“Unknown female. Tactical. Just entered the warehouse alone. No insignia. No backup. She knew the codes and she’s hacked into the system from the inside.”
“Maybe she’s with the Tribunal?” he asks.
“Don’t think so. Looks like she’s pulling data. I’ve got a feed showing a data hemorrhage. And Reign—” I glance at the corner of my laptop. “There’s a countdown. Two minutes until it’s all in her hands.”
There’s a pause.
“Kingston wants us back stateside,” Reign adds. “Mission over, Bronx. We’ll gather a full team for the job. We’ll bounce back in a week when we’re better equipped to make a move.”
“Yeah.” I flick ash out the cracked window, thinking it through. “We need to know who she is or who sent her. She’s either on our side or needs to be eliminated.”
“Nah, Bronx, pull out.”
The warehouse lights flicker once, then stabilize.
In my mind, I picture Reign lying face down in his own blood while the Tribunal calls it business, Kingston behind bars for treason he didn’t commit.
“Tell K I’ll be at his place in Manhattan for drinks tomorrow.”
I twist the key in the ignition, engine rumbling low beneath me. Just as I shift into gear, Kingston’s voice cuts in over comms.
"Bronx. What the fuck are you doing?" Kingston’s voice comes through, stern and pissed.
01:46…
I keep my eyes on the warehouse. “She got inside likeshe’d built the damn security system herself. As of now, she’s a threat to us.”
“You’re to stand down. Right now.”
“K—”
“Not negotiable. I’m organizing a team as we speak. They’ll be there in five hours. We’ll have a counter-intrusion running inside in a few minutes to jam the leak.” I hear keys clacking in the background, muffled voices barking orders. “You wait for the team. You don’t move alone.”
“She’ll be long gone in five hours,” I growl.
01:38…
“We track her. Use her to find the rest of whoever the fuck she works for.”
“Not if she wipes our leverage in the next hundred seconds and disappears."
01:31…
“Bronx—” That warning edge is back. “We do this my way, or we risk losing more than data. You go in solo, you trigger a fail-safe, maybe set off whatever explosives they’ve rigged to cover their tracks.”
I exhale smoke, pulse steady. “This is personal now… We can’t let anyone get their?—”
“I’m ordering you to wait. That’s final.”
01:23…
I grip the wheel tighter. “It’s too late. She’s downloading everything and wiping evidence. I’m not waiting while someone sells out our bloodline.”
Kingston’s sigh cuts through the line. “I get it. But you’re acting on instinct, not strategy.”
“Instinct’s what’s kept me alive this long.”
01:15…
