Vibrations from the multiple healing cells being utilized buzzed through the underground chamber. Benny’s eye socket popped back into place, and he winced. “Sam, good to almost see you. Did anybody get any relevant information? Did anybody hear about the enhanced females or Karma’s twin girls?”
Nobody answered for a moment.
“I didn’t learn anything about the females or the girls, but I have some intel for later,” Garrett said.
“Ditto,” Logan added.
Well, crap. Benny couldn’t risk staying another day to find the girls, considering Karma had just blown his entire plan to the crapper. “We have to get back home.” While he’d heard that the connection had been cut before the Kurjans could trace the call, she’d still made arrangements to meet up with Terre if she could find transportation.
The bastard now knew that she was alive. So much for keeping her under the radar.
Logan leaned against the bars that separated his cell from Benny’s. “I could take a couple more rounds. Let’s stay and try for more information before we leave. We have to find out how many enhanced females they’ve kidnapped and where they’re keeping them. I still want to know how much they have on the Seven and if they have a bead on Ulric. They don’t believe that we have him locked down.”
Sam sat on the dirt floor across the way, blood pouring from a cut above his eyebrow. “I have some intel from my time here, but I think they’re as much in the dark about Ulric as we are. Supposedly his Intended is sure he’s close to breaking free of the prison world.”
Benny fixed his broken shoulder and then started mending the cartilage around it. “Yvonne, right? She has to be getting on in age a bit. If she dies, doesn’t another Intended for Ulric take her place?”
“Affirmative,” Garrett said, breathing heavily. Pain radiated from him along with the healing tingles. “Why are there so many damn Chosen Ones or Intendeds? Jamie was one, Hope is supposedly one, my Aunt Brenna was or is one…”
“Why are they always female?” Sam asked absently. “Shouldn’t a male be chosen as something once in a while?”
Logan chuckled and stared across the way at his brother and Garrett, whose cells were side by side. “We’re not as smart as females.”
That was the truth. “Except for Karma, right now. Oh, she’s smart, but she hasn’t figured out that if anybody is going to sacrifice themselves, it is not going to be her,” Benny growled. Then he told his brothers about her phone call and promise to Terre.
“What phone did she use?” Logan asked, wiping blood off his chin.
“Dunno,” Benny answered. “She had to have done it away from Mercy, because I’m sure Mercy would’ve stopped her. We have phones in different places. Mine is in the kitchen drawer at my house, and we also have the box of burners in the weapons room. It doesn’t matter where she got the phone.”
“So long as the Kurjans couldn’t trace it, I don’t care,” Garrett agreed, standing and weaving back and forth on his feet. “Looks like our timeline has been moved up.” He gingerly picked at a scab on his hand, tearing off a long strip of what looked like skin. “Let’s do this.”
Benny rolled to his feet, tearing off the fake layer of skin along his neck. He folded up the piece, pinched it, and slipped it into the key slot of the old-fashioned cell door. “Fire. Hole.” Two steps brought him to the far stone wall, and he bent against it, covering his ears.
The door lock blew apart, and the cell door swung open.
Garrett and Logan did the same with their doors, and Logan took an extra explosive strip off his leg to use on Sam’s door.
Sam Kyllwood looked a little the worse for wear. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, and his cheeks had hollowed slightly.
“When did you last eat?” Benny asked.
Sam shrugged. “Who cares?” His eyes were a darker green than Logan’s, as well as being rimmed with a deep bronze color. “I don’t need food or blood. Let’s get out of here.”
Benny wasn’t going to argue. He surveyed the other two. Garrett had taken a worse beating from Jaydon than Logan had from Dayne. “I’m on point. Garrett, you have Sam in the center. Logan, you cover our asses.” Without waiting for agreement or argument, Benny turned and jogged down the tunnel. “It’s probably still dark out, so know the Kurjans will be at full force outside.” He paused at the door leading out. “This is now an escape plan. Take no prisoners, and if the enemy is down, keep going. No time to decapitate.”
Garrett kept close to Sam, who was a little too pale. “Does everybody remember the layout of the mines? We need to go in that direction.”
“Affirmative,” Logan said. “Sam, you stay on Garrett’s six.”
Sam straightened, and the bloody wound on his forehead slowly closed. “I’ve got this, little brother. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.”
Benny snorted. They all looked ready to go. “Now.” He kicked the door open with his boot near the lock. The bang took the guard outside by surprise, and Benny was on him in a second, knocking him out and taking two guns and three knives. The night swirled around him for a moment. He took a deep breath and sent more healing cells to his brain. “All right. Let’s go.” He ran into the night.
* * * *
After a sleepless night, Karma walked along the different storage units of the Seven headquarters. Several were large wooden sheds that housed many vehicles and even an armored truck. The morning had brought a light rain, and after checking in with Mercy and seeing no activity on the satellite feed, she had gone exploring.
“Looking for something?” Benjamin asked.
She gasped and turned. “Benjamin!” Joy filled her, and she jumped for him.
He caught her easily and wrapped his arms around her waist. His soldier clothing was burned, dirty, and wet, but he appeared as strong as ever.
She looked up, her heart swelling. “You’re all right. You’re here.” She hugged him tight, noting a bruise beneath his right ear. She looked him over as well as she could, being pressed so closely against him. Thank goodness he was all right. “I didn’t hear you arrive.”
“We couldn’t be sure we weren’t tracked, so we set down a hundred miles from here and ran,” he said, his eyes darker than usual. His hold loosened, and then he let her go.
She released him. “Are you harmed? What happened? Did you find the girls?” Something was amiss, but she couldn’t read his expression. Had he been badly injured? Out of instinct, she began to edge away.
He grasped her chin with two fingers. “I’m not harmed, we got Sam out, but I haven’t found the girls yet.” His voice lowered to a curiously dangerous tone. “Would you like to tell me what you were up to while I was gone?”