Read The Bones of Valhalla (Purge of Babylon, Book 9) for Free Online Page B

down,” the one who wasn’t Bray said. There was just enough menace in his voice to let them know he meant business.
    “And then what?” Nate asked.
    Before someone could answer Nate, a radio squawked and Bray said, “We’ve secured the infirmary.”
    “Any trouble?” a voice asked. It was muffled, clearly coming through the radio.
    “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”
    “Good. Because if this thing goes south, we’re going to need the leverage.”
    “So we’re proceeding?”
    “Yeah, we’re proceeding,” the new voice said.
    Proceeding with what?
    Gaby resisted the temptation to move or open her eyes, and it took all of her willpower to keep her arms and legs from making any sudden movements that would draw attention. She continued to breathe, because sleeping people did that. She had to be content to listen and use what she heard to sketch out the room to the best of her ability.
    Bray and Zoe were to her left at the wall with the windows, while the second man whose name she didn’t know remained on the right side with Nate. They had smartly split up the room’s two occupants (not counting her) for easier control and had no doubt locked the door as soon as they entered. She expected them to start barricading the door, but maybe they had already done that before she woke up to the sounds of their movements.
    “Sit down,” Bray said from her left. Then, a few seconds later, “Please.”
    It almost sounded as if he was really asking Zoe, which didn’t make any sense. Men with guns, especially ones that had taken hostages, didn’t ask—they ordered.
    “You’re making a terrible mistake,” Zoe said.
    “You already said that,” Bray said. “You should be quiet.”
    “Things were going well; we would have taken you straight to the Bengal Islands,” Zoe pressed on. “You shouldn’t have done this.”
    “You don’t even know what we’re doing.”
    “I don’t have to. I just know what you’ve done. Which is come in here with guns and taken me and my patients hostage. That’s enough.”
    “Enough for what?” the second man asked.
    “To get you killed,” Zoe said.
    Someone snickered. It might have been Bray, but she reconsidered when the second man, on her right, said, “We outnumber you almost five to one on the boat. And half of your number are kids and an old lady. I think we’ll take our chances.”
    “This is all your fault anyway,” Bray said.
    “What is?” Nate asked.
    “Bray, need-to-know,” the second man said.
    But Bray ignored him and said, “That thing you brought back onboard with you this afternoon. Did you think we wouldn’t find out? Did you really think you could keep it a secret forever?”
    There was a brief moment of silence, and she imagined Nate and Zoe trying to come up with a response.
    They know about Will. Jesus, how did they know about Will?
    “We trusted you,” the second one was saying.
    “Says the man with the gun,” Nate said. “Besides, it’s not a threat.”
    “What the hell are you talking about, it’s not a threat?” Bray said. “That’s a ghouldown there, kid.”
    “It’s…different,” Nate said. He seemed to be struggling with his words. “You don’t understand—”
    “We understand plenty; you brought one of those things into our midst and you didn’t tell us about it,” the second man interrupted. “True or not true?”
    Silence again.
    “That’s what I thought,” the second man said.
    “You can still stop this,” Nate said. “No one’s been hurt yet. Turn around now and leave the room, and—”
    “What, you won’t tell anyone?” Bray said, the mocking in his voice clear as day. “Too late for that now, kid.”
    “Stop calling me that.”
    “What?”
    “Kid,” Nate said. “Do I look like I’m a goddamn kid?”
    Someone chuckled, before the man who wasn’t Bray said, “Bray’s forty going on sixty. Everyone’s a kid to him.”
    “You got a name?” Nate asked.
    “Collins,” the second man