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She Walks with Broken Things

Page 98

by A.K. Rose

House of Ash Archive.

Operation status: Complete.

Target Bloodline: Eliminated.

Secondary Targets: Eliminated.

Associated Safehouses: Destroyed.

Known Survivors: None Confirmed.

I listened to the archive reports, my mind racing. This wasn’t anything new. I’d heard about the same houses and the operations before. I knew all about the killings first hand, after all I was the one with the blood on my hands.

Still, I hit play on the next one as my thoughts drifted to Cassian Vale and his Ash Circle.

Post-Operation Analysis.

Order fragmentation observed.

Financial routes abandoned.

Transport routers altered.

Regional leadership vacated.

Multiple cells entered deep-cover status.

Nothing.

I hit play on the next one and shifted my attention to the creaks of the house above me.

Six-month follow-up report from House of Ash.

Increase in Daughter acquisitions. Thirty-four percent.

I jerked my gaze down.

Increase in containment facilities. Twenty-one percent.

Increase in observed disciplinary incidents. Forty-three percent.

What? I’d never heard of those numbers before.

Observation Analysis.

The remaining members of the Order have adopted revised containment procedures.

Recommended: Immediate deposition of all unregistered Daughters.

Increase physical compliance measures.

Elimination of external support structures.

I leaned forward on the chair. Jesus fucking Christ. Did they know what this meant?

6 Month Operational Field Report.

Daughter Containment Program.