Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“You didn’t do the actual killing?” Ambrielle persisted.
“Not as a rule. Sometimes in the basement, if I had to defend our territory, but usually, if we were going after instructors, my body was too big.”
“So you couldn’t have killed someone Mila liked. What other decisions did you make that could have in any way affected an outsider to your group?” she continued, deliberately using the little girl’s name again in hopes it would trigger a memory.
“Wait a minute,” Mechanic said. “Wait just a minute. Lana and Alena were called upstairs for the first time with that horrible toad who liked to use a crop before he raped them. They were four. Alena had never been exposed to anything like that before. There was another little girl from Galina’s group called up as well, and two girls from Vas’ group. The girl from Galina’s was a year or so older than Lana and Alena. Maybe five. Pretty little thing. Lana, do you remember?”
Lana wrinkled her nose and frowned. “I do. I remember being so scared and holding Alena’s hand. We were taken to a room and made to put on these dresses so we looked like little dolls. They combed our hair and then made us go into another room, where a man was.”
Her tongue touched her lips to moisten them. Ambrielle could see she was struggling to stay in the present. The memory was a trigger for PTSD. Her face was very pale, and she looked as if she might explode into violence or shrivel up into a little ball right there in front of everyone.
“Gurin,” Czar said. “Gaston Gurin. He was a monster.” He scrubbed his face with his hands and looked at his wife. “The things he did to little girls were despicable. The thought of Lana or Alena in his hands . . .” He shook his head. “We had to do something.”
Ambrielle closed her eyes for a moment, seeing the naked pain on Czar’s face and feeling the helpless rage of that young boy who took the responsibility for all the men and women in the room when they were just little boys and girls. Children. He’d been a child himself. She realized the enormity of what he’d done for them and why they were so loyal to him. That loyalty had been earned a thousand times over just from the glimpses she could see.
“We didn’t have the time to plan, to keep everyone safe the way we normally did,” Czar murmured, sounding as if he were going back in time as well. “I had to weigh losing everyone against losing our girls. They were our heart and soul. I knew I wouldn’t have made it if we lost them. I didn’t think the others could have either. So I just went with my gut and came up with a plan to kill the bastard. It had to look like an accident, and the other girl, the one who wasn’t ours, couldn’t witness that we did it. The timing had to be right. It was going to be close.”
Alena let out a hastily choked-back sob, and Lana went to her. They clung to each other, arms tight, foreheads pressed together.
“Demyan, Reaper and I went upstairs to the room where the girls were,” Czar continued. “We went in through the vents. Demyan and I barely fit. Guran wanted to know who the new girl was. Alena had never been used, and he wanted her. Mila pretended she was the new girl and stepped forward. He tried to use the crop on her, and she fought him. He knocked her out, which was terrible but helped us. Then he went after Lana and Alena. Reaper hit him with a statue.”
“Mila wanted to join our crew down in the basement. Galina was such a liar. She didn’t treat her people very well, but Vas was worse,” Mechanic said. “You kept us small. Tight. I understood the need for that, but Mila had proved she would sacrifice for others. I didn’t understand why you turned her down.”
“I didn’t either,” Lana said. “It wasn’t like she asked us, but I asked you. I’d never asked for a favor before, and I was really upset with you when you said no, and you didn’t give an explanation. She saved Alena.”
All the members of Torpedo Ink watched Czar carefully. He heaved a sigh. “Do you remember when Sorbacov was determined to get it out of us that we were the ones killing the instructors—that it wasn’t accidents or other instructors? They tortured Reaper for days. They took Savage and tortured him. They lied to Reaper and said Savage broke and confessed. They lied to Savage and claimed Reaper broke and admitted everything. Neither of them said a word to Sorbacov. They would have died first. Why? To protect all of you. Mila has turned over countless children to men and women to be raped, tortured and murdered for her to continue with her lifestyle. She hasn’t tried to break away from the Russian. She would have betrayed us if Sorbacov got to her, and he would have. He always recognized the weak link.”