He smiled at her as she pushed open the small vent. “It’s about time you got here. We were all just about to take a nap, weren’t we?” He nuzzled the tops of the babies’ heads. “Getting nice and warm so they could move faster when they go through the vent with you.”

The two little girls both lifted their heads, eyes lighting up, huge smiles showing their tiny little teeth. She dropped into the room, somersaulting headfirst, to land on her feet just to one side of Trap. He seemed to be taking up most of the room, all sprawled out. She held out her arms and both babies leapt into them.

She kissed them both repeatedly and they kissed her back over and over. Little Thym blew bubbles against her neck and then laughed with delight. Cannelle attached herself like a clinging monkey, not wanting a separation again.

“Thanks, Trap. It was thoughtful of you to warm them up.” She looked around her. “Did you come in through the elevator?”

He shook his head. “Most likely there are guards in place at the elevator doors. I’ll go if I have to, but I’m hoping this woman can get through the vent like you did.”

“You’re really going to try to get her out?” Pepper frowned. “How are you going to get to her?”

“I’ll make it. You just get these babies out of here.” He stood up, taking up even more space. “You look pale.”

“Stopping the fans is hard for me. I don’t usually manipulate nonhuman objects.” She glanced at the children and then up to his face. “Wyatt was stabbed. I don’t know how bad, he won’t say, but it felt bad.”

“Draden’s with him, right?” Trap asked calmly.

Pepper nodded. “Yes. At least I think so.”

“Then he’ll be fine. If Wyatt was really hurt, Draden would have raised the alarm and Malichai and Ezekiel would go running. Just stick to the plan, Pepper. Get the babies to safety.”

He rubbed Thym’s back. “Stay close to your mama and do whatever she tells you. That’s important. Stay very quiet. You can do that to get out of here, right? There are men out there who might try to stop you if they hear you.”

Thym signed with her hands to Pepper. Pepper nodded. “Yes, baby, I thought the same thing, but we were wrong. There’s several men who are good and want to help because…” She broke off, her gaze jumping to Trap’s face again. She took a breath. “You have a father. Most babies have two parents, a mother and father. He didn’t know where you were and as soon as he found out, he and his friends helped me to rescue you.”

“Did she say she thought all men were bad?”

Pepper nodded. “The techs and guards are mostly men. We don’t see many women. I did, of course, because I was a soldier going through school with some, but the babies have always been isolated from everyone.” She was beginning to get her nerve back. She’d gotten through the vent with Ginger. She could do the same with the other two.

Cannelle signed. Pepper interpreted. “Where will we go? We’re going to take you out of here to your new home.”

Cannelle signed again, her hand gestures hesitant. Pepper frowned. The baby had asked what a home was. Pepper didn’t know how to explain something she’d never experienced.

“We’ll discuss that when we have you safe and away from this place,” she said. “I have to go first. You follow me. I’ll go through the fan, but you have to wait for me to call you through. Each of us has to go through by ourselves. You’ll have to move very fast. I’ll show you how. Elle, you bring up the rear. Thym, you stay right behind me. Just remember you can’t go until the fan is stopped completely and then you have to be very fast.” She planned on reminding them over and over so there were no mistakes.

Trap frowned. “Just how dangerous is this?”

“There are fans every twenty feet or so, large industrial ones. The vent itself is very small. I can barely fit in it.” Pepper showed him her arms where the skin was shaved off in spots. The tight-fitting sleeves, although thin, had still been shredded in several places, leaving her skin exposed. “The babies will fit through, but each section is blocked by a fan. I have to stop the blades from rotating long enough to get through and I’m not the best at controlling them.” She rubbed her temples. “I can do it, but it’s not easy.”

“And it comes with a price,” Trap said. “If you think it’s too dangerous, Pepper, we can get the others to take the second elevators. It won’t be pretty, but it can be done.”

“I got Ginger through. I’ll get both of the babies through,” Pepper said, infusing confidence into her voice. She jumped up and caught the edge of the vent, drawing herself up. “Put them in after me and good luck.”

Trap picked up the two babies and held them close. They were still shivering. The cell was too cold for their systems. He tried to warm them as he waited for Pepper to slowly be swallowed up inside the duct. Cannelle put her arms around his neck and held on while he lifted Thym into the narrow opening. When she had crawled all the way inside, he put little Cannelle in after her.

“Stay close, but don’t get near that fan until Pepper tells you,” he cautioned.

Cannelle turned her head and looked back at him over her shoulder. He saw a mop of wavy dark hair and large expressive eyes and then she was gone, crawling after her sister and mother.

Trap took a deep breath and made his way to the wall in the center of the small room. This wall was the only wall shared by the cells on the other side of it. The only way to get into that side was through the second elevator. He hoped the cells on the other side were a mirror image of the one he was standing in. He didn’t want to come out inside the cell with an unknown woman already condemned to death, especially one declared too dangerous to live.