Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,72

and forth swelled that number to as high as two hundred and fifty at some points.”

“That’s way more men than my father would have,” Kristof said. “I’ve never seen more than one hundred there.”

Not that he’d been allowed there more than once a month, his appointed time with his cousin. Father would occasionally summon him, but that was rare.

“Which confirms our initial findings. We expect about two-thirds of that group to be Mandrake operatives or contract mercs they’ve hired to join their group,” Gage said.

Damn. How long had Father been conspiring with Mandrake? If The Arsenal hadn’t debriefed Kristof on Mandrake, his planned strike later on would’ve been a disaster, much like the one Olaf had tried. He and Maksim had trained the men they’d recruited to their cause but they weren’t prepared to handle professional mercenaries. He could’ve gotten them all killed if he’d struck too soon.

Addy unlaced their fingers and set her hand atop his. The silent comfort eased the turmoil rolling in him.

“Facial recognition from HERA has identified eleven former Mandrake operatives. They were all terminated after Cuba,” Zoey said. “These are the ones we missed.”

“And the others? Mercs like Gage suspects?” Thunder asked.

“Some, yes. Others were in Mandrake’s databases as rejected applicants,” Jesse said. “We project about one half of the targets are highly trained.”

“And the missiles?” Addy asked.

Images appeared on the other two screens. One was a larger building. Three missiles were in the center of the interior. Kristof cursed. Why the hell had his father gotten involved with biochemical weapons?

“The weapons are in a large storage facility in the northwestern corner of the compound,” Gage said. “The crawlers found a large catacomb beneath the entire facility. Prisoners are amassed beneath the northeastern area, but we did find one male in a smaller southern area.”

The catacombs. He and Addy had spent hours exploring them, chasing one another in mock battles long into the night while everyone else slept. Nighttime had always been theirs, a small taste of pseudo freedom they stole whenever they could. He glanced over at Addy, who smiled at him.

She remembered the times they’d spent down there. The fact glimmered in her gorgeous eyes and bright smile.

“Prisoners? As in multiple?” Nolan asked.

“Olaf will be alone,” Kristof said. “He’s moved often.”

“He was moved while the crawler was in the cell. He’s now on the eastern side, two levels beneath this building.” Gage pointed at a building Kristof recognized immediately. His gaze returned to Addy as he massaged her hand with his.

Pale, she gawked at the screen. “The cabin was there. The punishment cabin.”

“It was torn down and replaced with this. It’s an interrogation facility.” Kristof’s fists clenched. “Olaf told me about it. If he’s there, he’ll be in bad shape.”

Or he’ll be executed soon.

Addy shifted closer. Her low voice sliced through his worry. “We’ll get him out. We’ve extracted a lot of people, some in extremely bad shape. Every team has a medic, and we’re all trained on stabilizing injuries.”

“Thank you for that. I was getting lost in my worry there for a moment.”

“Of course you were. He’s family.”

Neither of them had much of that left. He forced his attention back to the conversation unfolding around them even though the debrief was the last place he wanted to be. For the first time in a long while something mattered more to him than revenge.

Addy mattered more than taking his father down.

But this debrief was about the missiles more than it was his father and the atrocities he’d committed. Kristof would do whatever necessary to help Addy and The Arsenal secure the weapons so she could move past the exhaustive mission they’d been on.

“What’s the plan?” Johnny asked, his gaze locked on to Kristof and Addy. Kristof moved his hand away, intent to give her space to avoid scrutiny from her friends. But she firmed their handhold.

“Shock and awe with a strategized extraction,” Edge said via the com. “Surveillance found the largest cache of weapons and munitions in the southwestern and northern sectors of the compound. We’ll blow both of those locations and draw targets that direction with unmanned machine guns mounted in the perimeter fencing.”

“Unmanned?” Beast asked.

“Bree’s been busy,” Zoey said. “We have computerized control of four different weapons—one of which is similar to the laser cannon she used when The Collective attacked The Arsenal.”

“Shit. Seriously?” Cracker chuckled. “That thing blew out a quarter of a mile of fencing and terrain.”

“The new style is framed in the same material as the drones, so