I didn’t need protection from anyone. I had military training, I didn’t want or need protection from someone who would stab me in the eye if he was told to, rather than have my back.
The two men entered, Frank chatting about coffee and then apologizing loudly for being late. Something about the freeway and some manic drivers, although I’d been in a car with the man, and he was lethal on the open road. He sat down after passing out yet more donuts—as an ex-cop, he was leaning hard into the cliché, although I forgave him when he placed my usual order dripping with chocolate and sprinkles on my desk.
Novak stepped inside, calm and focused, meeting my gaze without flinching before sliding into the chair by my desk.
My stupid brain immediately supplied the memory of rain, heat, and the kiss.
“Novak, this is a closed?—”
“I’m here for Ezra and Seth,” Novak said, and I couldn’t argue with that. After all, they wouldn’t have even be alive if not for him.
Killian cleared his throat. “Are the remaining siblings caught in a survivalist situation, or a cult?”
“Survivalist officially, religion plays a part, a strong part. The leader goes by Father Michael, but his real name is Michael Jennet. A couple of the other identifiers the kids gave me run hot on drug dealing and trafficking, which puts this on the Doc side of the board.” I gestured at the board, as if that justified takingon a case in a different state, well outside our capacity to handle. I waited for someone to mention it, but no one said a word.
I cleared my throat. “There are over thirty people on-site, with rotational guards and two elevated watch points. The perimeter patrol now includes the older brother, Noah, who is fourteen. When buyers came looking for kids, they wanted two brothers, which is why they took Ezra and Seth.” Levi shook his head, and Killian’s lips pressed into a thin line. “There’s also a sister, Noah’s twin, in what they call Covenant House for processing, and she’s pregnant…” I paused. The boys’ descriptions of the screaming and visiting men sounded much worse, but I didn’t need to describe it; everyone here already understood what I wasn’t saying.
Silence.
“I’m doing this,” I said, in summary, or a plea.
Levi exhaled and nodded. “What’s your objective?”
“Confirm layout. Neutralize perimeter without lethal engagement.” I glanced at Novak, who was watching me. My body reacted before my brain did, heat curling low in my gut again. I hated that his beautiful silver gaze didn’t waver, didn’t flare, didn’t react—just fixed and measuring.
Wait. The fuck? His eyes aren’t beautiful.
They were filled with deadly focus, and he was empty of emotion and compassion, and he killed without remorse, and all the other fucking things I needed to remember.
Novak shifted in his chair, drawing my attention, the way it had in the parking lot when he stepped too close, and I forced myself to turn back to the map.
Don’t think about that weird as fuck kiss.
I yanked my wayward thoughts back to the question. “I’ll extract both siblings and gather evidence for federal follow-up.”
“Withoutlethal engagement?” Levi repeated and glanced at Novak, who hadn’t moved a muscle
“If this escalates, it could turn into Waco and become a prolonged siege.” I kept my voice flat. “I’ll carry out a one-person extraction, and?—”
“I’m going with you,” Novak said, without inflection, and I knew there would be no argument. His gaze was fixed on me again, and I shook my head.
“This is a targeted extraction, in a place that is run as a religious commune. It requires precision, and we’re not going in there to wipe them out.”
He raised an eyebrow, and I ignored him and instead focused on the rest of thelegitimateand non-psychopathic, kissing-me-inappropriately asshole, Cave team.
“I’ve tracked down a place about five miles out, which has a panic room in the basement, old-style CIA for off-site situations, hence the compound, which is also former government owned. I’ll get set up near there and always stay on comms. I’ll still be working remotely, but I’m going alone until I’ve gathered enough intel to call in backup.”
Killian exchanged a glance with Levi and Sonya, and all three nodded. “You’ll have all the resources you need, but we don’t do anything alone, and you have to agree to taking backup,” he gestured at Novak. “You have your volunteer.”
TEN
Novak
Cold stone pressedinto the skin beneath my knees, pushing through the thin fabric of the trousers. A projector hummed somewhere behind us, its fan rattling as images flickered across the white sheet nailed to the wall.
Brother Matthias stood behind me, so close I could hear the slow drag of his breathing. One of his hands rested on my shoulder in the casual way the men here used when they wanted to remind us that our bodies belonged to them. In his other hand was the small black remote that controlled the collar around my neck, the plastic worn smooth from use. When he pressed the button, the metal band tightened against my throat, and the current snapped through my nerves. My muscles contracted immediately, a clean reflex that pulled my shoulders forward and dipped my head as if the shock had driven me to the ground. I was thirteen now, used to the pain and the voltage, which wasn’t enough to take me to the floor anymore, but I lowered my head anyway because the men here preferred obedience to truth.
The collar clicked again, and the current ran longer this time, spreading across the nerves in my neck and shoulders ina bright electrical line. My body spasmed and then released. The sensation had changed over the years. When I was younger, the pain had been sharp and chaotic. Now it arrived as information: duration, intensity, and the way the muscles responded. I stayed still when the shock ended because the wrong reaction sometimes made them press the button again.
