"What do you think you're doing?" Yuri asked, limping closer to look over my shoulder. "You need to stay here while we organize a rescue—"
"There's no time for that," I cut him off, fingers already flying across the keyboard. "Thirty minutes isn't enough for a team to mobilize, infiltrate, and extract. You know that."
"And what do you suggest? You're just one person, a teenager with a nosebleed."
I looked up at him, and whatever he saw in my eyes made him step back.
"I'm the person O'Rourke has been hunting. The one with abilities he can't understand or predict. The one Nicolai thought was worth protecting." My voice had taken on that electronic distortion again, my powers flaring with my emotions. "O'Rourke will regret the day he decided to use Nicolai to get to me."
The screens around us flickered in response to my surge of power, the lights in the panic room dimming momentarily. Yuri's eyes widened slightly.
"You'll kill yourself trying," he warned, but there was less conviction in his voice now. "Those abilities of yours—you're already bleeding from pushing them too hard."
I turned back to the terminal, pulling up building schematics for the riverfront area. "I secured armory access. Zev gave me the codes."
"Zev gave you—" Yuri broke off, shaking his head in disbelief. "You've been busy."
"I've been desperate," I corrected, locating the old processing plant in the industrial district. "Now I need everything you have on O'Rourke's complex. Security systems, guard rotations, entry points."
To my surprise, Yuri didn't argue. Instead, he leaned over and typed a series of commands, bringing up detailed security protocols and what looked like architectural blueprints.
"We've had eyes on that compound for months," he explained, grimacing as he straightened up. "Nicolai wanted to be prepared if O'Rourke ever moved against us. Never thought he'd be the one trapped inside."
My eyes scanned the information hungrily. Electric fence. Motion sensors. Armed guards at all entrances. An underground level where "special guests" were kept. My blood ran cold at the clinical description of what amounted to a private prison and torture chamber.
"I can handle the electronic security," I said, my mind already racing ahead to solutions. "But I'll need help with the guards."
Yuri studied me for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then he nodded once, sharply. "Dima is clearing the last of the intruders. He's the best we have for direct assault. I can coordinate from here, direct resources."
"You're helping me?" I couldn't keep the surprise from my voice.
A ghost of a smile touched Yuri's battered face. "Nicolai would never forgive me if I let his little protégé get killed." The smile faded. "And I would never forgive myself if we didn't try everything possible to save him."
I nodded, something like respect passing between us for the first time.
"I need transport routes," I said, turning back to the terminal. "And a direct link to Dima."
Yuri moved to a secondary console, his fingers tapping commands with surprising speed given his injuries. "Already on it. There's a service tunnel that runs within half a mile of the compound. Minimal security checkpoints."
A new window opened on my screen—a satellite view of the route from our current location to O'Rourke's compound, with alternative paths highlighted in different colors.
Another window showed thermal imaging of the compound itself, revealing guard positions and what appeared to be a cluster of heat signatures in the underground level.
"Is that him?" I asked, pointing to an isolated heat signature in the lowest level.
"Most likely," Yuri confirmed grimly. "They'd keep him separate from other prisoners. Especially given what they're planning."
A timer appeared in the corner of the screen, the numbers glowing an accusatory red: 30:00. As I watched, it began to count down.
29:59… 29:58… 29:57.
Each second that ticked away was a second closer to losing Nicolai forever. I wiped the blood from my face one last time and straightened my shoulders.
"Let's go get him."
Chapter Thirteen
~ Mishka ~
