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“Oh…oh my god,” I whisper, standing to lean closer to the image, absolutely shocked at what I see.

“See?” Rose says, her tone as angry as it is victorious. “My images. My enhancement technology.Mywork that uncovered this! Me – aninvestigativejournalist with degrees in engineering and visual technology, Cole! I’m not just some girl sent here to take pretty pictures - this missionneedsme.”

I turn to her, agape, not even processing the claims she’s making, still absolutely floored by the image. “Is this real?”

Rose raises an eyebrow,beggingme to doubt her journalistic integrity.

I move on. “Does my father know about this?”

“Yup,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your father took one look at it this morning and put me on the first train south.”

I curse, turning towards the entrance flap.

“Cole!”

But I ignore her, pushing outside and striding for General Amir’s office.

I need a phone. Right now.

Chapter 45 – Phone Call

Cole

I sit in General Amir’s chair as he stands behind me, my body tense, arms folded. My father’s image appears on the computer screen, his face more serious than it usually is, while a second black box loads. I lean forward as it flashes to color, Jude’s image taking shape.

“Sorry,” dad says, nodding to us. “Took a minute to get him.”

“Bath time,” Jude murmurs, annoyed and running a hand through his damp hair.

“You guys are aware of this?” I snap, kind of livid that they didn’t inform me immediately.

“I’m not,” Jude says, frowning at the screen and glancing at dad. “What’s up?”

I flick my eyes to dad, who nods. “We’ve come into possession of some images,” dad says, starting to bring them up on screen. “And we’d like your perspective, Jude – “

“Should Iris be in on this?” Jude says, looking toward what must be his bedroom door. “If this is a family affair and all –“

“It’s not necessary that she be included in this conversation, Jude,” dad says, putting a hand on his arm. “But we could use perspective from your friend who was raised with the Children of Solace. His perspective could be invaluable.”

Jude nods, bending his head and pulling his phone out of his pocket, typing something. We all wait a few moments before he speaks again. “All right. I’ve got him here.”

Dad nods too and returns to the images. “Our photojournalist took these on a recent evening in the Children of Solace,” he says, enlarging one on the screen – the one that Rose showed me, though there are five others, each less clear. “We were curious if your friend could tell us what you see happening here.”

Jude frowns, leaning closer and looking at the images on the screen, taking pictures of them on his phone and apparently sending them on to whoever is there. When the reply comes back, his eyebrows raise in surprise. “Damn,” he says, nodding, his eyebrows going up. “Scouts. He says that they’re scouts – that the Children of Solace use kids to do this kind of investigation all the time.”

I blanche, my jaw falling open. “Jude, those are like…five-year-old children!”

My eyes flash back to the image, my heart wrenching again as I look over the two little boys, their facessothin. Tiny little frowns turn down their lips as they seem to stare directly at the camera – which means they were looking directly at Roseand I as we fled. Mud is spread over their faces so that they blendalmost imperceptibly into their background – god, I don’t know how Rose noticed them in the first place.

But their little faces are sothin, and they look so…so fuckingserious…

I clench my jaw, hating the Children of Solace, afraid for them.

“Yeah,” Jude says, frowning at me. “Five-year-old scouts. Why, what’s wrong?”

I shake myself a little, gawking at him. “You don’t see the probleminherentin that sentence?”

Jude smirks at me and shrugs, glancing down at his phone. “My source says that kids need to pull their weight just like anyone else in the CoS –“