Page 10 of The Darkest Half

Vara shrugs. “Probably just procedure.”

That could also be true, but it doesn’t ease my suspicions.

“And what of the facility?” I ask.

“It is a legitimate working mental institution,” Vara explains. “The employee and resident lists check out. Like many places, it’s probably used by The Order. But that doesn’t mean all the employees are involved.”

“No, but at least one of them is,” I say. “Which means, if three women who’ve never visited the facility before decide to waltz in there on the same day as members of The Order, and when they held Niklas hostage not even an hour ago, someone’ll be alerting The Order before we even step through the entrance.”

“There goes the plan to pretend to be visitors,” Rayna says. “So then, what should be our move?”

Vara glances at her clothes as if that should answer Rayna’s question. And it does immediately. When we first pulled up, I wondered why she was dressed in a white scrub uniform rather than her usual black operative attire. But now I know. The gist of the plan, at least.

“I’m going to be a temp-hire housekeeper,” Vara says. “The facility hired a temp agency to find new help. If I go in alone, I can stall anyone alerting The Order at least.”

“But for how long?” Rayna asks. “And what are you going to do exactly?”

“She’s going to find out who in the facility knows about The Order,” I say. “Then detain them, and we come in afterward.”

“What if there is more than one?” Rayna asks. “And what if Vara can’t figure out who it is?” These are perfectly valid questions, but sometimes Rayna forgets just how good Vara is at this sort of thing.

Vara grins and pats Rayna on the shoulder.

“Watch and learn, young Rayna, watch and learn.”

Rayna smirks but never takes offense.

Vara is older than Rayna and me by twenty years, but she could easily pass for age thirty. In her case, age does equal experience. And I’m not too proud to admit that she’s far more experienced than I am and that it should be me working beneath her and not the other way around.

If anybody can pull this off, it’s Vara.

We drive the mile to the facility, and Vara lets Rayna and me off at the road before the gated entrance. Then she disappears up the driveway as the gate closes behind the car.

4

Izabel

It took twenty-two minutes for Vara to figure out which employee was the link to The Order, detain him, and then call us in.

Rayna and I make our way inside the building and see that Vara has the place on lockdown. Six orderlies sit against a sterile-white wall with their hands zip-tied. Two housekeepers sit on the floor of the other side of the room. Some of these people have no idea what’s going on, but they’re as afraid as customers inside a bank with a robbery in progress. A few of them, however, don’t appear to be particularly afraid, which leads me to believe they might also at least know about The Order’s business with the mental institution.

“Apparently,” Vara says, “this place is like a prison for family members of Order employees.”

I give her a questioning look as I approach.

“Niklas’ mother was being kept here,” Vara adds.

His mother? But I thought she was dead.

“I guess it doesn’t surprise me,” I say. “They probably had her stashed away for this moment; a bargaining chip to use against him.”

“That’s exactly what she was,” Vara says. “And you get one guess as to who they’re using her against Niklas to lure out of hiding.”

“Victor,” I say.

“Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner!” Vara says, pointing upward.

“And what else did you find out?” I ask.

---