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“Stand in line,” Mateo said as he got up and took his half empty beer to the kitchen. “You done?” He asked Jase.

The man nodded. He brought his half empty bottle to the kitchen, and they left Mateo’s condo to head over to Kostya’s home.

“We’ve had a couple of breaks in the case. Nothing we can totally sink our teeth into yet.” Kostya turned to Lark, who was sitting in the couch's corner with him sitting on the arm—not hovering over her exactly, more like he didn’t want to be far from her. Mateo had noticed the same thing with all of his teammates who’d paired up.

“Why don’t you tell them what you found, Lark?”

“Brady wasn’t Ephram’s last name. It was his middle name. His last name was Hicks. He was born in Peacetime, Oregon.

The ‘oh shits’ and ‘what the fucks’ went flying around the room.

“Let her finish,” Kostya said quietly.

Mateo hadn’t been living in the States when the showdown at Peacetime took place, but he’d heard about it. Mateo had run into the type of men in the military who came down on the side of the men of Peacetime who called themselves the Peacekeepers. They had wanted no government interference in how they operated their society, taught their children, or governed their town. They especially didn’t want anyone involved in how they handled any problems within their group. They lived in a compound out in the mountains in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in the Northeast Oregon border. They did their best to stay off everybody’s radar, and it worked. Mostly. Occasionally, some camper would come out of the woods and bitch about the maniacs with guns who threatened to kill them if they didn’t get off their property, but mostly, they just went about their business.

That all changed when two women escaped with five children in the dead of winter. One woman was beat to hell, but she helped carry the youngest kid out of there, and they were spotted close to a campground. Turned out there was a flu going round at the Peacekeeper compound, and these kids now had pneumonia, so the women were desperate to get them to a hospital, no matter what they had to do. The husband of the one who wasn’t beaten-up had helped them escape and stayed behind to buy them time.

When they were finally brought to the hospital, authorities questioned them. Olive, the woman who hadn’t been hurt, told them what was going on. She explained that some of the women wanted to leave, but they couldn’t. She said the men had amassed guns and explosives, and they were determined to defend themselves if anyone from the government ever came onto their land.

The raid hadn’t been as bad as Ruby Ridge or Waco, but it had been bad. The leader of the Peacekeepers was Ezariah Hicks. He had three wives and fourteen children. The woman who had been beaten so badly and escaped was one of his wives, and she taken three of his children. One of them died at the hospital from complications of the pneumonia.

“Ephram was one of his younger sons. He was in the compound when it was raided. He saw his dad and two of his older brothers killed that day,” Lark explained.

Mateo winced.

“How old was he?” Jase asked. Of course, he asked. He might be a big guy who you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of, but he had a gentle heart.

“He was seven,” Lark answered.

“What happened to him?” Jonas asked. “Did he go with his mother?”

“His actual mother wasn’t the woman who escaped. His real mother was a zealot, just like her husband. When she saw her husband die, she slit her throat in front of her children.”

Great, it just kept getting better and better.

“So this is how Ephram started out. No wonder he was a psychopath.” Braxton shook his head. “He never stood a chance.”

“Did he ever check in with his other brothers and sisters?” Mateo asked.

“I’m still working on that,” Lark said. “Ephram and one brother and one sister were sent to live with a family in Bend, Oregon. The mother was a child psychologist. The social workers thought that would give them the best chance at a normal life. I’m going to fly out tomorrow to talk to her.”

“You didn’t tell me that. I thought you were just going to call her.” Kostya frowned at his wife.

“This is the best way to get the information I need. A phone call just won’t cut it.”

Mateo could see the frustration on his lieutenant’s face. He knew both Kostya and Gideon had wanted to send their women into hiding, but their help was too valuable. And now, Mateo would bet his bottom dollar that Kostya wanted to go along with Lark to keep her safe, but Kostya, missing from the base, would be too noticeable. Mateo thought about volunteering to go with her, but he didn’t. He wanted in on the action. He wanted to play an offensive position.

“I can go with her,” Keegan volunteered. “Nolan and Linc can work on the C-4 angle, I’ll make sure Mrs. Barona is covered.”

“You’re sure as hell not coming with me if you call me Mrs. Barona,” Lark said as she rolled her eyes. “My name is Mrs. Lieutenant.”

Everybody laughed, breaking some of the tension.

“Do you have anything on Ely Roberts?” Jase asked Lark.

“My God, man, I give you all this good data, and you want more? What do you think I am, a magician?”

“Yes,” pretty much everyone said at once.