Chapter 144

Arkady ripped off a piece of banana chocolate chip muffin. "Handy, huh? Apparently, they didn't want to do time and were pressing for immunity in exchange for a deal to expose some higher-ups."

"If they didn't realize the nature of the people they were dealing with," Rafael said, "they were too stupid to live and best removed from the gene pool."

Levi nodded approvingly, his head bent over the lock.

Arkady had spoken to some of the kids we'd rescued as well, who'd assured him that Tatiana's experiments had not been conducted on them.

"That's a relief," I said. "Okay, Rafael. You're up."

To Rafael's credit, slim though it was, he delivered a clear and precise summation of Jezebels' history, worthy of the finest university professor.

"All Jezebels are descendants of their namesake, with the potentials' bloodlines traveling through the mother, like in Judaism," Rafael said, in conclusion to this portion of the lecture.