“Steele’s right,” Czar agreed. “Even if he was one of us, and at one time received the same training, we never revealed to anyone but those of us right here in this room what we could do. Alena would share food with us telepathically, and suddenly all of us knew what cinnamon was and what it smelled and tasted like. Our bellies felt full even though we hadn’t eaten. The crap they gave us to eat, she made taste good. No one else knew about that. Only we knew. No one else but those of us in this room knows that we crawled through the vents and assassinated those raping us. The Russian, whoever he is, can’t know who we are, and he’s afraid of us. We’re not afraid of him. We’re patient. We’ll find him. We always find the ones we’re looking for, no matter how long it takes us.”
Czar looked around the table and they all nodded, in complete agreement, because it was the truth. They had learned patience in a hard school, and they took their time. Their two newest members, Czar’s birth brothers and men trained as assassins in the other Sorbacov schools, had learned that same patience and had the ability to take their time to strike at enemies. They knew loyalty and called each of them brother or sister.
“It will be easy enough to contact the president of both chapters and find out who the newest members are. If there are any prospects. They’ll obviously know them, because they will have gone to the same school, and they’ll trust them,” Absinthe said.
“But we’ll have to be discreet about it,” Steele pointed out. “These men are like us. We can’t ever forget we’re dealing with trained opponents. The slightest hint that we’re onto them and they’ll be in the wind.”
“Can Code and his computers uncover that kind of information?” Ice asked, looking at Code.
Code shrugged. “I can. I just have a slight problem at the moment because I’ve had my computers searching in so many directions that they’re on overload. I’m in the process of building a couple more but need a day or two to get all this going.”
“I’ll take this off your hands.” Czar made the decision. “I can come up with a plausible reason to get names and how long they’ve been with the chapters. We’ve got a run coming up in a few weeks. It won’t be that difficult, especially if we’re throwing a party here as well.”
“Do we have any other business to discuss?” Ice asked.
Before Absinthe could make up his mind whether or not to bring up his librarian, Czar stood up, looking a little sheepish, something completely foreign to him. “I have a request. This came from Blythe—the two of us. I’m in agreement.” He paused.
Absinthe kept a straight face, but Ice looked at Storm and the two of them got some of the others around the table grinning. Czar stared them down. When they were all sober, he took a drink and set the glass carefully on the table.
“Our newest adopted boy, Jimmy, is having a difficult time adjusting. He’s lived his life in a cage, and you all know what that’s like. The world is too a big a place for him. Even the bedrooms. We’ve kept visitors to a minimum in the hopes that sheltering him for a while would give him a chance to get used to us and the household. The other children help, but he’s fearful and doesn’t believe he’s safe,” Czar admitted. “He won’t really talk about his experiences with us yet, and I don’t blame him. He can’t possibly trust that he’s safe this fast.”
“What do you want us to do?” Lana asked.
Czar looked around the table. “The kids need a few lessons in survival training. They need to get out of the house and have a little fun, but still learn. It’s part of their home-schooling. Blythe was hoping some of you would volunteer. She doesn’t want Steele or me to teach them. It has to be a few of you. Volunteering is good. It prevents me from giving out orders. Jimmy has been around both of us, but Blythe thinks if you come around and the other children treat you like aunts and uncles, without fear, and are having fun with you and doing something that might make him feel safer, it might bring him a little more out of his shell.”
“That’s a little unorthodox,” Preacher said. “Especially for Blythe to think up.”
Czar drummed his fingers on the table. “He has to feel safe and proactive. Once we felt we could fight back, once we felt we had a little control, we were better. All of us. He’s just a little kid and curls up in a ball at night in a closet. I can’t reach him. Blythe can’t reach him. Even Kenny and Darby aren’t getting anywhere, and they’ve tried. He’s so scared.”