the interrogation cell we found. He made sure he left enough of his DNA to make us curious. He had to know we would uncover Maisie’s connection to him and to Flint.”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up killing us all,” Keen grumbled.
It was the DNA results from the forensic team that had thrown the whole situation into question. The body on the ground didn’t match Devious’ DNA profile from the Central Repository for Biological Data. The DNA recovered from the body belonged to a man who did have a profile in the prisoner database. His name was Helm, and he had been working as a cutout for the Shadow Force for years. How Helm got beaten and left for dead in Devious’ place was anyone’s guess. Keen suspected Helm had tried to rescue Devious and Devious had killed him instead to facilitate his escape.
There had been so much blood DNA in that interrogation cell. The forensic team had collected dozens of samples to run against the CRBD files. Once Maisie’s profile had been created, it was only a few steps for the computer program to match her to Devious, Crow, Flint and a daughter who had supposedly died at six-years-old with her mother in a Splinter attack.
“We should have told her what we found out about her mother,” Savage said, his voice filled with regret. “About the school where he sent her.”
Keen shot him a strange look. “What good would that do?”
“She deserves to know why her mother chose the Splinter side. Why her mother left her there with Devious,” he reasoned.
“You think that’s going to give her comfort?”
“No, but it would have given her some answers she doesn’t have.” Savage growled in irritation.
“We can’t give her answers we don’t have. Neither you nor I know what happened all those years ago with her mother. We don’t even know if Flint is on our side or the Splinter’s side.”
“If Flint is corrupt, he could have dozens of double agents following him,” Savage insisted hotly. “For all we know, the entire power structure of our Alliance could be crawling with secret Splinters.” He made a disgusted sound. “I can’t even handle thinking about how many of our colleagues have been working against us all this time.”
“It would explain why we’ve always been one step behind some of the bigger cells and the seedier operations the Splinters run.”
“Like the kids?”
Keen nodded. “Exactly like the kids.”
It sickened Keen. Early on in his career, he had investigated a child sex trafficking ring operating between various land and sky bases in the Atwater sector. The children had come from orphanages, some homes for abandoned Defects but most from homes that cared for war orphans like the one where Torment had been found. The horrific circumstances of those trafficked children would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Flint’s polished war hero image was forever tarnished as far as Keen was concerned. The selfishness he had displayed in throwing away his only child could never be forgiven.
“What if we made the wrong decision?” Savage asked, uncertainty coloring his voice. “Maybe we should have kept her here. Kept Terror here,” he added. “Or moved them to one of our safe houses.”
“She’s on the Tier One List. Even if we tried to keep her in custody, we would have been overruled within days. They would have sent a team to take her, and Orion isn’t going to risk the entire ship for one woman, no matter how soft he is when it comes to them.” He shook his head. “No, working Terror into a froth and convincing him to take her was the best choice out a bunch of really bad options.”
“Using her as bait to lure out Devious is dangerous,” Savage warned. “If things go badly and she dies, Terror will probably kill us.”
“Oh, there’s no probably to that.” Keen shook his head. “He’ll definitely make us pay, and he’ll make sure it’s painful and prolonged.”
Having read the transcripts and watched the footage of Terror’s debriefings after his rescue, Keen had known without a single doubt that Terror cared for Maisie. Maybe it was only brotherly affection or a debt of honor. Maybe it was something stronger—something like the love Vicious had for Hallie or Raze had for Ella. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to motivate him to take huge risks.
So, Keen had exploited that. He had exploited Terror’s love for that woman, the intense dislike and distrust between Savage and Terror, and Orion’s