Realizing what was riding him helped, but didn’t completely alleviate the problem. Still, he could see Trap and Draden were a little more accepting of his claim on her, but Wyatt wanted to make certain they knew he was serious. Ezekiel and Malichai knew, and they respected a certain distance from her that the others hadn’t quite gotten yet. Trap, especially. Trap didn’t pay the least attention to any kind of cues.

Wyatt stepped up behind Pepper, his body close to hers and leaned over her back, his head at her shoulder, arms on either side of her body so his hands could rest on the table. He caged her there between the table and his body. Taking up that position enabled him to box out the other men so they couldn’t get close to her, which kept his crazy temper under control.

Just as she had to learn to keep her shield up – and he could see she was getting stronger every day – he had to learn to handle his own shit.

“Fill me in,” he ordered, and moved the sweep of clipped hair off her neck so he could breathe against her much more intimately as he leaned down to look at the blueprints.

She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. His heart stuttered and his cock jerked hard. There it was. The smile that was for him alone. “Did Ginger go down without a fight?”

He brushed a kiss on her mouth. “I told her we were bringin’ her sisters home tomorrow night. She was very happy.”

“I missed putting her to bed.” There was regret in her voice.

“She knew you were plannin’ out the rescue, sugar. She was okay with that.” He brushed another kiss on her mouth, ignoring Trap’s sigh. “I told her you’d be in later to kiss her good night.”

She nodded and turned back to the blueprints. “The first level was built twelve feet from the ground, using very thick concrete,” she said. “Apparently, that’s where they built the crematorium and the holding cells for anyone they plan on killing. There are six cells on either side with four feet of cement in between the two sides. There is no way out once you’re down in the cells, other than elevators. Each side has its own elevator.”

“So basically, if the cells are flooded, no one gives a damn,” Wyatt said. He felt his gut start a slow smolder. “Are you tellin’ me the babies – our babies – are down in those cells alone? Is anyone else down there?”

The table trembled and for a moment the walls of the room contracted. Pepper glanced uneasily over her shoulder at him, nodding slowly. Her eyes held sorrow.

“I’m sorry, Wyatt, I tried to get them all out, but they were in separate cells and it took time to get them open.”

“It’s not your fault,” he said tersely. She flinched. He felt the flinch right through skin and bones. Deliberately he stroked his hand down her back, and pressed closer to her, trying to surround her with comfort. “I’m not upset with you, babe. This isn’t your fault. Whitney just makes me so damned mad. How could he do this to children and live with himself?”

“It isn’t Whitney,” she denied. “I’m telling you, Braden authorized our transfer to this place, brought us in by a private jet and then he issued the termination order a couple of weeks ago. Braden. Not Whitney.”

“Braden works for Whitney,” Wyatt said. “There’s not a doubt in my mind.”

Trap nodded. “Seriously, Pepper, we’ve known for a while that Whitney could never pull all these experiments off by himself. Even I have an assistant. He’s got too many facilities. He has to have someone he trusts overlooking each laboratory, but Whitney definitely calls the shots.”

“So is anyone else down in those cells right now?” Wyatt asked.

Pepper nodded. “A woman. They brought her in recently. They may have already terminated her. She was on the other side, not with the babies. Braden was definitely afraid of her. I don’t think they were even feeding her. They wanted her weak before they tried to move her to the crematorium. At least, I kind of got that from bits and pieces I overheard. I never saw her. She was brought in right before the order was issued to terminate the children.”

“How’d they bring her in?” Ezekiel asked.

“There’s a large cargo elevator on the first floor. It’s located right here.” Pepper circled a spot toward the middle of the western wall. “It’s huge. They drive trucks right in so the other guards don’t ever see one of their throwaways.”

“What other guards?” Draden interrupted.

“They have guards who protect the plastics plant. It’s a working plant. They know it’s a cover for a research facility with military contracts, but they never enter any part of the building other than where the plastic molds are manufactured,” Pepper explained.

“So there is an actual product being produced on the second floor?” Ezekiel asked. “They’ll have vents and air conduits as well as things like conveyor belts and plenty of equipment.”

Pepper nodded. “On the second floor, yes, meaning if you count the actual first floor where they hold and terminate their prisoners.”

Wyatt moved his leg very casually closer to the table, wedging it between Pepper and Trap, his thigh pressing tight against her body as he leaned down to study the drawing of the large building she’d superimposed over the blueprints.

“The cargo elevator is here.” He drew a line with his finger. “So this has to be the recreation room for the guards who don’ have any real knowledge of what’s takin’ place in their own backyard. The kitchen and cafeteria. You’ve got bathrooms and the plastic plant itself. So those workin’ the plant itself are kept away from anythin’ they might be able to talk about.”