Steeling herself, she asked, “What will happen to her?”
“What do you think? What would you do with a prisoner who had revealed too much, and who, if set free, would go right back to her master and tell him everything we’d learned?”
Layla clenched her jaw unhappily, but gave him the truth. “Kill him.”
He glanced down at her. “Kill him. Do you refer to the master, or the prisoner? Are you reluctant to kill a woman? Especially a very young one, who is nonetheless as capable as a man of betraying you.”
She lowered her head to avoid his gaze, not because she didn’t know the truth, but because she did. And she wondered what he would think of her once she told him. “Man or woman, there is no difference. A young child, I would try to save if I could.”
Xavier was smiling when she finally dared to look up at him.
“What?” she demanded. “You asked, I gave you the truth.”
“We are very much alike, cariño. That is why you are mine.”
“I told you, I don’t belong to anyone.”
“So you did,” he agreed pleasantly.
Frustrated at the non-answer, she looked for something to change the subject. “I didn’t know the vampire wing was so big.”
“Why would you? Few humans are ever permitted inside.”
That was true. Like everyone else, she was familiar with the above- ground offices and facilities occupying the elaborate structure that rose above the rest of the Fortalesa. But the rest of this, Xavier’s offices and that hall with the interrogation room—probably more than one—that was all new to her. And she’d seen more stairs than just the ones that she’d taken to get down to Xavier’s office. Stairs that continued even farther down from where they’d exited to this floor. There had to be at least one sub-basement down there, maybe more.
Xavier had gone quiet, not offering any additional details about the vampire wing or what might lie beneath it. Instead, he led her back to his office, walked in ahead of her, and then held the door politely until she’d passed.
She turned when he closed the door and asked, “So where is Joachim taking her?” She didn’t add “to be killed,” although she was thinking it.
“To a cell which will be her home for the next while.”
“How long? And why?”
He considered the question for some time. Probably because he wasn’t used to anyone questioning his decisions. “As long as it takes,” he growled finally.
“To do what?” she pushed.
“To kill Sakal, and negate the threat he represents.”
Layla thought about that. He probably expected her to demand more from him, more details maybe, more about what he’d do to the rest of Sakal’s sycophants. She did none of that. “Okay.”
He was so surprised that he didn’t manage to conceal it.
She chuckled. “My life for the last six years has been war of one kind or another. There is no gray on the battlefield. Only black and white.”
“I can’t say I’m happy you chose that path, but I’m glad you understand.” He’d circled around the map table and was studying it intently. “Come here. We need to discuss what we do next.”
“I think that’s obvious. We have the location of the farm compound, and Sakal supposedly visits there every night. I’ll take my people and check it out.”
He regarded her for several minutes, and she was convinced he was about to order her to stand down, that she and her team were not to do a recon of the farm. She would have ignored him, but it still would have pissed her off.
She didn’t know which of them was more surprised when instead of rejecting the idea out of hand, he said, “You would do this during the day, I assume?”
“Late afternoon,” she corrected. “Cláudia said Sakal visits every night. I want to know if that’s true.”
“It’s not worth the risk. He’s dangerous, Layla. And we have other ways of gaining information, if we need it.”
“We’re dangerous, too. I’ll let you know what we find.”
“YOU SURE ABOUT this?” Brian asked the next morning, standing with legs spread wide so she didn’t have to look up at him.
“Of course, I’m sure. Why would you ask that?” Layla scowled. “Do I usually give my people orders I’m not sure about?”
“Cheap shot, Cap. You know that’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean?”
He took her arm, and with a glance back at the others who were dutifully not listening, pulled her farther into the trees on the hill above the farm compound. “I mean are you doing this for the right reasons? Or just to get back at your fanged boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. He never was. And this has nothing to do with him. If we’re going to run an op against that building”—she pointed at the main structure below—“we need better intel than we can get sitting a hundred yards away on a hillside. We’ve already been watching the place for two hours, and we’ve learned everything we can from this position. We know they all come out to work in the morning, that they don’t wear uniforms or stupid robes. And since their glorious leader will be arriving after sunset, plus them being farmers and all, it’s good bet that they’ll stop for the day close to sunset, put away their tools, and return inside for the night.”
“And we learned all that sitting right here, where they can’t see us.”
“I don’t get it, Brian. This is a standard recon op. What’s your problem with it?”
“My problem is you’re going in blind. For all we know, they have checkpoints inside every door. Maybe they all have a secret tattoo, or a fluorescent stamp, like in a bar. For that matter, they might have pressure plates outside all the windows, and most of the doors.”
“That’s pretty extreme for a kids’ farm compound, don’t you think? Besides, Cláudia didn’t have a tattoo or a bar stamp, and she didn’t say anything about the kind of security measures you’re thinking of,” she dismissed.
“So you stripped her down, searched her head to toe? Did you scan her with a black light?”
“You know we didn’t.”