Page 111 of Wicked Little Nightmare

I felt Lakey's hand tighten in mine, her excitement palpable. I squeezed back, a silent reminder to play it cool.

"And how exactly do we find her?" I asked, keeping my tone casual. Didn’t need to reveal that I know her other alias’ justyet. "I'm guessing she's not listed in the yellow pages under 'Evil Foster Mommy'."

Kyle snorted, but Sarah just shook her head. "Rose thinks she knows where Janine might be hiding. It's a long shot, but it's all we've got."

I turned to Rose, raising an eyebrow. "Care to share with the class, sweetheart?"

Rose rolled her eyes at the endearment, but her voice was strong when she spoke. "There's a research facility, about a hundred miles north of here. Janine... she used to talk about it sometimes. Said it was her 'backup plan' if things ever went south. She offered to bring me with if I wanted to leave."

"Well," Lakey drawled, her eyes glittering dangerously, "I'd say things have gone pretty fucking south, wouldn't you?" Then her face took on a strange look, “Weird that she was so attached to you, though.”

Sarah frowned, “What did Janine do to you guys, Lakey? I know I placed you with her and her husband, but he turned up missing a couple years back.”

“None of your business.”

Sarah sighed, coming around to put her hand on Lakey’s shoulder. “I’m here to help, Lakey. If you’re not ready to tell me, that’s fine, I’ll wait, but whatever you’re hiding might help us if we know what it is.”

I chuckled and she cut me a sharp look. “You want to tell me them, Cam?”

He turned to me, cocking his eyebrow as he studied my face. “Nah, it’s your story, baby,” then he looked at Sarah, “and she will tell you when she’s good and ready. If she ever is. As for right now, we’re ready to go on the attack. Let’s just say we have some personal reasons for wanting to have a chat with her.”

"We're not attacking anyone," Sarah said sharply. "This is a recon mission, nothing more. We get in, we find Janine, bag and tag her, we get out. Nothing else."

I had to bite back a laugh. As if this bitch could tell us what to do. The only thing needed was finding out where the fuck they took Lakey’s daughter, and me crushing her skull under my boot as payment for her sins. But I kept my face neutral, nodding along like a good little soldier.

"Sure thing, boss," I said, throwing her a mock salute. "So, when do we move out?"

"First light tomorrow," Kyle answered. "We'll take separate vehicles, approach from different directions. Less chance of being spotted that way. Theres an old sedan in the back. Ain’t pretty but still runs."

As they continued hashing out the details, excitement started to replace the anger. The anticipation of violence, of chaos. I glanced at my girl and saw the same hunger reflected in her eyes.

"Well," I said, clapping my hands together with false cheer, "sounds like we've got a busy day ahead of us. Best get some rest while we can."

As we walked upstairs to our room, I caught Lakey's eye. The unspoken promise passed between us: No matter what happened, we'd do whatever it took to survive. To win. Fuck the rest.

And if that meant leaving a trail of bodies in our wake? Well, that was just par for the course and our new friends would just have to accept us for what we were.

Murderers. Vigilantes. Reapers of revenge.

Thirty-Eight: Lakey

The night air bit into my skin as we crouched behind a rusted dumpster, eyeing the facility. It had taken two hours to get here and another half to figure out how the fuck to get past the gates. This place could have been Area 51 for all the effort they went to in order to hide it. It looked like a hospital almost, big, boring walls with flood lights on the roof. Everything was dark except for some dim lighting that was visible from where we hid. Guess they were so confident that no one would know about this place, they didn’t have outside security.Amateurs.

Ants crawled up and down my legs as the blood flow slowed. I need to move, to stretch. Kyle had become head honcho and enjoyed telling me what to do. It was pissing me off and my knives were burning on my thighs, wanting to slice his tongue out of his mouth. I could almost taste the violence, sweet as cotton candy.

"Alright, listen up," Kyle whispered, as he rummaged around in his backpack. Camo designed, of course. I was just waiting for him to bust out an energy drink and punch a hole in a wall. "We've got motion sensors, infrared cameras, and a scheduled patrol, once every hour. One wrong move and we're fucked."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Like I gave a shit about some rent-a-cop with a flashlight. But Cam was watching Kyle intently, so I forced myself to pay attention. I didn’t like the way we were deferring plans to someone else, but the way Cam was paying attention felt a hell of a lot like respect.

"Take these," he muttered, passing out gleaming pistols. The weight felt good in my hand, familiar. And yet I knew I wouldn’t use it unless I had no other choice. I wondered if Kyle knew how many people I'd killed with my knives. Probably not, judging by how casually he handed me a weapon capable of much more widespread damage.

As Kyle rattled on about security protocols, I scanned the perimeter. No movement, no signs of life. Almost too easy. My gut twisted with unease. Was Kyle leading us into a trap? I glanced at Cam, trying to gauge if he shared my suspicion. His jaw was clenched tight, eyes narrowed. He wasn’t suspicious about the older man’s leadership, —yet— no, that was the look of unease. Yeah, he felt off too. Almost like Chimera wanted us to find this place. If Janine was here, and if she was as important as they make her out to be, there’s no way she’d be left unguarded.

So why? Why was this all so fucking easy?

"Ready?" Kyle asked, pulling out a sleek laptop.

I nodded, cocking my pistol and checking the chamber. "Ready as a chicken for slaughter."

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