“No, please, I told you everything—” Diego tries to thrash against the chains as I approach with the needle.
“This isn’t punishment,” I say, finding a vein in his arm. “This is insurance. We’re not done talking, and we need you awake.”
I inject the adrenaline. Diego gasps as it hits his system, his pupils dilating, his breathing going rapid and shallow.
“Now,” Charles says, his voice calm and measured. “You’re going to tell us everything you know. Every conversation with Ryan and Aria. Every meeting. Every detail. Every name you heard mentioned. Every location. Everything. And if I think you’re holding back—” He gestures to the drill. “—Silas gets creative.”
And Diego talks.
For the next two hours, he tells us everything. Every detail of his recruitment. Every instruction Ryan and Aria gave him. Every snippet of conversation he overheard. Every piece of the puzzle he has access to, no matter how small.
Marcus records it all from outside the door.
And when Diego finally runs dry, when he’s given us everything he possibly can, Charles and I step back to confer.
“He’s told us everything he knows,” Charles says quietly. “Which isn’t enough to stop them, but it’s a start.”
“He’s still a liability.”
“Agreed.” Charles looks back at Diego, slumped in the chair, shaking and crying. “We can’t let him live. Ryan and Aria will know we got to him. They’ll either kill him themselves or use him to feed us false information.”
“What about Maria? She should make the call—he’s her employee.”
Charles considers this. “Call her. Tell her what we found. Let her decide.”
I step outside, pulling out my phone. Maria answers immediately.
“Silas?”
“We have confirmation. Diego was working with Ryan Matthews and Aria. He made the plates, facilitated the attack. There are others in different organizations, but he doesn’t know who.”
Silence on the other end. Then: “Is he alive?”
“For now. But Charles wanted you to make the call. He’s your employee, your facility that was used. You get to decide.”
“I want him gone.” Maria’s voice is cold, final. “Completely. No body, no evidence, no trace. He betrayed his family. My family. He threatened those children. There’s no coming back from that.”
“Understood.”
“Silas? Thank you. For getting answers. For protecting them.”
“We’re not done yet. Ryan and Aria are still out there.”
“Then find them. And when you do—” Her voice breaks slightly. “—make them pay for what they did to those babies.”
“Count on it.”
I hang up, returning to the room. Charles looks at me expectantly.
“Maria wants him gone. Completely.”
Charles nods. “Then that’s what happens.”
Diego’s eyes widen as understanding hits. “No, please, I told you everything, I cooperated?—”
“You put children in danger,” Charles says simply. “My children. There’s no walking back from that.”
He looks at me. “Make it quick. He’s given us what we need.”
