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Ben backed up, retreating as far as he could into the darkness of his holding cell There was a snick of a key turning the lock, then the door swung open and the two huge guards who’d brought him here carowled

Bothhim forward, out the door and into a di held in some kind of warehouse, based on the crude quarters he’d been stowed in until now But his captors led hiht of stairs and into what looked to be an opulent, nineteenth-century estate Polished wood glea Beneath hisspread out in an ornate pattern of deep red, purple, and gold Above his head in the foyer his captors pushed hie crystal chandelier twinkled

For an instant, so would be okay, after all He was deep into the shit lately, but this wasn’t the nightmare he’d expected it to be Not some torture chamber of horrors as he’d feared

Ahead of him, a set of open double doors frauided there by his handlers, who then held hi roos on the walls--all of it reeked of extensive wealth Old wealth, the kind you didn’t get without a few hundred years of practice

Surrounded by all that opulence, seated like a dark king behind a any desk, was a lasses

Ben’s paluy He was i beneath the impeccable fall of his jacket The pressed white shirt he as unbuttoned at the neck, but Ben didn’t think it was a sign of casualness so much as an indication of impatience Menace permeated the air like a thick cloud, and soled on the spot

He cleared his throat "I, uh I’lad to finally have the chance tothe tremor in his voice "We need to talk about Crimson--"

"Indeed, we do" The deep, airless reply cut Ben off with its appearance of callasses trained on hih I’m not the only one you’ve annoyed recently, Mr Sullivan That’s quite a nasty gash on your neck"

"I was attacked Son of a bitch tried to tear runted with obvious disinterest "Who would do a thing like that?"

"A va how crazy it had to sound But what had happened to hi iceberg "That’s what I need to talk to you about Like I said when I called the other night, so with Cris It’s turning them into bloodthirsty lunatics"

"Of course it is, Mr Sullivan That’s precisely what it was meant to do"

"What?" Disbeliefabout? I created Crimson I knohat it’s supposed to do It’s just a mild amphetamine--"

"For humans, yes" The dark-haired man stood up slowly, then came around the side of the enormous desk "For others, as you’ve discovered, it is solanced toward the open doors of the roouards stood at the threshold, their hair shaggy and unke to burn like eht frolealance back at his e troubling ht, a few of my associates visited your laboratory in Boston They searched your coine my dismay to hear that they could not find the formula for Crilass-shaded gaze that pinned hith away "I never keep the true forht it would be safer kept offsite, with ive it to me" There was little inflection in the words, no movement in the powerful body that stood before him like an impassable wall "Now, Mr Sullivan"

"I don’t have it That’s the God’s honest truth" "Where is it?"

Ben’s tongue froze He needed a bargaining chip, and the formula was all he had Besides, he wasn’t about to sic these thugs on Tess by telling them he’d hidden the Crimson recipe in her clinic He hadn’t , only until he’d sorted out his options in this mess Too late to call back thathis own ass was his pri Tess in the et it for you," Ben said, "but you’ll have to let entleo our separate ways Forget we know anything about each other"

A tight sotiate with me You are beneath me huuy was just some kind of demented vaht on sanity Except he’d seen what Criht That horrific transfored, searing gash in his neck was real too

Panic started ha hard in his chest

"Look, I don’t knohat’s going on here Frankly, I don’t wanna know I just want to get the hell out of here in one piece"

"Excellent Then you should have no trouble co Give me the formula"

"I told you, I don’t have it"

"Then you will have to re-create it, Mr Sullivan" A brief nod brought the two ar your lab equip a test subject for the finished product My associates will show you the way"

"Wait" Ben shot a look over his shoulder as the guards began to remove him from the room "You don’t understand The foret it right could take me several days--"

"You have no rasped Ben in an unyielding hold and pushed hiaped ahead of hiht