Page 95 of Avenging Angel

Bennett interrupts by adding, “She’s being modest. This is Sadie Alekseev; a potential recruit who managed to escape her captors.”

“Then what is she doing here?” Chelsea asks. “This is a training facility, not a recruitment center.”

“A training facility?” Daisy asks. “This isn’t where Dominion conducts its experiments?”

Playing dumb, Chelsea responds with, “What are you talking about? Dominion rescues kidnapping victims who have suffered severe trauma and know they can’t return to the lives they had before. This is a place that provides a person with purpose, direction, and a fresh start.”

“It’s Dr. Frankenstein’s lab,” Eva interjects. “And we’re nothing but the monsters they create. Dominion didn’t rescue us, Chelsea. Bennett is the one who kidnapped Daisy and me, and whoever kidnapped you was likely a CIA agent just like Bennett. Dominion is the devil in sheep’s clothing and nothing more than a contracted organization to conduct the experiments. It’s the CIA who is the shepherd that purposely opened the gate and allowed us to be devoured by the wolf. We fell prey to the lies. Open your eyes.”

“I don’t believe you,” Chelsea says. “Bennett, why don’t you let me give our guest a tour so she can see what really happens here. As for Eva, she can tag along if she wants to.”

“I was planning on giving them a tour myself,” Bennett says.

“I’ll do it,” Chelsea tells him. “You’re a mess and need to be checked out by a doctor. Go to room 11 on the west side and get some medical attention.”

Bennett must be gone because a minute later, Chelsea begins talking to Daisy and Eva. “Follow my lead and you might just get out of here alive. I’m on your side, and there are six teams waiting to breach the facility. But before they can, I need to determine how many girls are here.”

Daisy whispers, “How long have you known that Dominion is the organization that brainwashed you and not the savior you thought them to be?”

“About 15 hours,” Chelsea says. “I spent many years in this facility, learning hand-to-hand combat, being subjected to interrogation techniques to find my breaking point, as well as receiving lessons on weapons handling, subterfuge, and everything else that an officer would learn at Camp Peary. I had no idea that Dominion was no longer operating under oversight by the CIA until FBI Director Finnegan and my husband showed up to question me.”

“Did Dominion arrange your meeting with Director Ludlow?”

“I was never asked to spy on my husband, just to do my job as a CIA officer. His integrity, ambition, and dedication are the reasons he was appointed the Director.”

Eva puts the pieces together faster than anyone else. “No, Chelsea, you were groomed to be the type of woman that William Ludlow would fall for so that if the CIPHER program was ever discovered, you would be outed and there would be no way for the Director to claim ignorance. You were primed to be the strings that the puppet master would pull, using blackmail when the time comes to bring the Director in line. I’m curious, Chelsea, what interrogation technique did the FBI use on you to get you to spill your secrets?”

“They didn’t have to. William is not a liar and one of the few officers in the CIA who still believes in the mission to protect our national interests and safeguard our citizens. I also know that FBI Director Finnegan is an upstanding and honest individual. If my husband believes what he told me to be true, then it’s true. His goal when he was appointed was to turn the CIA into an organization that people could believe in again.”

“When this hits the news, you’ll likely go to prison,” Eva tells her.

“So will you, Eva, but that isn’t stopping you from exposing Dominion. I may have been ‘brainwashed’ like my husband informed me, but that doesn’t mean that everything we’ve done for the CIA has been for naught.”

Daisy remains quiet as Chelsea gives the tour of the facility, listening as Chelsea points out the different rooms. “The medical sector is in the southwest corner of the building. That’s where the plastic surgery, DNA altering, and other physical enhancements take place. The people working in that area are doctors and scientists. We just passed the southeast section, and as you saw, the rooms are set up for various methods of interrogation. Everything from the standard law-enforcement room where they question a person of interest to the soundproof room where screams can’t be heard and blood drains into a hole in the floor.”

I can’t see the rooms from my prone position in the grass, but I still shiver as memories from my personal experience come flooding back. With a position on the special operations team, I went through the torture scenarios at The Farm because the risk of capture is significant in my line of work. To know that teenage girls and young women were going through that after already having been broken in spirit disgusts me. I had a choice, but they didn’t. Not really.

Chelsea continues to verbalize the description of every room so that we know where they are and what we’ll be encountering when we’re given the order to breach. At this time, neither Daisy nor Eva appears to be in immediate danger.

“It looks as though it’s not a training day for interrogation. If it were, you would see upwards of 12 retired operators roaming the halls. I only see two. Up ahead are the sleeping quarters. When I was here, there were only three of us. An instructor would occasionally roam these halls, but it’s mostly housekeeping staff who are unarmed.”

“The rooms are empty,” Daisy says. “Does that mean there aren’t any girls here?”

“It’s possible. If Dominion is aware of the investigation, the girls could have been moved. I wouldn’t know where,” Chelsea answers. “That information is stored on an isolated system on the lower floor that I don’t have access to.”

Owen pipes up. “Gatekeeper One to Jolly Roger.”

“Go for Jolly Roger.”

“An ‘isolated system’ means I need physical access to download the data. I can’t do it remotely. I know you told me to remain in the van because I’m too close to this, but you need me inside to retrieve the information stored on the server.”

“Gatekeeper Two can handle it,” Roger says.

There’s some unintelligible whispering before Owen says, “Negative, Jolly Roger. Gatekeeper Two is two weeks fresh off The Farm. He hasn’t set foot out of the van, and I’m reluctant to jeopardize this mission by sending someone who has never engaged in combat.”

“You’re approved, Gatekeeper One. Move into position.”

Chelsea’s words redirect my attention. “To my left is the dining facility. The six people currently milling about take special care to provide healthy meals for the trainees. If the schedule remains the same as when I was here, dinner will be served in about two hours. In the northwest quadrant up ahead is where you’ll find the combat tactics room. From the sounds echoing down the hall, training appears to be in session.”