Page 83 of Rescuing Kaye

Her eyes round with that comment. Not that I would ever be so crass to risk exposing her like that, but her reactions are too much fun not to tease her about it.

“And each team has a bullpen?” She wanders around the room, running her fingers over the fencing surrounding each of our personal gear lockers.

“Four teams. Four bullpens. And we each have our own gear locker, but we call them cages.”

“I can definitely see why.” She peers through the fencing. “There’s a lot of stuff in there.”

“Anything that’s tailored specifically to each of us is kept in our personal lockers.”

“Like, what?”

“Favorite weapon, body armor, boots, rucks, our helmets with night vision goggles. Stuff like that. Go Bag.” I point to my bag.

“It’s impressive. I’m finding it difficult to imagine the scope of an operation like this.”

“We’re funded by billionaires. You met Forest and Skye, plus there are many other sources of grants and private funding.”

I grab a clean pair of jeans and shirt and quickly change clothes. As I do, I can’t help but laugh under my breath. If Brady, or any of the others walk in and see Kaye in here, and me in my skivvies, I’ll never hear the end of it.

“We really should leave before we get caught. I’m not kidding about the amount of flack they’ll give me if they know I brought a woman into our sacred spot.”

We hustle out of Bravo’s bullpen and I show her the central briefing room in the center of the building. Chances are, she’ll be here again for updates on whatever progress we make with Scott. Kaye listens with rapt attention, her eyes wide as she takes it all in.

We once again step outside, and the bright California sun beats down on us as we tour the different facilities. I explain some of the things Bravo team does here. How we train and test out new weapons, tactics, and the tech Mitzy’s gang thinks up.

We stroll along one of the many paths scattered throughout The Facility until we arrive at Mitzy’s fiefdom, the tech facility.

A metal door stands closed against a white wall and a posted sign reads Omega Tech Testing Facility.

“Omega?” Her eyes sparkle and she can’t help but peer inside.

“Mitzy says her team is the tail that wags the dog, and since that’s the end—Omega.”

“Funny, but who’s the dog?”

“The Guardians.” I roll my eyes, but it’s for show.

“A bit of rivalry?”

“You’d think, but not really. We prefer being called the pointy tip of the spear, but Mitzy’s trying to get everyone to switch to calling us the dogs.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“You’d think, but it’s because of the Rufi.”

“Rufi?”

“Yes, those are her Robotic Ultra Functional Utility Specialists, or R.U.F.U.S. It’s the name of a dog in some kid’s book. Her pack of Rufuses was too hard to say, so we call them Rufi. She hates it and retaliated with Omega.”

“That’s kind of funny.”

“Maybe, but it’s not catching on. Mitzy’s trying, though. She renamed the Tech building to be the Omega Tech Testing Facility to try and push the change.” I press on the access panel and the outer metal door opens with a hiss.

We step into the cool, air-conditioned interior, where I give Kaye the nickel tour, letting her peek in on all the cool projects Mitzy’s team is currently working on.

After spending a little over an hour with the Techies, I take her to the gym facilities. Her eyes widen as we enter the main area, which is larger than a stadium.

“This is where you’ll meet me after lunch for our first sparring lesson.”

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