Chapter 38
NIKOLAI
I read it twice before the implications sink in. Prague. Children. The words hit like ice water in my veins.
Jenna stirs beside me, her hand finding my chest in sleep. Three weeks since the forest, since she claimed me as thoroughly as I’ve claimed her, and she’s developed this unconscious need for contact. Even asleep, she reaches for me.
I could leave her here. The Nexus is secure, and our operation planning gets dark fast. She’s seen my violence, accepted it, but this is different. This is the systematic destruction of the people who made us into weapons.
But as I watch her breathe in the pre-dawn darkness, I realize I don’t want to leave her behind. Not anymore. She’s proven herself my equal in every way that matters. She deserves to see the full scope of what we’re fighting against.
“Nik?” Her voice is sleep-rough, eyes still closed. “What is it?”
“Intelligence came in. We need to be at Infinity in less than two hours.”
She opens her eyes, instantly alert. The hypervigilance never fully leaves either of us. “We?”
“If you want to come.” I stroke her hair back from her face. “This won’t be pretty. Full operational briefing about people who deserve to die. Slowly.”
Her smile is sharp as broken glass. “Try to keep me away.”
Infinity’s fifth floor hums with controlled violence when we arrive. All eight of my brothers are already here, scattered around the boardroom in various states of readiness. Darius looks up from his laptop with a grin.
“Well, well. Look what the hunter dragged in.”
“Literally,” Damon adds without looking up from the weapons array he’s checking. “Still got that post-capture glow, Jenna?”
“Still got that post-lobotomy charm, Damon?” Jenna fires back without missing a beat.
The room goes quiet for three seconds before Lucien starts laughing. “I like her more every time she opens her mouth.”
“That’s what he said,” Theon mutters, earning a collective groan.
“Children,” Raphael says from his position at the head of the table. “Can we focus on the actual children who need our help?”
The mood shifts immediately. Business time.
Ezra activates the central display, and satellite imagery fills the screen. A nondescript industrial complex surrounded by razor wire and guard towers. “Prague, Oklahoma. Population 2,847. This facility appeared on our radar six weeks ago when Marcus identified unusual supply patterns.”
Marcus leans forward, his voice carrying that particular intensity he gets when tracking prey. “Medical supplies, specialized equipment, and food deliveries consistent with housing forty to sixty individuals in controlled conditions.”
“Children,” I clarify, the word tasting like ash.
“Ages seven to fourteen, based on nutritional requirements and pharmaceutical orders,” Theon confirms. “Same drug cocktails they used on us. Same conditioning protocols.”
Jenna’s hand finds mine under the table, her grip tight. I can feel her processing this, understanding what it means that somewhere, children are going through what we survived.
“How many personnel?” I ask.
“Seventeen confirmed,” Dominic says, consulting his tablet. “I’ve been inside their hiring systems. They’re looking for specialists in behavioral modification and neurological conditioning.”
“Same disciplines that worked on us,” Darius adds grimly.
Ezra pulls up personnel files. “Dr. Elena Martinez, chief psychologist. Previously worked at three facilities we’ve already hit. She’s learned from our strikes.”
“Good,” I say. “That makes killing her more satisfying.”
“Timeline?” Lucien asks.
“They’ve had these kids for eight months,” Marcus reports. “If they’re following the original protocol, conditioning enters critical phase in the next six weeks.”
The room goes dead silent. We all remember what a critical phase means. The point where you break completely or die trying to resist.
“That’s not happening,” I state flatly.
“Agreed,” Raphael says. “Full extraction. Every child out alive.”
“What about the personnel?” Damon asks, already knowing the answer.
“No survivors,” I reply. “Message needs to be clear.”
Jenna speaks for the first time since we sat down. “How many other facilities are there?”
Ezra’s expression darkens. “We’ve identified seventeen possibilities across North America. This appears to be a coordinated rebuilding effort.”
“Someone’s taken over where the original program left off,” Theon explains. “Same methodology, updated technology, expanded scope.”
“Who’s funding it?” Jenna asks.
“Unofficially, it’s government-funded,” Ezra admits. “Shell companies within shell companies are hiding that, though. Whoever’s behind this learned from the original program’s mistakes.”
I watch Jenna absorb this information and see her sharp mind process the implications. She’s not horrified by the scope of our mission.
“The children,” she says quietly. “After extraction. Where do they go?”
“Safe houses initially,” Raphael answers. “Long-term rehabilitation facilities we’ve established. Places that understand what was done to them.”
“Places run by people who know how to help them heal,” Darius adds. “Because we know what it’s like.”
Jenna nods. “And the personnel at Prague?”
“Die screaming,” Lucien says matter-of-factly. “We’ve found that creative execution methods discourage others from participating in these programs.”
“Previous strikes have been… educational,” Theon agrees with disturbing cheer. “I’ve developed some particularly effective compounds for interrogation.”
“Theon’s chemistry set is basically a medieval torture chamber in powder form,” Marcus explains to Jenna. “Very effective for extracting information before termination.”
Jenna leans forward with interest. “What information?”
“Names, locations, funding sources,” I answer. “We work our way up the chain until we find whoever’s running this resurrection of Project Architect.”
“Then we kill them too,” Damon concludes cheerfully.
“Slowly,” Darius adds.
“Creatively,” Theon chimes in.
“While recording it for educational purposes,” Dominic finishes.
Jenna looks around the table at these eight lethal, damaged men who’ve become my family, and her smile is pure appreciation. “You’re all insane.”
“Says the woman who spent three months hunting traffickers with a kitchen knife,” Raphael points out.
“Fair point.”
Ezra brings up tactical schematics. “Facility overview. Two main buildings, underground connecting tunnels, perimeter security that’s significantly upgraded from previous sites.”
“They’re expecting us,” I observe.
“Good,” Lucien says. “I was getting bored with easy targets.”
“Approach vectors,” Ezra continues, highlighting entry points. “North access through the industrial zone, south through farmland, east and west routes are compromised by open ground.”
“What about underground?” Jenna asks, studying the display.
Eight pairs of eyes turn to her with new respect.
“Existing infrastructure?” she clarifies. “Maintenance tunnels, old mining operations, natural cave systems?”
Ezra’s fingers fly across his tablet. “Checking… yes. Old coal mine system extends approximately four hundred meters from the southeast corner.”
“Collapsed?” Darius asks.
“Partially. But several main tunnels appear intact.”
Marcus nods approvingly at Jenna. “Good eye. Underground approach wasn’t in the original assessment.”
“Because you were thinking like predators,” she explains. “Sometimes you need to think like prey that’s learned to hunt back.”
“Teams?” I ask Raphael.
“Three units. Extraction, elimination, and containment. Nikolai leads elimination; I’ll handle extraction with Marcus and Theon. Darius and Damon on containment with Ezra providing overwatch.”
“Where do I fit?” Jenna asks.
Another silence. Then Damon grins. “Depends. Can you kill child abusers without hesitation?”
“Try me.”
“She’s with elimination,” I decide. “If she can handle it.”
Raphael raises an eyebrow. “You sure about that?”
I look at Jenna—at her sharp focus, her steady hands, the cold calculation in her eyes as she studies the facility schematics. “She killed five traffickers in three months alone. She’s earned her place at this table. Timeline for operation?” I ask.
“Forty-Eight hours,” Raphael decides. “Gives us time for reconnaissance, equipment prep, and coordination with extraction teams.”
“Children’s safety is priority one,” I state clearly.
“Always,” Marcus agrees. “Everything else is secondary.”
“Including our own safety,” Darius adds.
Jenna squeezes my hand again, understanding what that means. We’d all die before letting those children suffer what we suffered.
Ezra shuts down the display. “Equipment requests to Theon by 1400 hours. Reconnaissance teams deploy the day after tomorrow at 0600.”
“Questions?” Raphael asks.
“Just one,” Jenna says. “What does it do to you? Going into these places, seeing what’s in them. I’ve killed men who deserved it and it still left a mark. This is something else. I want to know what I’m walking into.”
The question hangs in the air. Then Theon answers with devastating honesty.
“It marks you. Every time. We won’t pretend it doesn’t.” He holds her gaze. “But you won’t be carrying it alone. Whatever’s in there, you bring it back to this table, and everyone here has already seen worse. That’s the only thing that makes it survivable.”
“And you hold on to the reason,” Damon says quietly. “What’s in those places—it’s the reason we exist. Nobody else is coming for those kids. We are.”
“You’ll be changed by it,” Marcus says. There’s no apology in it. “We all were. The question is whether you’d rather be changed by walking in, or by knowing you could have and didn’t.”
Jenna nods slowly, and I can see her understanding crystallize. This isn’t about revenge, though revenge is sweet. This is about protection. About using the weapons we were made into to defend the innocent.
“Then let’s go save some children,” she says simply.
The meeting breaks up with the efficient brutality that marks all our operations. Equipment lists, timeline confirmations, tactical considerations. But I catch the looks my brothers give Jenna as she participates naturally in the planning.
She fits. Seamlessly, perfectly, like she was always meant to be here.
As we prepare to leave, Marcus approaches. “She’s good,” he says quietly. “Sharp tactical mind, steady under pressure.”
“I know.”
“You sure about bringing her on elimination?”
“She’s killed five traffickers. She can handle whatever we find in Prague.”
Marcus nods. “Just checking. Some of the things Theon has planned for the personnel… they’re not pretty.”
“She knows what pretty looks like. She’s choosing ugly for the right reasons.”
“Like us,” Marcus states.
“Like us.”
As we head for the elevator, my phone buzzes with another encrypted message. Marcus again, but this one makes my blood freeze.
Prague facility just received a new shipment. Twelve additional subjects, ages 5-8. Conditioning protocols accelerated. We’re running out of time.
I show the message to Jenna. Her face hardens into beauty and terror.
“Change of timeline?” she asks.
“Twenty-four hours,” I confirm.
“Good.” Her voice carries the promise of violence. “Those bastards have had those children long enough.”