"What do you want?"
"I want to watch you suffer the way you've made me suffer.I want you to understand what it feels like to lose everything you care about."
"This isn't about Evangeline.This is about Ivy."
Another pause, longer this time."You've been doing your homework."
"I know you were using her intelligence to build your operation.I know she died and your network should have collapsed, but it didn't.I know you've been sitting on that information for years, waiting for the right moment to cash it in."
"Very good.And yes, Ivy was a valuable asset.More valuable than she realized, actually.When she died, I lost my best source of intelligence.But the information she'd already provided was enough to keep me ahead of the game."
"So what, you're using Evangeline to get back at me for something I had nothing to do with?"
"I'm using Evangeline to get everything I want.Money, power, revenge.She's the key to all of it."
"She'll never go back to you."
"She will when she realizes the alternative is watching you die slowly.See, that's what love does, Hades.It makes you weak.Makes you do stupid things to protect the people you care about."
The casual threat makes my vision go red."Touch her and I'll make your death last days."
"Then I suggest you follow my instructions.Coordinates are being sent now.You've got two hours."
The line goes dead before I can respond.
"He's baiting you," Ghost says unnecessarily."Wants you angry, wants you making mistakes."
"I know what he's doing."
"Do you?Because right now you look like you're about to do something stupid and get yourself killed."
"I'm going to get her back."
"We're going to get her back.As a club, with proper planning and backup."
"He said come alone."
"And you think he's going to honor that?The second you show up, his people are going to put you down and keep Evangeline anyway."
"Then what's your plan?"
Ghost spreads a map on the hood of a nearby car."We set up perimeter positions before you arrive.Sniper teams, extraction vehicles, communications jamming.You go in as bait, we provide the teeth."
It's a good plan, solid tactically.But it requires time we don't have and coordination that could fall apart if Morrison's watching for exactly this kind of response.
"Two hours," I say."That's all we've got to set this up and execute."
"Then we’d better stop talking and start moving."
My phone buzzes with a text.The coordinates Morrison promised, along with a photo that makes my blood turn to ice.
Evangeline, her hands bound together as she’s lying on the floor in what looks like an empty warehouse.Her lip is split again and there's a fresh bruise forming on her other cheek, but her eyes are clear and focused.Defiant, even in captivity.
The text beneath reads:Come alone or she dies.
I stare at the photo, memorizing every detail.The warehouse interior, the positioning of the chair, the shadows that suggest windows or doors.Any information that might give us an advantage.
But mostly I'm looking at Evangeline's face, seeing the fear she's trying to hide, the determination not to break no matter what Morrison does to her.
