the tiny, reinforced windows of the rear doors. Grayson was slumped against the opposite bench and he looked like he was barely holding onto consciousness, but his eyes were fixed on Jess who was sitting near the front of the vehicle with a tablet in his lap and a gun holstered openly on his hip. I wanted to scream at him or ask him how much they were paying him to destroy the people who had treated him like family for years, but the presence of the two tactical guards with their helmets and assault rifles made me keep my mouth shut while the van navigated the bumpy backstreets of the industrial district.
"You don't have to look at me like that, Aria, because I’m just making sure that the assets are protected and that the Syndicate gets the answers they were promised before the Iron Fangs get a chance to mess things up," Jess said, and he didn't even look up from his screen as he spoke in that casual tone that made me want to kick the smug look right off his face.
"You kidnapped us from a private residence and you're treating us like terrorists, so don't act like you're doing anyone a favor by being a corporate lapdog," I snapped, and I tried to shift my weight to get more comfortable, but the plastic ties bit into my wrists and made me wince as the van hit a particularly deep pothole.
"We didn't kidnap you, we took you into protective custody because the Harts are no longer capable of providing security for high-value witnesses, and once we get to the facility, you’ll see that we’ve already taken steps to ensure your grandmother’s safety as well," Jess replied, and he finally looked at me with a thin, sharp smile that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"What does that mean? What did you do to Nana?" I asked, and I felt a surge of panic that made my heart race so fast I could hear the blood rushing in my ears.
"She was in a vulnerable position at that public hospital, and with the fire and the recent threats against your life, the board decided it was best to move her to a private medical wing where she can receive much better care without the risk of a biker gang walking through the front door," he explained, and he went back to his tablet as if he hadn't just told me that my only living relative had been snatched from her hospital bed by a group of mercenaries.
Grayson let out a low, guttural growl that sounded more like a beast than a man, and he tried to lung forward despite the weakness in his legs, but the guard on his right side immediately slammed the butt of his rifle into Grayson's ribs and forced him back against the metal wall. I screamed his name and tried to move toward him, but the other guard grabbed my shoulder and shoved me back into the bench, telling me to stay quiet if I didn't want to be sedated for the rest of the trip.
The van finally slowed down and came to a stop, and when the doors opened, I expected to see a high-tech medical facility or a corporate office, but instead we were in a sterile, underground parking garage that smelled of exhaust and bleach. They dragged us out of the van and led us toward a heavy steel elevator, and as we moved through the hallway, I saw a familiar face waiting by the control panel. It was Jax, but he wasn't wearing his usual hoodie and headphones, since he was dressed in a suit and was holding a tablet that looked identical to the one Jess was using.
"Jax, thank God, you have to tell them what’s happening and you have to help us find out where they took Nana," I pleaded, but he didn't even look at me as the elevator doors slid open and the guards pushed us inside.
"I'm sorry, Aria, but the payroll changed this morning and I’ve got a lot of student loans that the Harts weren't going to cover once the board froze the accounts," Jax said, and his voice was flat and empty of any of the kindness he had shown me back at the clubhouse.
I felt like the world was spinning out of control, and as the elevator shot upward, I leaned against the back wall and tried to breathe while Grayson kept his eyes on the floor, his face pale and his breathing shallow from the blow to his ribs. We reached a floor that looked like a high-end recovery ward, and the guards led us into a small room with a glass wall that looked out into a hallway filled with nurses and more security personnel. Jess walked over to a desk and picked up a small plastic bag that contained a single item, and he held it up so I could see it through the glass as he walked toward the door.
"Your grandmother was moved about an hour ago, but the team that went to pick her up found this tucked under her pillow, and they thought you might want to see it since it seems your friends in the Iron Fangs aren't the only ones interested in your family," Jess said, and he dropped the bag onto the small table in the center of the room before he turned and walked out, locking the heavy electronic door behind him.
I stumbled toward the table and reached for the bag with my tied hands, and my heart stopped when I saw the object inside. It was a heavy silver coin, but it wasn't currency from any country I knew, because it was stamped with the image of a snarling wolf’s head surrounded by a ring of jagged stars. It was the emblem of the Silverfang pack, a group that was supposed to be a myth or at the very least a rival that had been driven out of the city decades ago by Grayson’s grandfather.
"Grayson, look at this," I whispered, and I held the bag up so he could see the coin while he struggled to stand up from the floor.
He took one look at the silver emblem and his entire face changed, shifting from exhaustion to a kind of raw, primal terror that I had never seen on him before, even when the curse was burning through his chest. He reached out to touch the glass, his fingers trembling as he looked at the coin and then back at the empty hallway where the nurses were moving about as if everything were perfectly normal.
"That’s not an Iron Fang mark, and that’s not something the Syndicate would use to intimidate us," Grayson wheezed, and he leaned his forehead against the cool glass while he closed his eyes. "If they have her, then this isn't about the docks or the company anymore, because the Silverfangs don't take prisoners unless they're planning on starting a ritual that ends with everyone in this building being slaughtered."
The lights in the hallway suddenly flickered and a high-pitched alarm began to blare from the ceiling, and through the glass, I saw the nurses start to run toward the exits while the security guards drew their weapons and began firing at something just out of my line of sight.