Lucy snorts and shakes her head. “You’re being dramatic. There are other Dragons we can call on.”
“I don’t trust any of them. There’s only one I’d call on?—”
“But he’s half dead in a hospital bed right now. Even still, Mass, the others don’t like Medved any more than you do.”
“No. I will handle this myself.” I snap my folder shut and rub my face. “But I can’t go without my wife.”
Lucy sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “You had to go and make everything harder.”
“I don’t trust anyone or anywhere with her right now.”
“What about the baby?”
I hesitate, frowning slightly. There was that moment earlier when I heard the little one crying. I don’t even know why I reacted so strongly, but it was like an instinct triggered deep inside.
I had to get up and soothe her.
The girl was soft in my arms. She cuddled into me, and somehow, my touch calmed her down. When I stared into her little eyes, she looked back at me and touched my face. I felt a stirring, a longing. It was strange. I hated every moment of it.
“The baby can stay here with Satya. She’ll be safe enough.”
Lucy gets to her feet. “Good luck with that.”
“Prepare a strike team. I’ll lead them personally. Reach out to the Turkish clans and make sure they’re ready for us.”
“You know I don’t mind when you get your hands dirty, Mass. I just want to make sure you aren’t going to be distracted by Allie while you’re out there. Even if you’re a Dragon, you’re still a man. Bullets kill you just as easily as anyone else.”
“Make the preparations.”
She shrugs and stalks off. I have no doubts the trip will be executed perfectly. Lucy has never failed me before.
But she’s right to worry about me.
I’m worried about myself.
I feel like my mind’s split in half. I try to sit here and take care of my business, but I constantly drift off to dreams of my wife. Her beautiful body in my bed, her whimpers and gasps of pleasure as I fill her to the brim, her laughter and smiles as I tease and explore her body.
Bringing Allie to my office today was foolish.
But leaving her behind during my trip to Turkey feels like cutting off a limb.
ALLIE
Turns out, the Fortress is freaking massive, and Rosie gets really heavy lugging her all over the place. “Don’t worry, sweetie, we’ll find it soon,” I murmur to her as I wander down another turn, totally clueless and lost.
It feels like the place was built to confuse the shit out of me.
I pass so many rooms it’s obscene. Some seem like they’re apartments for the staff. There are multiple gyms, mess halls, a couple of restaurants, and several indoor pools. I pass enormous rooms filled with computers. I pass rooms where people are bent over desks doing God knows what with scissors and strange bags of white powder. Rooms with servers, rooms with hanging plants, and rooms that look like bank vaults.
Nobody bothers me. I walk past a few dozen staff members. Some smile and greet me warmly, but none ask where I’m going. I consider asking for directions, but I have some extra time and I really should explore my new home.
It’s insane. There’s an entire wing filled with trucks. The cars are apparently on a different level. One room has six or seven menand women creating paintings. I watch for a minute until one scowling artist glares over his shoulder and looks like he wants to tell me off but thinks better of it. Canvases are leaning against the wall. I swear I recognize one from an art history course I took in high school, but that can’t be right.
One door is labeled simply THE TOXINARIUM. Inside are mushrooms growing in thick black soil and cages stuffed with brightly colored snakes. A woman in a lab coat nearly shrieks when she spots me staring at her and frantically waves me away.
It’s endless and incredible. At least until I come across a heavy metal door with a thick lock attached to the side on the far western half of the building.
“What do we have here?” I say, hefting Rosie. My arms are basically jelly by now. I really wish I had a stroller or a wagon. I’ll make sure to request one suitable for lugging her around.
