“No. It’s my side. It’s still a little tender.” She touched her shirt over the bandage. True had applied a fresh one after her shower.

Luna’s head snapped in True’s direction and she snarled. “You hurt her?”

“No,” Jeanie denied instantly and reached for the angry woman’s hand to draw her attention from him. “I was shot when your task force guys hit Cornas Research. That’s the place I went to after Drackwood.”

“The task force teams shot you?” Jinx gasped.

“No.” Jeanie shook her head. “It was one of the Cornas guards.”

Luna squeezed her hand in encouragement. “Have a seat and tell us everything. We need to know all the details of what your situation is so we can figure out how to help. You need to start at the beginning.”

Jeanie settled into a comfortable seat with True on one side of her and Luna on the other. The double doors to the library opened and Flirt stepped inside. True rose to his feet, his hands clawed.

“Easy.” Flirt sighed. “I know I shouldn’t be here because Darkness ordered me to stay away from her but be reasonable. We all want to help Shiver out of this mess. I apologize for crossing a line. I’ve come to be of assistance and the important part is we clear her so she won’t be charged with any crimes.”

“Thank you.” Jeanie held her breath, waiting to see what True would do. She didn’t want them to get into another fight.

His harsh expression softened and he took a seat. “Fine. Be of assistance but sit far away.”

Flirt took an empty seat at the end of the table. “What have I missed?”

“Jeanie is about to tell us about Agent Brice and how she believed she was working with the NSO to free our people.” True nodded at her. “Begin.”

Query quietly asked everyone to take a seat. Everyone did and the room grew silent. Jeanie glanced around at them and blew out a pent-up breath. It wasn’t going to be easy to go over all the details of working for the people who’d hurt them but it needed to be done. She just hoped they didn’t hate her by the time she finished giving them all the information.

She started by telling them how she’d gotten the job at Drackwood and then was assigned to the lower floors. “That’s when I first saw New Species there and realized what was really going on. Dean Polanitis gave me the tour himself and as soon as I saw one of you…” She relived the awful memory. “I think I gasped or he saw how horrified I was. He instantly pulled me out of the room to tell me what would happen to me and everyone else I cared about if I ever told anyone what they were doing or that you guys were down there. He made it clear they had no qualms about killing anyone who betrayed the company and the dire consequences of getting them busted. Some of the staff even came up to me that day to assure me that other employees had disappeared. I think he purposely asked them to talk to me to really make sure I understood the threat was real and that employees who’d lost his trust had been killed.”

“Yet she still took the risk of trying to get us help,” True stated. “Tell them what you did.”

She licked her lips, glancing at the familiar faces. It was a miracle to see how tanned and healthy some of them looked and it felt wonderful to know they thrived. “I bought a disposable phone with cash and—”

“That’s a cell phone you can buy at any store with minutes on it that can’t be traced to the owner by financial records or any other means,” Query stated.

A few of them nodded.

“Yeah. I bought one of those and used the Wi-Fi from a coffee shop to look up the New Species website.” She paused, glancing at Query to see if he wanted to explain anything else.

He smiled. “Wi-Fi is an internet signal that anyone can use if it isn’t password protected. A lot of human businesses offer it for free to their customers. It would have protected her identity if they traced the internet signal address.” He nodded. “Go on.”

“There was a phone number on the site but I didn’t know how long they’d keep me on hold and I hadn’t had enough cash to buy a lot of minutes for the phone. I chose to leave a message and even sent an email to give all the details about Drackwood. I left the number for the phone so they could contact me back. I told them I’d have to hide it so to just text me so we could set up a time to talk.” Jeanie liked it that True pressed his leg against hers under the table in a comforting gesture. “I was too afraid to take the phone home that first night so I hid it at a local park. That’s where I kept it. The next day I had a text and a direct phone number for Agent Terry Brice. I called and he set up a meeting. He flew to visit me right away and said I’d need to collect enough evidence to get a judge to grant a search warrant.”

“We don’t need those,” Jinx stated.

“I didn’t know that at the time.” She held his gaze. “Our law states that you have to show cause that something illegal is going on to obtain a search warrant. The judge issues the warrant—a paper that gives them the legal right to enter and search a property.”

“That’s true,” Luna agreed. “I study their laws in my spare time since I want to become the liaison who deals with handling the legal issues that arise between our world and hers.” She gave Jeanie a sympathetic smile. “Your laws don’t protect or help the victims but seem more focused on aiding the criminals.”