The stairs are steep, going deeper than I expected. Fifty feet. Seventy-five. A hundred.
Finally, the stairs end at a reinforced door. I press my ear against it. There’s voices, muffled but audible. The meeting’s happening right now, right on the other side of this door.
And there’s four guards outside it, according to Kade.
I look back at Talon and Jasper. They nod—ready.
I key the comm. “Rally point, we’re at the target. Going silent for the approach.”
Mara’s voice is barely a whisper. “I love you. All of you.”
“Love you too, Hellcat.”
I switch off the comm and motion to the others. We move into position—safeties off, knives ready for silent kills.
This is it, the moment we’ve been planning for. The moment everything either works, or we die trying.
I think about Mara. About the life we could have if we survive this. About freedom.
Then, I push the door open.
There’s four guards, just like Kade said. They turn, hands going to weapons?—
Too slow.
We move as one. Jasper takes the closest guard out with a knife to the throat. Talon takes the second with two shots, silenced, center mass. I take the third and fourth with the knife for one, bullets for the other.
We step over the bodies and move to the next door—the one that leads to the meeting room.
I can hear them now.
My father’s voice among them.
I key the comm one last time. “We’re breaching. See you on the other side.”
Then I kick open the door.
And come face to face with the three most dangerous men in the country.
James Steele, my father, looks up from the table. His eyes widen in shock, then narrow in understanding.
“Hello, Dad. We need to talk,” I say, gun leveled at his chest.
THIRTY-FOUR
JASPER
“Achat.” James’s gaze sweeps over the three of us, assessing. Taking in our weapons, our gear, the blood on our clothes. “With guns. How… dramatic.”
“Dramatic? You gave us forty-eight hours,” Talon says, moving to flank Dredyn on the left while I take the right.
Edmund Mercer moves slightly. Just a shift of weight, but I swing my weapon toward him instantly. He freezes, hands coming up slowly in a gesture of peace.
“Easy. No one needs to do anything hasty.”
Talon laughs. “Hasty? We’ve been planning this for months. There’s nothing hasty about it.”
“Then you’ve had time to think it through. Time to realize what you’re actually doing. This isn’t just about us, this is about the entire organization. You kill us, you declare war on the Syndicate. They will become your enemy.”
