Page 61 of Lesson In Faith

“No idea. Until we get the full story from Tamsyn, I think we’re going to be twiddling our thumbs for a while. It’s too risky to send up a drone, and there’s no telling when she’ll regain her voice.”

“Have you run any of this by Tabitha yet?”

Merrick scowled. Were they all so quick to throw her to the wolves when they needed something dangerous doing? For fuck’s sake, she wastiny. Sure, she had an attitude the width of Nebraska, but there was no way of telling how far the entitled pricks at the top of the mountain would go to protect their dirty way of life.

“Merrick has reservations about us sending my sister in as a sacrificial goat,” Jasper said with a perfectly straight face.

Atticus groaned. “We’re divulging classified data now?”

“To civilians, no less. Pretty sure he’s not going to broadcast it all over the state.”

“Not unless he wants a midnight visit from her,” Atticus stated with a laugh. “Got your hands full with the little mute, Merrick?”

“I’m keeping her.” He didn’t know why he felt compelled to say it, but it felt damn good to hear it aloud.

“Sounds like she’s landed on her feet, then. We need to decide what to do with the other victims still on the premises. We have enough safehouses scattered around to relocate them, but it appears the majority have been born into the fucking place, so we don’t have families to send them home to for support. Add in the legalities of no official documentation or identification… this is one hell of a clusterfuck.”

“Main priority is getting them out alive before we worry about the rest,” Jasper pointed out. “The elders may have a contingency plan in place like those assholes in Detroit. They all popped cyanide capsules as the team breached,” he explained in a quiet voice, his eyes sliding over to Anarchy as she sniffled. “Polygamous dynamic with one husband, three wives, and seven children. The youngest was three.”

Well, fuck. It beat Merrick how two seemingly normal people like these could bear witness to atrocities like that without taking a massive hit to their personal lives and mental health. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that one such incident would probably scar him for the rest of time, especially if there were dead children involved.

Women were to be respected and protected.

Kids were on another level entirely.

“You promised we wouldn’t talk about that again.” Swiping at her eyes, Archie swallowed back tears. “Especially not when my hormones are running riot and I cry if there are no pancakes for breakfast.”

Jasper was on his feet in an instant, elegantly rising and crossing over to his wife in a couple of long strides, setting his phone down on the arm of her chair before wrapping himself around her from behind. He kissed the side of her neck. “Sorry, kitten. I’ll put it back in the vault.”

She leaned her head against him, her eyes still shimmery. “That was a bad day.”

“It was.” He closed his eyes and they were quiet for a moment before he sighed softly. “I think in the interest of being cautious, we need to get more intel, Att. Archie can keep digging from here, hunt down the bank accounts, see if she can root out any protocols for what happens in case of a perimeter breach or emergency. We need to get eyes on the place, get an accurate number of security personnel and civilians.”

“They might keep records of their internal population,” Archie said, shaking off her moment of weakness. “I mean, judging by how they operate, I can’t see them having a list of women they have in stock. They really don’t give a shit about them, unless one does the unthinkable and runs.”

Merrick cleared his throat. “They don’t have tech within the compound, at least not where the women have access to it. Tamsyn’s been fascinated with the TV for weeks, didn’t have a clue how to use it, and cell phones are a foreign concept to her. Pretty sure she’s never seen a laptop before, either,” he added, lifting his chin toward Anarchy’s. “If they’re signing contracts, my guess is they’re on paper. She doesn’t know how to read or write, so either they don’t bother getting the women to sign or they just force them to make a mark.”

Atticus sighed down the line, but it held a growl of frustration. “We’ll give them a week. I’m going to pull in Sonic and get her to access satellite images. Check and see if they’ve established a no-fly zone; it might not be something they’ve thought about. If the skies are clear, we could maybe drop a couple of Alpha team out of a plane as adrenaline junkies. Give Tabitha a poke, J, and see how open she is for some reconnaissance work.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “I get the fun task.”

“She doesn’t hate you as much as you think she does.” Anarchy reached up and squeezed his hand. “She just believes you and her brothers don’t value her skills as much because she isn’t hung like a donkey. It doesn’t help that you know far too much about her secrets.”

“They’re hardly secrets anymore,” he huffed, “and we don’t value her any less because she’s not a man, for God’s sake. She’s the best of all of us.”

“Maybe tell her that,” his wife suggested brightly.

Merrick pinched the bridge of his nose.

“We need the girl to talk. Would flying Connie over help?” Atticus asked.

Who the hell was Connie?

“I don’t think it’s that she doesn’t want to talk,” Merrick snapped defensively. “I think she physically can’t.”

“Hmm. A doctor then.”

“That just makes her worse. She ends up being sedated.”

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