Chapter Eight #4
Her twin was already thinking of who to kill. Kenzie didn’t have to read the reports to know what came next. “They’re being trained as assassins.”
“They’re being trained as spies,” Eve corrected.
“At least Sosa and Gabby are. Assassination is merely one of their jobs. What they truly are is information brokers. Well, they gather the information and secrets and place powerful people into compromising situations. Sosa talked about several corporate clients and gaining intel into certain governments her group considers either unfriendly or potential targets. Gabby recently got dirt on a politician in Asia, and I hate thinking about how she was forced to do it.”
“So they are being used as prostitutes.” Lou glanced out as though she could see them. “Didn’t Sosa say she was eight when they took her?”
“She thinks,” her father said. “If we can trust a word she says since she’s been taught to lie.”
“She’s an adult now, right?” Cooper asked. “I understand she’s been conditioned to obey, but we’re offering her a way out.”
Kenzie might not like the girl, but she understood her.
“She’s worried about what happens to her sisters.
I don’t have to read reports to know that one of the ways they would condition children is to hurt the people they care about.
They need leverage over a kid, and teaching them they have to obey or they lose the only people in the world who matter is one way they do it.
So they’re teaching them criminal arts. I would bet she’s also excellent at breaking and entering, safe cracking, and hacking. ”
Lou held up a hand. “Uhm, shouldn’t we think about that since I watched Landon walk out with Aidan? It’s Sunday. No one’s here. There’s a lot of confidential information in this building.”
Her dad nodded. “Which is why I left a laptop and several folders in the break room. So far all they’ve done is flirt with Landon and demolish the chips Boomer left up here.
I really do have to make a Costco run now.
They’re either smart enough to know I’ve got a camera on them or they want to snack down on a bunch of carbs and pretend to be normal. ”
“There’s nothing normal about them,” Eve said gravely. “The good news? I don’t think they’re lying about the group they belong to.”
“Forced to be a part of.” Words mattered, and they should use the right ones.
Sosa hadn’t made the choice. It hadn’t been a cozy boarding school.
She hadn’t been a kid obsessed with gymnastics or trying to be the world’s next figure skating icon.
She looked to her dad. “Is that why you took her in? You wanted to see what she would try?”
“I took her in because if she’s older than twenty, I’ll eat my own shoe.
And there’s this thing called irony. Russian girl forced to assassinate people she doesn’t know?
Trying to save her sisters from pain? If someone had turned your mother in, none of you would be here,” he replied with a solemnity she rarely saw in him.
“Remind me to ask about your mother’s history,” Ben whispered before leaning forward and addressing the group.
“I think Sosa and Gabby both have important intelligence, though they might not know it. Being able to have either of them ID who hired the group would be helpful. I would also like to map the structure of the group and how it works.”
“Why would they know who hired them?” Lou asked the pertinent question.
“I can’t imagine they would be involved in the decisions about who to take on as clients.
Also, aren’t we afraid they’ll send someone else when they realize Uncle Ian isn’t dead?
” Her hand slapped across her mouth. “I called him uncle.”
They’d been so careful up until now because they’d been actively hiding their family ties from Ben Parker. “It’s okay now.”
“I watched Gabby call back to base and explain that she’d wounded me but some asshole pushed me out of the way so she’s trying again.
” Her father took another sip of the Scotch he would use to blunt the discomfort he had to be in.
“According to her she’s got forty-eight hours to complete the assignment, but they’re wary because they can’t confirm the injury.
Which is why Tris is uploading Aidan’s report.
It will state that I was admitted to Parkland and spoke with police but have no idea what happened. ”
“Are we back to faking your death?” Kala asked with a hint of glee. “Because I have thoughts.”
“She does,” Lou agreed. “She has a notebook and everything. It’s both inventive and disturbing.”
Her dad sighed. “No. And while I know they aren’t consulted on the clients, from what I can tell they’re housed in the same places the other less targeted trained girls are.”
“So they were kept in a brothel.” Ben’s hand came out, and he covered hers. “I would be interested in a client list. From what I’ve heard, this would be for men with money and power.”
“I am not going to fuck this up,” a quiet voice said.
Sosa stood in the doorway, Gabby behind her.
“We saw the laptop and folders, and we are not foolish, Mr. Ian. We are not going to look at them and tell the people who hurt us. Was that what this was about? Did you lie when you said you would help? It’s okay if you did, but we would like to know so we can choose our own way. ”
“I will not shoot you again, sir,” Gabby promised. “I don’t actually like shooting people. The only fun thing was being able to climb the tree, but then the Bratz doll pulled me out of it and now I have an ache in my backside. Oh, no, Sosa, there are two of them.”
Sosa nodded. “I tell you. One of them is goth version.”
Kala grinned. “Damn straight. Welcome, weirdoes.”
It took everything she had to not roll her eyes. She turned and tried to remember that she was the lucky one with great parents and friends and a wonderful life where she wasn’t forced to be an assassin. She’d chosen that all on her own. “Sosa, we had to test you.”
She nodded. “I understand, and I know you will continue to. I know it will be hard to be trusting, but it is hard for me, too. I wouldn’t trust at all if it weren’t for Miss Charlotte. She understand. If she cannot help, then there is no help in all the world.”
“She’s going to help,” her father said in a far more careful tone than he usually used. “The only reason she isn’t here now is she needs to get our boys ready to travel. She’ll join us. She wouldn’t miss it. She wouldn’t miss the chance to help out girls who were hurt like she was.”
It was so shitty. Why couldn’t she have her love story without a bunch of sad-sack, traumatized young adults hanging around?
Kala hadn’t had to deal with mini-moms. Lou hadn’t been forced to handle sarcastic newbies.
Still. She had to be who she was. Kind. Patient.
Open. “I will help you as well. As soon as we finish the mission we’re on, I’ll help take down everyone who hurt you. ”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Kala vowed.
“Then we will help you, too.” Gabby stepped inside and smiled shyly Eve’s way. “It was good to talk to you, Miss Eve. Even if you think we are crazy.”
Eve’s head shook. “Traumatized. Not crazy. There’s nothing crazy about coping mechanisms, even when they’re extreme. Can you tell us anything about who hired you? Where does the boss find clients?”
Sosa selected a seat across from Ben and sat down, Gabby in the one next to her.
“Our house is run by woman, but her boss is man. What you should understand is the house does many tasks. Some girls are used sexually, and they bring in money that way. Others work on the Dark Web. They are good at scams.”
“They get to eat the pizza.” Gabby had a sullen look on her face. “I tried to tell them I should be hacker, but they don’t believe me.”
“Because you are terrible with them.” Sosa looked to Kenzie’s father. “She cannot remember how to reset password. Also, despite the fact that she works with scammers, she is easy to scam. Sometimes they let us use the computers to study, but she clicks on everything and gets all the viruses.”
“I wanted to see the puppy videos,” Gabby argued.
“You were telling us how they select clients,” Ian encouraged.
“Yes. I watch when they don’t think I do. I can make myself small,” Sosa explained. “I’ve learned more since they trust me to be in the world. They think I am good girl. Probably because I always have been. I wait for right time. But until then I learn.”
“And she teaches,” Gabby said. “There are four of us. Milena and Claire are still there. Though Milena is often out on jobs since she’s had specialized training. We have figured some things out. We hoped to eventually have enough we could go to police, but then we realized…”
Kenzie could guess. “The police are in on it. At least some of them, and that could make things difficult. So you need a higher power. Despite his sarcasm, my father has deep ties to European intelligence.”
“And enough suspicion that I wouldn’t go straight to them until we figure out the tangle,” her father added. “Until then we’ll document and investigate and try to get your friends out. Is there any way one of them could get a client list?”
“The whole network is involved with a group.” Sosa seemed to think about how to describe them. “It is thing that seems fine on the outside. Like they seem to do good in the world. Charity. That is word.”
She felt Ben stiffen beside her. Kenzie leaned forward. “Are you talking about a group known as Disrupt?”
Both Sosa and Gabby nodded.
Kala pulled out her tablet and turned it toward the young women. “Do you know this man?”
She had pulled up a picture of Emmanuel Huisman.
Sosa went a nice shade of green.
Gabby ran to the nearest trash can and threw up.
She was taking that as a yes.