Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) by Christopher Rankin

tranquilizers. He tried to get up but his legs were still too runny to stand on. “I’m gonna kill you, old man,” he said, looking like a cobra waiting to strike. “You’re never going to make it into that room.”
    The men guarding him looked increasingly afraid as his body started to regain functionality. “We’re really sorry, sir, but you left us no choice,” said one of the men, who seemed to be deciding whether to lower his stun gun.
    “If you let him in there,” Dade told the soldier, pulling one of the tranquilizer darts from his shoulder, “many, many people are going to die. That old bastard is nothing more than a torturer. That’s the only reason he’s here today. He doesn’t care about getting answers. He just wants to inflict pain.”
    Bernard stood over Dade Harkenrider, who was still sprawled out on the floor and still picking out tranquilizer darts from his upper body. “It’s a pity you feel that way,” said the old man. “It saddens me that you wouldn’t show a fellow scientist the respect he deserves.”
    “You’re no scientist and you deserve the opposite of respect,” said Dade. His voice was mixed with a growl.
    The soldiers received orders to prepare the prisoner for interrogation. Bernard said to Dade, “I’m afraid I must leave you laying on the floor, my old friend. Discovery awaits.” Bernard held up the steel briefcase handcuffed to his wrist as though he intended to taunt, saying, “Thank you again for giving me everything I need.” He directed the soldiers to bring the prisoner into one of the secured interrogation rooms deep in the core of The Asylum. “I’ll be along in a jiffy,” he said, smiling at Dade in a way that was meant to mock.
    Three soldiers still had their cattle prods aimed and sparking at Harkenrider. One of them said, “Please don’t go anywhere, sir. We’re sorry that we had to secure you this way. We have our orders.” They all looked at him like a man-eating polar bear just waking up after surgery. “Please understand, sir,” said another one of the men. “Please don’t consider this an attack on you.” Even though the man was armed and Dade was on the ground, he seemed to be pleading for mercy.
    “You have nothing to fear from me,” Dade told him as he finally stood up. He pulled the last tranquilizer dart from his lower back. The men kept their stun weapons pointed. At this point, Bernard Mengel was halfway down the corridor.
    “Then we are all just going to let this happen,” said one of the soldiers, who looked relieved. “The doctor over there is going to interrogate the terrorist. We’ll get the information we need, and then we are all going to call it a day, sir.”
    Ann Marie went over to Dade and, with her voice shaking, asked him if he was OK. She realized that her hands were trembling. The attack had left quite an impression on her.
    Her boss looked back at her and, with what appeared to be something like regret, apologized. He said, “I didn’t want you to see that.” Then he added, “Or what I’m about to do.”
    Looking confused, she asked him, “What do you mean?”
    Dade Harkenrider suddenly vaulted over two of the soldiers and knocked another to the ground on a mad charge toward Bernard Mengel. He took a few hits from the cattle prods but they barely slowed him down. Instead of grabbing hold of Bernard, he locked onto the steel briefcase and started bashing it. It was still connected to Bernard’s wrist and, as Dade smacked it against the floor, it whipped the old man’s body around. By the time the soldiers were able to reach him, the contents of the briefcase were smashed and dripping all over the hallway floor.
    Bernard gasped when he got up and saw the jars of broken interrogation chemicals. “Look at what you’ve done,” he said. “That was my entire supply.”
    “I know,” said Dade, smiling.
    “I was going to use that today.”
    “I know,” Dade said with his smiling blooming even