“Are you going to move, or do I have to fire this thing?” Perez asked.

Jasper lifted both hands in a defensive position. “Listen to me. You don’t want any part of this. It’s not right.”

“You’ve brutally tortured and then murdered more than thirty women. You’ve even killed your own parents, for God’s sake! And now you want to talk about what’s right?”

Terror rose like bile, burning Jasper’s throat. They felt justified in doing whatever they pleased because they considered it justice. “You need to stop and think! If you allow this to happen, you’ll lose your job.”

“No, I won’t. I’m just making sure a filthy man takes a shower. That is my job.”

Arguing was no good. It didn’t matter what he said. They didn’t believe he knew anything about Evelyn, thought he was simply trying to avoid a beating, which was the greatest irony he’d ever encountered, because he really could save her. At least, he thought he could—if what Chastity had sent him meant anything.

He turned and tried to make a run for it. He had no other choice.

Before he could take three steps, Perez hit the button on his Taser and those hooks flew out like they had in the library, paralyzing him with an intense electric current. Then Perez dragged him to the showers, and once he was there two inmates stripped him naked.

Jasper had never felt more vulnerable than when he saw Roland waiting for him. That was the moment he knew he really wasn’t getting out of this.

He took a swing at Roland—he wasn’t going to wait, always be on the defensive—and fought as hard as he could. But after only a few minutes, Roland had his arm twisted behind his back until it felt as though it was being wrenched from the socket. He could only scream in pain—though he still noticed the slick feel of the shower wall when Roland forced him up against it.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Rufus asked facetiously as he stepped through the steam gathering thick and hot around them.

Jasper couldn’t see the guards anymore. They’d made themselves scarce so they could pretend they’d had no idea he was about to get assaulted.

“You motherfuckers! I’ll make you all pay for this!” Jasper shouted, but no one seemed too concerned about his threats. He felt Rufus’s hairy chest press into his back, felt Rufus’s breath, even hotter than the steam, curl over his cheek. “I love initiations,” he murmured, and licked Jasper’s ear.

“I know … I know where Dr. Talbot is,” Jasper croaked. At this point, he didn’t care if Evelyn made it back alive. He was merely trying to save his own skin.

Now they’ll have to believe me, he thought. But no one did.

Or … maybe he hadn’t actually brought those words to his lips. He didn’t know, couldn’t think straight, especially after he felt something he didn’t want to feel against his backside and tried to kick Rufus to keep him away.