That wasn’t a guarantee of success, though.They had to be very careful so that no one spotted them talking with the workers and raised suspicions.
The security personnel never went down into the lab area.They believed the facility worked on chemical and biological warfare weapons.So they were never curious about what went on underground.
They also had no dealings with the teams who delivered captured people to the facility.When someone arrived, they alerted the lab workers, who came up and got them and took them underground via the large elevator.The last person brought in was over eight months earlier, if the information they gleaned was correct.
While most of the security personnel were former military, the lab itself was not run by the military, as far as they knew.
The lab techs were more difficult to approach.They spent days at a time in the lab facility, and then were driven to the apartment building they all lived in.And they were bussed in together with others working their shift.Meaning it was trickier to approach them without being seen.
They had not yet compromised one of the main researchers in charge of the lab, but they at least had names and computer access codes.And they had confirmed that, as far as anyone knew, this was the only lab of its kind.The doctor in charge of it was in his seventies and had been there longer than anyone.
It wouldn’t be possible to compromise him ahead of the operation, because he literally never left the lab.He lived on site and had for years.None of the personnel they talked to, medical or security, had ever seen him go above ground, much less leave the facility.
As they gathered more intel, Peyton and Dewi enlisted Lowri Thompson-Harries for help with deciphering some of the information they received.She was the mate of Aaron Harries, one of their Enforcers based out of Charleston, South Carolina.
Lowri, with a degree in organic chemistry, had so far provided invaluable insight into what they were looking at.
And, apparently, that’s why Lowri and Aaron were now standing in Dewi’s living room, while she, Badger, and Ken sat there talking.
Arbitrating a marital dispute between one of her Enforcers and his Alpha female mate wasn’t exactly the last item on Dewi’s list of things she needed to deal with that day, but it was pretty damned close.
And it was already a long fucking list to start with.
Lowri wouldn’t get into the issue on the phone, but now that they were here, she wasted no time.
“Please tell Aaron I should go on the lab raid,” Lowri pleaded.She ticked off points on her fingers.“I’m trained in firearms.I have hand-to-hand fighting skills.I’m an Alpha.I have technical knowledge that could be critical when the raid happens because I know what could be important.”
Lowri was one of the few non-Enforcers who knew about the plan, and she’d been Primed not to reveal it to anyone else.
“You have never done anything like this,” Aaron argued.“You can phone in your help.There’s no reason for you to be part of the field ops.”
“Look, I’mliterallytrained!I have a degree in organic chemistry!They’ll need someone like meinthe lab, on site, to see what’s going on and what to grab or leave.And if it’s even possible to rescue people.They’ll likely have some of the victims heavily drugged, especially if there are Primes.I could be the difference between saving people and people dying, because you know damned well they’ll execute the personnel when they’re done, meaning I’ll have skills we can use to save any prisoners.And once people are rescued—if any are—they may need my expertise dealing with whatever compounds have been used on the subjects.And if they have to euthanize people… Well, then I might be the best person to make the judgment call.”
Aaron glared at his wife.“No.I told you that I amnotallowing it.”
She glared back, her hands jammed on her hips.“Uh, you can’t stop me.You might be my mate, but this is why I’m going straight to the Pack Alpha about this.”She pointed at Badger.
“Acting,” Badger and Dewi both wearily said in nearly identical tones.
“And while I hate to override a mate on this,” Dewi continued, “she has a point.Several valid points, actually.”
“If she were pregnant,” Badger added, “I’d say absolutely not.But she’s not.An’ she has a right to make up her own mind about this.This is an issue bigger than a marriage.It’s bigger than our pack.If ye wanna go with her, Aaron,” he added, “yer welcome to join the attack party.”
Aaron looked murderous.“Fine,” he spat.“But I amnothappy about this.”
“Ye don’t have to be happy,” Badger said.“No oneis happy about any of this, ye know.But it has to be done.Lives are at stake.”
Dewi rubbed her forehead.“Look, this sucks all the way around.And Aaron, you know damned well if Lyssa wasn’t an infant, and I wasn’t pregnant, I’d be right there with Peyton leading the charge.”
“Likehellyou would,” Ken rumbled.
She turned, arching an eyebrow at him.“This iswork.We agreed we don’t interfere withwork.”Dewi thought it was adorable how Ken grumbled, because it lit dark places deep inside her soul she once believed untouchable by anyone.
“I don’t understand why anyone who isn’t a trained fighter will beallowedto go,” Aaron argued.“Yeah, I was in the Army.Igetit.But what is she supposed to?—”
In a flash, Lowri threw him, and he landed on his ass, surprising even Dewi with how fast and strong she was.“Black belt in Judo, FYI,” Lowri said.“And while no, I wasn’t in the Army, you’ve seen I’m a damned good shot and can handle myself.”
Aaron jumped to his feet and stalked over to her.Dewi admired that Lowri didn’t appear to be the least bit intimidated, even though Aaron was about 5’11, and towered over her by seven inches.She stood there with her hands on her hips, not even flinching.
