Conrad had been studying the files Pete had collated for them. He put them down and came and stood next to Kylo, nodding. “It makes sense. This is where your brother’s mates were found, yes?” He pointed to the dot Kylo had left on the map.
“Yes. Mao bombed that place. You won’t find a report for that one in the pile you’ve got, although I kept an eye out for ages afterward, wondering if someone would let the precinct know about it.”
“I think we can assume most people who still live in these remote areas have either learned to turn a blind eye, or they worry they’ll be considered complicit.”
“So, based on what we’ve heard,” Kylo appreciated the fact Conrad didn’t mention the name James or Devil in the office, “And this place was set up because of the fire in the previous lab—if I did that, then I’d want it as far away from the other place as possible.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too. We have the death house here. The bombed house here. This point here.” Kylo indicated the spot where a house and outbuildings had gone up in smoke some years before. “I think this could be it.”
“What happened to the scientists and trainers that were responsible for what Nico and Teilo went through?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure.” Kylo made a notation on the pad he had beside the map. He’d sent Pete out to buy him a whole box of pens. “I think, but don’t quote me on it, they were taken care of before Ben and his mates left the area—well, those that were still in Paraguay. If there were any of them left…” he trailed off, not liking that idea at all.
“I’ll put in a call to Duron and get him to just check.” Conrad pulled out his phone. “We don’t want anyone in Paraguay associated with the assassin training program, or its derivative, especially if they are allies of Selina’s.”
“She’s not going to come for us here in the office,” Kylo said quietly, looking up and meeting Conrad’s calm eyes.
“It might take her a few days or more to come for us at all,” Conrad reminded him. “If we can stir up some mess in the meantime, and we assume we’re being watched at all times, then when she sees we’re still investigating, still stirring up shit, as she calls it…”
“Then she’ll come gunning for us, fireballs blazing. Fun times, not.” Picking up the map, Kylo folded it and put it in his jacket pocket. “To the jeep, dear mate. Let’s go and rattle some cages, or at least some dead bones, if we can find them.”
“Sounds like a fun afternoon. Let’s get lunch on the way.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Conrad
The jeep rattled and jarred Conrad’s bones as they headed deep into the jungle. Humid, the air was hard to suck in through the open window. A window Conrad had opened minutes earlier when his animals perked up and started to notice the scent coming through the car vents.
Death.
It was pungent despite the fact that it wasn’t recent. There was something about the smell that set Conrad’s teeth on edge. It was… familiar.
They may be in the jungle and thousands of miles from where Conrad had been held captive, yet there was an all too familiar aroma. The death came with a heady permeation of fear. The two combined were unique and something Conrad had lived with for years.
His eyes shut as a defense, only his mind wasn’t listening to reason, and he tumbled back into his past.
“Fuck, he’s a worthless piece of shit. Whoever kidnapped this fucker needs to get their ass kicked!” The sound of a booted foot kicking at the dead boy lying on the ground caused a kind of silence that anyone would hear a pin drop in, one Conrad was getting used to. Frighteningly so.
The air in his chest made it ache, but he didn’t dare release it and draw any attention to himself as he’d pissed his pants at what he’d just witnessed.
The dead boy couldn’t have been much older than him. He’d fought hard to avoid the enormous man wielding the long blade that had cut him into ribbons.
Blood, fear, and death. They filled Conrad’s nose as his body betrayed him and forced him to exhale, then inhale straight after. His stomach rebelled, and he gagged.
Dark, evil eyes landed on him; a smile that sent ice through his veins pinned him. “Let’s see what this new little shifter is capable of—”
“Conrad! Conrad! Fucksake, open your damn eyes and look at me.”
It was panic, Kylo’s dread that snapped him back. The jeep had stopped, and now Kylo was looking at him, concern written all over his face.
A thumping sound in Conrad’s ears was fast enough to make his ears ring. He swallowed to rid himself of the acid taste in his mouth. He breathed in deeply, then regretted it. What had thrown him so abruptly into hell came again, shoving him into his past, only it wasn’t the past but the present.
What the fuck had they done here? It was a stupid question, when deep down he knew the answer. The jungle, somewhere in the tangle of vegetation, held a mass grave. His nose said more than a dozen bodies lay hidden in the earth. Only, not concealed deep enough to stop Conrad from being able to find them.
What then?
What could they do to help those lost souls?
