Page 82 of Harmless
“Heard the devotion to their goddess. The screams and the begging. We’ve even felt the blood drip from the ceiling.”
Rori’s head lifted from my shoulder to stare at him. “The ceiling? So you were held underground?”
“Basements and cellars usually, yeah.”
“Were you twohere? At this compound?”
I blew out a breath. “I think so. We had hoods on or we were in a box truck when being transported, so it’s hard to say for sure.” I ran my palm up and down her back, meeting Devin’s eye.
“But you two were never sacrificed.”
Swallowing the uncomfortable knot in my throat, I said, “We were, uh, tested for other uses. Us, along with a guy named Hudson. My best guess is, Dev and I didn’t produce the results they wanted, so they shipped us off to become gladiators.”
Rori’s eyes ping-ponged between the two of us. “And by results, you mean…?”
“Viable pregnancies. Kids,” Devin spat out. “They were testing us out as breeding studs to increase their numbers. So obviously, they wanted to become pregnant with girls.”
“Oh my God…” Rori brought a hand to her mouth and turned away like she was going to be sick.
“What the fuck,” Torr breathed. “What if they had boys?”
“We never exactly got a chance to ask and find out,” Devin answered bitterly. “But since they routinely execute men in public, you can probably make some educated guesses.”
“Jesus…”
“If this is the place we came from, we think Hudson might still be here,” I said. “And if he is, we want to get him out. He’s our friend, and he just…” The fucking lump in my throat would not go away, no matter how much I swallowed. “He just deserves better, you know?”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.” Rori nodded, regaining her composure despite the fact that she still looked a little green. “We can’t go in guns blazing, that’s for sure. Not with kids and people we need to rescue.” She looked at me. “Any idea how many prisoners they could have?”
“Not sure. It was only us three they kept long-term. Then they usually had one or two for the monthly sacrifices at any given time.”
“Bear in mind, this was five, six years ago,” Devin added. “With how much money they’ve made from the resort and whatever other projects? For all we know, they could have a whole prison complex at their disposal now.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” Rori stabbed her fingers through her hair, pulling on the roots. “How many people has this cult killed? And they’ve been getting away with it for decades. Fucking hell.”
“Hey, listen to me. We focus on one thing at a time.” Torr squeezed her shoulder, massaging upwards toward her neck. “Right now, it’s pretty clear we have to do a stealth mission. We’ll find Hudson and get him out. Maybe that’s all we do before we regroup and hit them again later. Hudson might be able to help us.”
I chewed the inside of my cheek but kept quiet. It had been years since we’d seen Hudson, and his mental state had already been deteriorating back then. If he was still alive, he was probably so traumatized that he wouldn’t be much help at all. If I was being completely honest, I wasn’t sure he was savable.
“I’m gonna need some paper. I can draw an aerial view of the compound that Paige couldn’t see from that angle.” Rori sucked her teeth. “I don’t know how to explain to the others how I know this, though.”
“They know that gods walk with us,” Devin said lightly. “You don’t have to give details, just say that your dove showed you.”
She gave a passing glance to all of us, but her gaze lingered on Devin. “I need you guys to back me up if the others push against this. I know the fighters want to, well, fight, but it seems like we’ll have to tread delicately instead. Can you all do that?”
Devin didn’t hesitate to say it with the rest of us. “Yes.”
Rori looked relieved, then confused, if also a little on guard. I understood it. Devin being agreeable instead of argumentative always threw me for a loop. But I knew he would keep his word.
“Alright then.” Rori put her hands on her hips and jerked her chin down in a decisive nod. “Let’s come up with a plan.”
28
RORI
The fighters took well to the new plan, for the most part, with only some minor grumbling about not being able to kill anyone on sight. The Saint even sung praises and kissed my ass about my adaptability and compassion for victims and blah blah blah.
That guy still gave me pause. Not alarm bells, but not a strong sense of trust either. He might have just been eccentric, or he had goals of his own in mind. He seemed agreeable to the stealth mission though, and that was all I could ask for. His actions would soon tell me more.
