"I have to meet the controller, or he'll make me leave my dad." Trina backed up, darting her gaze left and right.
He stepped forward. "Wait."
Trina stiffened, freezing in the position of running away from him. He forced himself to soften his voice.
"How long have you known about the cave?" he asked.
Trina frowned. "I've always known about it."
Could those in control of the AB Project have used children for their experiments? He shook his head. The idea disturbed him, knowing what he'd gone through. A child would never survive.
"Are you feeling okay, Trina?" he asked.
If she was telling the truth—and he suspected she was with the information she'd given him, she would be going through withdrawals from the drugs. The switch would happen to her, too. While she wasn't old enough to have her past come out and kick her ass, the trauma of going through it alone would scare her.
Trina shrugged. "I just really want my dad."
"He'll be home soon enough. You're staying with Bonnie and the boys, right?"
"Bonnie's at the store. Zach told me I only have an hour, and then I have to go back before his mom returns."
"Zach's right. You need to go back to Trip's house."
"But I have to find the cont—"
"He's not at the cave." He decided to tell her the truth before he had another problem on his hands. "The controller won't be coming back to Avery Falls or contacting you again."
"That's not true." Trina hugged her middle. "I'll get in trouble if I don't go. I won't be able to stay here."
"Listen to me. He can't hurt you anymore," he said softly. "I promise. Your dad will explain everything when he gets back."
Still, she hesitated. He lifted his chin, motioning for her to leave. "Go. Hurry."
Trina ran toward the river. He opened the gate.
Speeder would be out for blood once he finds out they'd used his daughter. Coupled with the rage going through Trina's dad now, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Knocked sideways by the revelation that the Alpha Bio Project had used a child, he wondered what else he'd find out.
As he approached the clubhouse, he strained to hear the activity inside. There were too many voices going at once. Some in anger. Some crying out. Some repeating the same meaningless words over and over.
His heart raced, thrown back to the time he'd gone through the switch on his own. He wanted to go back home and stay there with Grace until it was all over.
But he'd taken a pledge to his MC brothers.
Unlocking the outer lock, he prepared for the others to bust out, mowing him down. He couldn't blame them for wanting to escape the nightmare they were stuck in.
Nobody met him at the door. He stepped inside, prepared to defend himself. Quickly, putting the lock on the inside to make sure nobody got out while he was here, he spotted Hank.
The new hair growth on Hank's normally clean-shaven face showed how much his MC brother suffered. Hank stayed sitting in the chair, his elbows propped against the table in front of him.
Keenan walked over and sat beside him. "I don't have to ask how you're doing."
Hank hung his head. "You're in no danger from me."
"Everyone's in danger. The sooner you believe that the faster you'll be able to protect yourself," he said.
"There were children." Hank raised his anguished eyes and met Keenan's gaze. Children, man. They should've castrated me instead of taking me out and putting me in the project."
Keenan's stomach tightened. Nobody had to tell him what kind of man Hank was in his past. The sickness rolled off Hank as he came to terms with his new reality.
"You can fight those feelings. Don't let them back in and change you." His jaw locked at knowing Hank's biggest crime centered around children. "If you can't..."
He thought of Trina outside. Of Zach and Kenny. Of the handful of local children that were innocent of what was happening in Avery Falls. Would they be safe from men like Hank when the switch was over?
"You touch any of them, I'll kill you myself." He met Hank's tortured gaze. "When the time comes, and if you can't walk out that door with absolute control of yourself, you better stick a fucking gun to your head because any member of AFMC will be after you."
Standing, he left the table. None of them were free from their past. The only thing different between him and Hank was the fact that he would never harm a child.
At the side of the room, Franco punched the wall, over and over. Blood painted the brick, running onto the floor. If he came away with only a busted, mangled hand at the end of the switch, he was one of the lucky ones.
Keenan walked around Steven, who wallowed on the floor, curled up in a fetal position naked. Half his hair on the side of his hair, pulled out, leaving raw scabs on his skin.
Ruger ran up to Keenan. Prepared, he grabbed the youngest member and held him still.
"Take me out of here." Ruger's face twisted. "I need to find my sister."
"You're not going anywhere." He pushed Ruger toward a chair. "Sit."
Ruger tried to push up. Keenan shoved him down, squeezing the back of Ruger's neck.
"Two more days, brother. Wait two more days, and it'll get easier." He waited until Ruger's muscles lost some of their tension and let him go.
Scanning the room, he asked, "Where's Prez?"
"Don't know." Ruger pressed his head against the table. "Don't know."
There was nothing more he could do here. The men were on their own. All he could do was make sure none of them got out of the clubhouse and spread throughout the town, taking their pain and fear out on others.
He couldn't be responsible for the death and destruction they would cause to the locals and tourists.
Men with a past who retained the enhancements given to them by the Alpha Bio Project were naturally killers. Gaining their emotions through the switch made them unpredictable and dangerous.
After killing Four, he accepted that those emotions he'd gained weren't present when he killed. He'd felt nothing.
He once again used the key to take off the lock at the door, then he slipped outside and slid the padlock back through the mechanism on the outside. The building already had a steel door. All the windows— except the one in the meeting room, which was locked— had been removed years ago, giving the club privacy from anyone on the outside.
Unless the others rubbed two chair legs together and started a fire, burning the place down, they should remain inside.
As he walked toward the gate, he scanned the area. Prez was the only other person who had a key. Somehow, he had to figure out where Prez had gone.
Chapter Nineteen
Outside the house, Keenan pinned a biker to the ground. Grace let the curtain fall and walked back to the couch. She was no longer interested in how he occupied his time when he was not inside with her.
Nothing ever changed.
He kept her locked inside.
Even if she discovered a way out, the danger of knowing there were others ready to hurt her kept her from trying to escape. She'd accepted that the only way she was going to get back home to her sister was if law enforcement showed up and arrested Keenan.