The image on the screen stole my breath—Nicolai, unconscious on a metal table, restrained with the same specialized tech I'd disabled during our earlier escape. Around him, scientists in lab coats monitored equipment and took readings, treating him like a specimen rather than a person.
"Found him," I said, voice tight with barely controlled rage. "Northeast quadrant, Section S, sublevel three."
Yuri immediately relayed the information through his comm unit, coordinating with the other teams. I barely heard him, too focused on Nicolai's still form on the screen. Was he hurt? Drugged? The camera angle didn't show his face clearly enough for me to tell.
"We've got his location," Yuri said, turning back to me. "Now get out of the system before you stroke out."
I shook my head, blood spattering the console in front of me. "Not done yet. Need to clear his path." My words were becoming slurred as the strain took its toll, but I wasn't stopping, not when I was so close.
The facility map showed at least three security checkpoints between our teams and Nicolai's location. Each one would cost precious time and potentially alert O'Rourke to our specific target… Unless I removed them from the equation entirely.
"What are you doing?" Yuri asked sharply as warning lights began flashing across the monitors.
My fingers danced across the keyboard while my mind reached deeper into the facility's systems. "Creating a path," I managed through gritted teeth. "And making sure we can get out alive."
The room swam in and out of focus as I pushed my abilities past any reasonable limit. Blood flowed freely from my nose now, warm and metallic-tasting as it dripped over my lips and stained the front of my shirt.
My hands trembled against the keyboard, and each breath came harder than the last. I was burning myself out from the inside, but I couldn't stop—not when Nicolai needed me.
"You're pushing too hard," Yuri growled, his voice cutting through the haze of pain and concentration. He moved closer, eyeing the blood that now dripped onto the console. "This isn't worth killing yourself over."
I wiped my nose with my sleeve, leaving a bright red smear across the fabric. The gesture did nothing to stem the flow. "Since when do you care?" I shot back, not taking my eyes off the screens where Nicolai lay motionless, surrounded by O'Rourke's scientists.
"Nicolai would rather die than watch you kill yourself saving him."
That got my attention.
I turned to look at Yuri, surprised by the sincerity in his usually stoic face. For a moment, I glimpsed something beyond the hardened enforcer—actual concern. It was almost touching, in a weird, gruff bear shifter kind of way.
My eyes flashed with electronic energy as I snapped back, "Not your call to make. Besides, I've been running my whole life. Time to stand and fight for once."
The monitor displaying Nicolai's containment room showed increased activity now. One of the scientists was preparing some kind of injection. Whatever they were planning to do to him, it wasn't going to happen. Not while I still had breath in my body and electricity at my fingertips.
I dove deeper into the facility's systems, bypassing security protocols and overriding safety measures with reckless abandon.Each new connection sent fresh waves of pain through my skull, but I welcomed it.
Pain meant I was still conscious, still fighting.
The image on the main screen shifted as I accessed a better camera angle, and what I saw froze my blood. Nicolai was strapped to a metal table in a laboratory-like setting, specialized restraints at his wrists, ankles, and across his chest. They were the same type I'd encountered before—designed to suppress shifting abilities.
A scientist approached with a syringe containing luminescent blue fluid. Some kind of experimental drug? A sedative? Whatever it was, the sight of it sparked a rage I'd rarely allowed myself to feel.
"Northeast quadrant, sublevel three," I reported again, voice cracking as I relayed coordinates through Yuri's comm unit. My hands trembled not just with exhaustion now, but with fury. "Section S, Room 12. Five hostiles present, all non-combatants. Nicolai is restrained, but appears physically uninjured."
Yuri nodded sharply, relaying the information to the strike teams. "Dima's group is closest. ETA three minutes if they encounter no resistance."
Three minutes was too long. In three minutes, that syringe could be emptied into Nicolai's veins. In three minutes, they could move him to a more secure location. In three minutes, O'Rourke himself could arrive.
No, we needed a distraction now.
Chapter Fourteen
~ Mishka ~
My fingers flew across the keyboard as my mind reached deeper into the facility's infrastructure, beyond the security systems, beyond the door controls and cameras, into the very heart of the building's operations.
"What are you doing?" Yuri demanded as warning lights began flashing across the monitors.
"Creating a diversion," I replied, channeling my abilities to systematically overload the facility's containment systems. "And making sure O'Rourke can never use this place again."
