“Give me five minutes.”
“You’ve got three.”
My fingers blur. I’m in their system within ninety seconds, downloading everything—access logs, camera positions, maintenance schedules.
“Got it.” I turn off the laptop. “Forty-seventh floor. Nexus Holdings occupies the entire level. Biometric scanners at the elevator. Secondary access through the service stairs requires both keycard and PIN.”
“Can you bypass the biometrics?”
“Not remotely. But—” I pull up a fresh file. “According to the access logs, Sophia Blackwell entered at 11:47 PM tonight.”
“Late for a business meeting.”
“Or early for destroying evidence.” I check the time stamp. “She hasn’t left. Still in the building.”
Jackson studies the data. “Perfect.”
“Perfect? She’s probably a Phoenix operative.”
“She’s definitely a Phoenix operative.” He loads his weapon, the slide racking with a metallic snap. “But she’s also our ticket inside. And if she’s still there at 3 AM, she’s panicking. Panicked people make mistakes.”
“So we what? Ask nicely for her biometrics?”
“Something like that.” He hands me a smaller weapon—a Glock 19. “Ever fire one of these?”
“FBI training.”
“Good. Don’t aim at anything you’re not willing to kill.”
The weight settles in my palm. Cold steel. Heavy with responsibility. I check the magazine, chamber a round, and engage the safety. Muscle memory from Quantico floods back, overriding the tremors.
Jackson watches with approval. “You’re full of surprises.”
“I contain multitudes.”
“We need to move.” Jackson heads for the door, then pauses. Turns back. “Talia.”
“Yeah?”
“What you found—that pattern analysis—that’s brilliant work. You gave us the first real lead on who’s holding the leash.”
The compliment lands in the center of my chest.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to steal it.” He checks the street through a crack in the boarded-up window. “The SUV is still out there. We go out the back, circle wide, grab the car I stashed three blocks south.”
“You stashed a car?”
“Always have a backup exit.” He eases the door open. “Stay close. Stay quiet. If shooting starts, you run. Don’t stop. Don’t look back.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Talia—”
“No.” The word comes out hard. Absolute. “Victor’s dead because I couldn’t protect him. Morrison’s dead because I gave him evidence. I’m not running while you bleed for me.”
“This isn’t negotiable.”
