Page 17 of A Light in the Darkness
“No. If they kill them, they have to pay for them. Most people don’t want that, so the weapons are usually used for… compliance.”
“Compliance?” I laugh, though there’s really nothing funny about the situation. “As if they can get away from it.”
“Mmm.” He makes a noncommittal noise, glancing down at the paper before him, and then his eyes meet mine. “I suppose some people prefer to threaten a girl with a gun to stay silent, and others like to staple her mouth shut to ensure it.”
“Or other things.” Rich says, his arms crossed over his stomach as he leans back. He looks like he’s trying to hold himself together, and I don’t know the extent of his background, but I get the sense that he’s getting overwhelmed.
Next to him, Kent dives for the menu, his eyes furiously scanning through the photos. He’s not perusing, not looking for the best offering, not taking his time to think about all the mothers, daughters, sisters, nieces, and friends there. He’s just looking for one person… always looking for her. Nobody speaks as he looks, offering him the silence so he can focus.
When he drops the last page, the look on his face is pure relief followed by sheer agony. A sob breaks out of his chest, but we all have the decency to pretend it didn’t, except for Rich. His friend places a gentle hand on his shoulder as Kent hangs his head in his hands.
We all know he was hoping not to see her on the menu as much as hewashoping to see her there. Because if she was there, he’d be seeing her tomorrow… they’d be reunited finally despite whatever hell she has suffered. The fact that she’s not there means maybe she hasn’t suffered to that extent, but it also means the search goes on. It means she could be dead, or that he could live his entire life without ever knowing what happened to her.
“What’s security like?” I ask, hoping to shift the conversation away from the gory details.
Michael looks grateful for it when he glances up at me. Knowing the details is important because we’re going to storm the gates tomorrow. The devil himself probably doesn’t know the extent of exactly what we’re about to witness, and we need to be prepared to help in whatever way we can. I’m not so disillusioned that I think we can ease their fears simply by showing up with guns and yelling at them to get out. If we had more people on our side, more people who were trained and qualified to help in these situations, maybe the process would be seamless. But I can’t reach out for help to anyone who I haven’t personally vetted. I told Claire that even the organizations that fundraise to prevent such atrocities have blood on their hands, and I wasn’t lying. All it takes is one single person with wavering convictions or need for power, control, money. It’s easy to corrupt people, and far harder to fight it.
“It’s a sixty-acre property with an iron gate at the front. The gate is controlled by a guard in the cam-room.”
“So, he’s our first mark.”
“They.” Michael says. “There’s two of them. And it’s not just a camera room. I guess, it’s more of a control room. If we don’t take them out before they hit their pretty little buttons, they’ll lock the whole place down. Cells can’t be opened manually, so lock down is bad.”
“Can’t we just un-lock it down after we kill those two?” Dom asks.
“Sure… if you know the code. That’s obviously not information my insider was made aware of.”
“I’m suspicious of how your insider got all the stuff hedidget.” I say, studying him for any hint of the answer.
“She.” Michael grins. “My insider is a she. My informant is a he. They’ve… formed a little bit of a bond. She gave him everything he needed to give to me.”
“That’s brave.” Harley says flatly. I’d think she was being sarcastic, but when I meet her eyes, they’re trained on the book of photos Kent dropped as if she’s itching to go through them.
“It is.” Michael agrees. “And I don’t even know how she got all of her information, but suffice to say, she’s been there a long time.”
“Okay,” Kent says, focused again on the task at hand, “We take out the guards in the comms room. What about the perimeter? Surely that’s not all they’ve got.”
“It’s definitely not.” Michael’s laugh is rye. “There’s four guards in the actual building. They switch off between comms room and cell patrol. Then you’ve got an additional four on the perimeter… one to guard each direction’s approach. They make a circuit though their territory every four hours, going counterclockwise with each circuit starting at the top of the next hour. They alternate breaks the same way, which means that each territory is left completely vulnerable twice a day.”
“So, eight people we have to kill?” Rook hesitates.
“Ten, actually. In addition to the eight guards, there are two ‘masters’. These are the guys who oversee the house—the ones that keep everyone in line, pull the strings, deal with the finances. They’re basically the ones running the whole operation, and they’re either going to run like the fucking cowards they are, or they’re going to go to any lengths to try and stop us from dismantling their empire.”
“Either way, they need eliminated.” I say.
No one disagrees.
I turn to Rich and Kent, waiting for whatever plan they’re working through. I had my own plan with the Zurich property, and it didn’t go accordingly. This time, I’ve given control to the only other person who may hate this entire operation as much as me.
“You know the insider’s name?” Kent asks, glancing at Michael.
“No names.” He sighs. “But I know her number. 4152.”
“So, if we can get someone on the inside… or multiple someone’s on the inside… we can use their own weapons against them.”
“Their own weapons?” Harley asks. “I think the worst weapons they have there are their dicks, and Ireallyhope you don’t mean that.”
“No.” Kent shakes his head, brandishing the piece of paper Rook dropped earlier. “The a la carte menu.”
