The silence was almost overwhelming after the gunfire and adrenaline rush.
Keira leaned back and peeled her hands off the steering wheel. “Everyone all right?”
Rogue nodded and glanced over his shoulder at Jade.
She sat in the backseat, her face pale, staring out at the night. “I’m okay,” she said. “I just hope Lily is. What is this place?”
“It’s one of my safe houses.” Keira pushed open her door, dropped to the ground and opened Jade’s door. “Come inside. You’re probably hungry and could use a shower.”
Rogue got out with his rifle and looked around the area. Starlight lit the open areas and cast shadows beneath the trees. “You two go inside. I want to scout the perimeter.”
Keira nodded and helped Jade down. She reached for the bag she’d stowed in the back seat and slung it over her shoulders. Then she hooked Jade’s arm. “You have some cuts and scrapes. I have a first aid kit inside.” Keira led the other woman up the steps to the cabin, fished a key from a gap in the window casing and unlocked the front door.
Rogue conducted a thorough reconnaissance of the area around the cabin, noting trails leading away from the cabin and up a hill. This building didn’t have the camouflage netting like the other one, but didn’t need it. Live oak and red oak trees bent over the structure, making it invisible from above. He suspected this cabin was a backup and not used as often.
When he was satisfied they hadn’t been followed and that he knew which way to go if they had to make a run for it, he retrieved his go-bag from the back seat of the truck and entered the cabin.
He followed the voices into a kitchen.
Jade sat in a chair next to a table while Keira sorted through a first aid kit. She pulled out alcohol pads and bandages and worked on the cuts and scrapes across Jade’s arms.
“He’s going to kill her,” Jade was saying. “I didn’t complete my mission. He’s going to kill Lily.”
Keira applied a bandage to a cut on Jade’s hand. “He won’t. Not if he thinks he can get you to come back. We need to get Lily away from Onyx and shut down their entire training program. What they’re doing isn’t right. None of us should’ve been turned into weapons and then lied to about the missions we were assigned.”
Jade nodded. “How could we be so gullible?”
“They were very effective in their brainwashing techniques. They took the most vulnerable girls, like me. I had no one and no place to go. They made me feel like I belonged, like I had purpose and was doing good for our country. That’s pretty powerful for girls who have been victims. We finally had the training to protect ourselves and the power to protect our country.” Keira snorted. “Only it wasn’t about protecting our country. It was about protecting their personal, political and financial interests. With our testimonies, we can stop them and put an end to their misuse of girls and young women.”
Jade stared into Keira’s eyes. “I'll give you everything—names, dates, locations of all Viktor's operations I’m aware of. I’ll sign anything you want and testify in court, even if it means I go to jail. But only if you help me get Lily out first."
“Do you know where he’s keeping her?” Rogue asked.
Jade nodded. “The main compound—West Texas, near the Mexican border. It's where they train new recruits.”
Keira frowned. “It’s where I was taken as a new recruit.”
“It’s where all of us were initially trained,” Jade said.
Keira met Rogue’s gaze. “It's a fortress. It’s hard to get into and nearly impossible to get out. They keep recruits there until they’ve assimilated and succumbed to the indoctrination. Then they move the assets to a less fortified compound near Corsicana and give them a little more freedom of movement, always bringing them in for more propaganda and programming."
“Get my sister out, and I’ll do anything you want,” Jade said.
“We will,” Rogue said, his eyes narrowing. “Since the compound won’t be easy to breach, we’ll need a plan.”
“I can help,” Jade said. “Since completing new recruit training and indoctrination, I’ve been back several times for briefings.”
Keira’s lips twisted. “It’s been a while since I’ve been back. If the layout hasn’t changed, I recall where most of the buildings are located.”
“It hasn’t changed,” Jade assured her.
“It’s suicide,” Keira frowned. “Even with insider knowledge.”
“Possibly,” Rogue said. “But we don’t have a choice. It’s the right thing to do.”
“Okay, then,” Keira said. “We plan.” She left the kitchen and returned a minute later with a long cardboard tube. She shook out the contents, revealing a map of Texas. They spread it across the table and located the area where the compound was.
Then Keira flipped the map over, produced a couple of pencils and handed one to Jade.
