Trap nodded. “Seriously, Pepper, we’ve known for a while that Whitney could never pull all these experiments off by himself. Even I have an assistant. He’s got too many facilities. He has to have someone he trusts overlooking each laboratory, but Whitney definitely calls the shots.”
“So is anyone else down in those cells right now?” Wyatt asked.
Pepper nodded. “A woman. They brought her in recently. They may have already terminated her. She was on the other side, not with the babies. Braden was definitely afraid of her. I don’t think they were even feeding her. They wanted her weak before they tried to move her to the crematorium. At least, I kind of got that from bits and pieces I overheard. I never saw her. She was brought in right before the order was issued to terminate the children.”
“How’d they bring her in?” Ezekiel asked.
“There’s a large cargo elevator on the first floor. It’s located right here.” Pepper circled a spot toward the middle of the western wall. “It’s huge. They drive trucks right in so the other guards don’t ever see one of their throwaways.”
“What other guards?” Draden interrupted.
“They have guards who protect the plastics plant. It’s a working plant. They know it’s a cover for a research facility with military contracts, but they never enter any part of the building other than where the plastic molds are manufactured,” Pepper explained.
“So there is an actual product being produced on the second floor?” Ezekiel asked. “They’ll have vents and air conduits as well as things like conveyor belts and plenty of equipment.”
Pepper nodded. “On the second floor, yes, meaning if you count the actual first floor where they hold and terminate their prisoners.”
Wyatt moved his leg very casually closer to the table, wedging it between Pepper and Trap, his thigh pressing tight against her body as he leaned down to study the drawing of the large building she’d superimposed over the blueprints.
“The cargo elevator is here.” He drew a line with his finger. “So this has to be the recreation room for the guards who don’ have any real knowledge of what’s takin’ place in their own backyard. The kitchen and cafeteria. You’ve got bathrooms and the plastic plant itself. So those workin’ the plant itself are kept away from anythin’ they might be able to talk about.”
Pepper nodded. “They bring in prisoners through the cargo elevator enclosed in a truck. Everyone’s used to the trucks bringing supplies for the plant. When a prisoner is brought in, they’re completely enclosed in a type of crate and sometimes unconscious. The woman they’re terminating was definitely unconscious. I was hiding in the vent just opposite the second elevator and I saw them take her in the crate down to the cells on the other side.”
Wyatt scowled. “Where were they holdin’ you?”
“Down in the cells with the children. They keep it cold down there, so it makes it harder for us to move around or fight them.”
Wyatt closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to think what would have happened to her and the children had the cells flooded. The water table in the swamp was particularly high, which was the reason most houses were built fairly high off the ground.
“I think I’d like to break Whitney’s neck,” he said softly, his Cajun accent deepening in direct proportion to his temper.
“Get in line,” Trap said. “Can you imagine if he happened to employ a sadistic guard to look after his prisoners? No one would be around to know what was done down there, and if the prisoner was going to be terminated, anything could happen and be gotten away with.”
All the men looked at Pepper. She took a deep breath and let it out. Wyatt noted that her hand trembled.
“Those guards and lab workers come in only when they have prisoners there.” She changed the subject hastily. “When we came, no one else was there. The laboratory is on the third floor along with sleeping and recreation quarters for those personnel.”
I’m here, baby. Don’ think about it. We’ll sort that out later.
I’m good. I’m here. I’ve got you and we’re getting the children out.
Still, she was shaken. He had the feeling those guards hadn’t been easy to manage. He didn’t want to think what they might have done to her.
“And the elevators go all the way up from the cells below to the third floor, is that correct?” Malichai asked. “Are they guarded, Pepper?”
“No, they aren’t guarded, but both are locked down by codes and palm print scans. You have to have both to get into the elevators. And yes, all elevators run to all floors, but those two can’t be accessed by everyone.”
Wyatt was proud of her voice, smooth and steady. Whatever memory Trap had brought up with his mention of the guards she had tucked away and then kept strictly professional.
“I take it on the third floor they have all kinds of chemicals,” Trap said.
Pepper nodded. “I’ve gone up there numerous times with the children. I’m more familiar with the third floor than the plant floor.”
“How were you able to move around in the plant without detection?” Ezekiel asked.
“I can fit in very small places,” she explained. “I’m very flexible.”
Wyatt nearly groaned aloud. Don’ be sayin’ thin’s like that out loud, he cautioned. I’m standin’ right behind you, remember? Deliberately he smoothed his hand down the curve of her butt. He wanted her to laugh. To feel his presence and know she was safe with them. That means I can feel your skin against mine and I’m breathin’ you in with every damn breath I take. I’m as hard as a rock and I can’ exactly move right now. Usin’ a word like “flexible” is just bound to conjure up images neither of us wants to think about.