Page 110 of Peace Under Fire

Alaska turned her head and studied Mandy with assessing eyes. “How about this? I’ll tell you about the messed-up circumstances that led me to the Refuge if you explain how you received this warning to run with no cell phone or laptop available.” She glanced at Brick. “The fact we’re sitting here means Brick trusts what you told him. So, what’s the story?”

Mandy shoved a hunk of hair out of her eyes. Alaska had become a casualty of her life. She deserved to know what her freeloading friend had dragged her into.

“My family,” she started slowly, feeling her way, “have certain … mental … abilities.”

Alaska’s eyebrows flew up. “Like what?”

“Like…mind reading…telekinesis…precognition.”

“Seriously?” Alaska straightened against the concrete wall behind them. “What can you do?”

“Nothing.” Mandy scowled. That question was going to become the bane of her existence.

“Not nothing,” Brick contradicted in an easy voice. “She can share people’s dreams. And she saw Squish’s future.”

“I can share two people’s dreams—Giulia’s and Jacob’s—and I can’t even share them at the same time. I’m not nearly as impressive as Giulia, who can insert herself into people’s minds, or JoAnn, who can phase herself out of existence.”

“Wow.” Alaska’s mouth fell open and then slowly closed. “That’s why you’re in hiding? These people are after you because of your abilities?”

“Yeah.” Mandy’s throat heated and tightened. “They’ve already kidnapped eight of my sisters. Jacob and Tex are helping me find and rescue them.”

Alaska was silent for a moment. “The warning you received earlier, it was from your sister Giulia? She inserted the warning directly into your mind?”

Mandy sighed and covered her eyes with her palms. This was where things got complicated. “Not exactly. I mean the warning was inserted directly into my mind, but it didn’t come from Giulia.”

After a moment of silence Alaska asked the obvious question. “Who did it come from?”

“I don’t know.” Mandy still didn’t have a concrete answer to that.

But she did have a theory. The cockroaches could have experimented on a bunch of other women after Sybil and Alex had blown up the clinic and everyone had escaped. Or maybe they’d had a second facility even back then. Another place full of human lab rats that they’d been experimenting on.

There was so much they didn’t know about the facility and the scientists running it. Who did the scientists report to? Someone, or some organization, must have funded their research. What was the purpose of their experiments? And why hadn’t there been any boys? All the subjects in the facility had been female. It had been a woman’s voice that had told her to run.

Where were the male subjects? Were there any?

And if not, why?

* * *

It was closing on midnight by the time the plane landed in Los Alamos. As Squish charged down the airport exit ramp, he was one giant, twitchy, exposed nerve. Pressure was building behind his eyes again, a clear indication another migraine was on the way. Breathing hard, he went straight for his phone. It took forever for the thing to power up. He navigated to his email, his heart pounding hard enough to rattle his lungs.

Tex had sent updates, lots of them.

He went straight to the last email, figuring it would have the most recent information.

Infiltration teams have gone dark. Your package is secure.

The time stamp was from an hour earlier.

The tension vacated his body in a hard rush. He swayed, momentarily dizzy. Mandy was safe. She was safe!

Thank you, Jesus.

Once he gained control of himself, he scrolled through the rest of the emails, reading from the last update to the first.

Time stamp 10:30 p.m.—Infiltration teams retreating. Your package remains secure.

He paused again to release another gust of relief. He already knew the cockroaches hadn’t found Mandy. Still, verifying that news released even more heat from his pulse.

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