I take a breath. Then another.
Somewhere out there, Jace is working on a plan. Killing people. Finding angles. Doing whatever it takes to get me out of here.
I have to believe that. I have to hold onto it, the same way I hold onto the wall.
Because the alternative is letting go.
And if I let go now, after everything, it means they win. Moore wins. Webb wins. Every monster who ever looked at me and saw property instead of a person wins.
I won't give them that.
Not yet.
Not while there's stilla chance.
The lights blaze overhead, white and merciless. The collar sits heavy on my throat. The restraints bite into my wrists, a reminder of how little control I have.
But inside my head, behind the wall, there's a space that belongs only to me.
A space where my mother makes pancakes and the sun comes through the window.
A space where Jace holds me in the dark and doesn't let go.
A space where I am more than what they made me.
I close my eyes and go there.
The wall holds.
For now.
Chapter Fifteen: Jace
Theflightbackfeelslike it takes far too long.
I spend them going back over the plan. Variables, contingencies, failure points. Every scenario mapped and remapped until the patterns blur together into a single, repeating truth: this will either work perfectly, or Elliot dies.
There is no middle ground.
The plane touches down at a private airstrip outside the city, a facility owned by a shell company three layers removed from House Harrington. Briar arranged it. One of many resources he's been quietly accumulating during his months of supposed exile. Guess family ties run strong in his House.
Jagger is waiting on the tarmac, shoulders hunched against the wind. He looks older than the last time I saw him, the lines around his eyes deeper, the set of his mouth harder. The pressure is wearing on him too.
Jinx stands beside him, coiled and restless, bouncing on the balls of his feet the way he does when violence is imminent.My youngest brother has always preferred action to planning. Tonight, he'll get both.
"Status?" I ask as I approach.
"Facility location confirmed," Jagger says. "Briar's contact came through. Sub-basement of the Morrison Building, financial district. Three levels below ground."
"Security?"
"Heavy but predictable. Webb likes his routines." Jinx cracks his knuckles. "We've been monitoring shift changes for the past eighteen hours. There's a window."
"How wide?"
"Twenty-three minutes. Long enough if we don't fuck around."
I nod. Twenty-three minutes to infiltrate a secure facility, neutralize Webb, disable the collar, extract Elliot, and escape before reinforcements arrive.
