Page 50 of Dark Rebel's Mystery

He cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "I appreciate you all coming here this morning. I want to get a handle on things as soon as possible and decide on a course of action."

Jasmine set her coffee down, folding her hands in her lap. "My father believes that my mother's family came for her. He said she'd warned him that they might do something drastic if they discovered she'd married a Christian, but he admitted that he never took her seriously. He's been drowning in guilt ever since she was taken, and he believes that they killed her. I wanted to tell him that they hadn't and that she was still alive, but I didn't want to get his hopes up."

Max leaned forward, clasping his hands between his knees. "Boris was beyond distressed—there's a lot of pain bottled up inside him. He ranted about how she'd left him vulnerable, how he'd spent months searching. Ultimately, he believed her family forced her to sign divorce papers before killing her, but that makes little sense to me. If her family were so horrible that they were willing to kill her for marrying someone they disapproved of, they wouldn't have bothered to get her a lawyer and have her divorce him. My bet was that they wanted her to marry someone else, someone of their choosing, and that they needed the divorce to make it possible. They probably also threatened her with harming her daughter if she ever gave Boris or Jasmine a sign that she was alive."

"That's the most logical explanation," Kian agreed. "But given Syssi's visions, that's not how the story went."

Syssi nodded. "My latest vision showed that Kyra was held as a prisoner in Iran. At first, I assumed it was another vision showing the past, but a recent news broadcast was playing in the background, so I realized that it couldn't have been more than a few days old."

Jasmine tensed. "What did the vision show you about my mother?"

Syssi winced. "She was once again chained to the bed, but she wasn't drugged this time. She was bruised, though, and the same man from the other vision was there again, but this time, he wore a uniform instead of a doctor's coat. He said that he was surprised to find her in Tahav and seemed very pleased with himself. Kian searched for the name, and it's a small town in the north of Iran, somewhere between Iranian Azerbaijan and the Kermanshah Province."

"And?" Jasmine tapped her foot on the area rug. "I can sense that there is a big reveal coming up."

Syssi nodded. "The man didn't look a day older than in the previous vision. It was a little harder to tell what age your mother was, given the bruising on her face, so she could have been much older. But since I think the fake doctor was a Doomer, it's not a stretch to assume that he induced her transition when he forced himself on her. Your mother might be an immortal already."

Jasmine gasped, her hand flying to her chest.

"How could they have known about Kyra?" Ell-rom asked.

"It might have been a fluke," Kian said. "She was probably put in an asylum to be brainwashed to forget her husband and child, and someone working there might have been a Doomer. He would have had no idea that she was a Dormant or that she transitioned to immortality later, or he wouldn't have let her go. He would have taken her to the Doomers' island to become a breeder for Navuh's mercenary army."

Syssi shivered. "Maybe that's where she is?"

Kian leaned over and patted her hand. "You heard him say he was surprised to find her in Tahav. It's not a name you've heard before, so you couldn't have just superimposed it on the vision."

"Right." Syssi rubbed her temples between her thumb and forefinger. "But now that he knows she's immortal, that's exactly what he will do. We might already be too late."

Jasmine's jaw tightened. "Maybe she had a rough transition that caused her memory loss? Or maybe that is what all the drugs they pumped into her were for. They wanted her to forget about her family so she would be more agreeable to the arranged marriage, but then she transitioned and escaped. The bastard found her somehow, and now she is at that accursed island, and there is no way for us to get her out of there."

Kian regarded Jasmine's stricken expression and wished he could give her a glimmer of hope. "Kyra might still be in Tahav, Jasmine. Otherwise, the Fates wouldn't have given Syssi so many visions about her. They were trying to convey a sense of urgency, and we should send a team to that place as soon as possible."

Jasmine's eyes brightened. "You are right. The Fates need us to find my mother so she can help us find Khiann. It's all connected."

"We have to operate under the assumption that her captors are well-funded and well-connected," Max said. "A mission inside Iran is tricky; if the Brotherhood is involved, that's even trickier."

Kian let out a breath. "Her family might have connections to the Brotherhood, and they might have used its help to smuggle her out of the country. We have our resources that we can mobilize."

Turner knew people, and Kian was confident that the guy would find a way to smuggle a team into Iran. The question was how quickly those resources could be mobilized.

Getting people and equipment into Iran shouldn't be more complicated than operating inside Russia, and they had sent two chartered planes full of Guardians and military equipment to Saint Petersburg.

Kian ran a hand over the back of his neck. "We need to assemble a team as soon as possible, which is a problem because I don't know if Onegus can spare anyone."

Max lifted his hand. "I would like to go, provided that Onegus can release me from my post at the keep."

Kian nodded. "You're in. I'll talk with Onegus. We need more people, though."

"I'm going," Jasmine declared. "And don't even try to dissuade me. I'm great with disguises, and I can act my way through anything. I can color my hair, wear local clothing, keep my face covered—whatever it takes."

Ell-rom gave her a supportive squeeze of the shoulder. "I'm coming with you, and that's not negotiable either."

Kian's gut clenched. His mother wouldn't like her brother going on a dangerous mission even though he was probably the most lethal weapon in their arsenal.

He rose from his armchair. "I need to plan this with Onegus and Turner, and time is of the essence. I'll let you know when we are moving out, but be ready to go on a moment's notice."

Max rose to his feet. "I would like to join the meeting if you don't mind."

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