“Contact at two o’clock,” I reported. “Get me down there…fast.”
The pilot adjusted our approach while I focused on the single tree and any movement in that part of the area. “How many are still locked inside?”
There was no movement. They probably were on their way out when the helicopter approached. Now they were watching. Hiding. Waiting.
Smart.
But it wouldn’t be enough to escape.
“Salvini’s wife is out, and one of the twins.”
I clenched my jaw. Great. We needed Jemma Donnelly to keep the pressure on Salvini. And Grey wanted Isabella Salvini.
Was it she or the other sister who escaped?
The helicopter touched down on the landing pad, and I forced my focus back to the immediate situation and sprang into action.
Deal with the lurker first. End this shitty operation unbloody. Get Salvini’s cooperation for the syndicate, then unravel the mystery of Mr. Grey’s obsession with Isabella Salvini.
And then request an amicable exit from working for the Paraskia Syndicate. Easy.
4
ISABELLA
Istopped when I reached the side entrance and stared down at the cold, metal stairs, then surveyed the area.
Mira and I had had security training, but I couldn’t remember if we’d ever trained how to best escape barefoot, through rough terrain, out in the open.
I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. The area, like the construction site, looked rundown and abandoned, and suspiciously quiet.
Wrong. All wrong.
Somehow, I’d expected guards patrolling, or at least better security measures. Everything seemed quiet—too quiet to not be a trap.
The perimeter fence stretched along the compound, and I tried to locate the hole in the fence Birdie told me about, but since the light was facing, I couldn’t make it out againstthe shadows of the trees beyond—freedom so close I could almost taste it.
Hell. I had nothing to lose anyway. Worst case, they would drag me back and put me back into the pod.
As soon as I took the first step and encountered the cold spikes of the metal stairs, I knew this would suck. With each step, icy needles shot through my skin. But I ignored everything and flew down the stairs as fast as I could.
I paused for a moment—still no movement—then broke away from the building in a full-on sprint.
I was halfway to the fence, when the whump-whump of the blade of a rapidly approaching helicopter made me falter.
“Cazzo,” I muttered as I calculated the distance right as the helicopter appeared over the trees and banked down.
Double shit.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I made a split-second decision and dove into the shadow of the only fir tree that was within the fence. Maybe I was lucky enough and they didn’t see me.
I just needed to wait until the helicopter landed on the landing pad, then make it the rest of the way. I searched the fence again. Where was this damn hole Birdie had talked about?
“Merda.” The curse slipped out as I looked back at the helicopter, and right then, someone jumped out of it even before it touched the ground and headed directly at the tree, and me.
I’d been spotted. Time was up.
I burst from the shadow of the tree and sprinted toward the fence, my bare feet screaming at every impact with the rough ground.
