Page 65 of Dark Gambit Reliance

More than Veskar's reassurances and anything else Tom had said, that convinced her that he wanted to help. It was obvious that he was desperate to learn more about his people, but he was willing to potentially lose his chance to do it in favor of helping liberate her.

"I might be able to eliminate Valstar. With Igor away, the guards won't bother to search me as thoroughly, and I might be able to sneak in a weapon or a drug. Valstar is probably not a strong compeller, so he can't compel me to stand down, and if I drug him, I can overpower him physically. Kagra can take down the third, but the two of us can't overcome every pureblood and hybrid in the compound."

"Maybe they would submit to your authority," Mia said. "With the second and the third gone, you'll be the natural leader. You could open the gates and walk out with whoever wants to be free."

Jade smiled indulgently. "If it was that simple, Igor would have never left the compound. He has everyone compelled to follow his orders even in his absence."

"Is there a chance that you can detain Valstar without killing him?" Toven asked.

She frowned. "Why would you want to spare him? He's a murderer."

"He's also Sofia's grandfather."

She'd forgotten about the human female Igor had sent to spy on Safe Haven.

"Ah, Sofia. You must have freed her mind as well. That's how you knew where to find Pavel."

Was the human stupid enough to plead for leniency for her grandfather? Didn't she know that he would feed her to a pompalo if it served him or Igor in any way?

Tom nodded. "I freed Sofia, and then we caught the two hybrids Igor sent to follow the tracker he put inside of her, and we questioned them as well. We learned a lot from them, but they didn't know about the compound being rigged. We learned about the explosives from Pavel."

"Is he also free of Igor's compulsion?"

"He's under mine."

"Excellent. Then he can help me."

"Indeed."

"If you had access to the compound, could you free everyone at once?"

Tom shook his head. "I might be able to do that with the humans, but the pureblooded Kra-ell are a different story. I can't thrall them. I can't even make them see illusions. The hybrids are easier, but I don't think I can free them from Igor's compulsion in one fell swoop. I'd need to do it one at a time."

That made sense, and she appreciated that he wasn't trying to make himself seem more powerful than he was.

"If you can bring your army of hybrids within a day or two, I can eliminate Valstar and the third and get everyone out of the office building. That's where the detonation button or lever or whatever it is must be. Igor lives in that building. His and Valstar's quarters are there."

"We can block the communications at the same time, so no one can notify Igor. By the way, do you know if he has an escape tunnel?"

"If there is one, he didn't tell me about it. He and his lackeys always leave and return by the front gate, but that doesn't mean that they don't have some secret tunnel somewhere."

"I thought that you hinted at it in your fable."

She shook her head. "It was just something that the crafty rat could do. It had no other meaning besides that."

"Igor is not the type who would die with his people," Tom said. "If he planned to destroy everyone if the compound was invaded by a superior force, he must have planned for a way to escape."

Jade wasn't sure about that. If the royals ever surfaced and came for Igor, he would prefer to die rather than suffer their wrath for betraying them.

But she wasn't going to tell Tom about the royal twins. To let a god know about them was a worse betrayal than what Igor had done.

"We don't have time to look for the tunnel," she said. "Once I eliminate Igor's lieutenants and take control of the office building, I'll give you the all-clear signal, and you will come in with your army. There will be some casualties, but that's unavoidable. When we have the entire compound under our control, we will wait for Igor to return and capture him." She pinned Tom with a hard stare. "He's mine to kill. Dreaming about doing that is what kept me from running away and detonating this damn collar to end my suffering."

Tom dipped his head. "I'll do my best to save him for you. But speaking of the collar, did Igor or any of his lackeys ever do anything to control people with it? Can it deliver pain?"

"It was never used to do that, so I assume it can't. It's supposed to explode and take my head off if I try to leave the hunting grounds, so in addition to explosives, it must have a location tracker as well."

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