Murmurs spreads through the room, low, urgent.
Lucian lets it ride for a beat, then slams it still with his next words. “We don’t sit back and hope men like him fail. We act. Swiftly. Quietly. With precision.”
He draws a slow breath. “Over the next several weeks, you will receive new mission orders. Not one, not two… many. This isn’t a single strike. It’s a dismantling. A methodical takedown of his network. One piece at a time.”
He pauses, and I swear I feel his eyes rest on me.
“This will not be easy. And it will not be clean. But I promise you this, Daniel Mercer will not win this war.”
Silence follows. Thick. Absolute.
Then Lucian gives a final nod. “Briefings will begin within the hour. Dismissed.”
Operatives begin murmuring. Moving. Pairing off. Orders are whispered. Names are passed around.
And just like that, the war begins. We don’t make it far. We’re barely out of the main hall when a Guild aide intercepts us, tall, stiff, earpiece in place, voice clipped.
“Director Ashthorne wants you in the South Briefing Room. Immediately.”
No need to ask who ‘you’ means. Jace nods once and falls into step without hesitation. The rest of us follow.
The South Briefing Room is smaller. Quieter. Designed for strategy, not spectacle. Frosted windows line one wall. A sleek black table stretches down the center with built-in displays glowing softly beneath the surface.
Lucian is already there.
He’s removed his coat. Rolled up his sleeves. His hair is still immaculate, but there’s something fierce and restless in his posture, a tension like a drawn bow.
He doesn’t waste time. “You’ll be working as a unit,” he says, as soon as the door closes behind us. “Effective immediately.”
My heart kicks.
Noah sits at the head of the table and pulls up the holo-display. Jace remains standing behind me. Luca finds the chair nearest mine and spins it around backward before sitting. Tex leans against the wall, arms crossed, watching Lucian like he’s waiting for a reason not to trust him.
Lucian’s gaze falls on me.
“You’re not a trainee anymore, Isobel. You’re not on the outside of this. You’re part of the team.”
I nod, trying not to let it shake. He taps the table. A digital map flares to life, a cluster of red points webbing across cities, ports, and hidden airfields.
“This is what we know so far. Mercer has people in six locations tied to illegal weapons movement. Two of them are former Guild. One of them used to run extraction out of Cairo. Another specializes in digital surveillance, and we believe she may have breached one of our southern data vaults.”
He points to a glowing dot near the center. “And here. There’s been chatter about a prototype.”
“Weapon?” Jace asks.
“Biochemical,” Lucian replies. “Something Mercer’s interested in. Something that doesn’t just kill. It disables. Breaks control.”
I stiffen.
Lucian doesn’t elaborate. “You’ll rotate across intel, recon, and field support over the next two weeks. Some missions will be hands-on. Others will require discretion and subtlety.” His eyes flick to Luca. “Minimal collateral.”
Luca offers a two-fingered salute. “I can be subtle.”
Lucian doesn’t look convinced. Then he turns back to me. “You’ll train with the team daily.”
“Understood,” I say.
Lucian watches me for a beat longer. Then, quietly, “I don’t expect you to be okay with this. I don’t even ask it. But I do expect you to be ready.”
