"Introductions," Jagger says. "For those who don't know everyone. Marlee, Thiago, Kira, Dom—these are my brothers. Jace, Jinx. Elliot is Jace's partner. Jonah is mine. I am Jagger."
"Charmed," Marlee says flatly.
"The facility," Jagger continues, pulling up the schematic. Blue light washes across his face. "Geneva. Forty-odd children inside, security detail of twelve. We breach at midnight. Two teams. East entrance and west. Jinx and Asher take east with Marlee and Thiago. I coordinate from the van with Jonah monitoring comms. Kira and Dom handle extraction vehicles at the rally point. Elliot stays here and sets up triage for when we bring the kids back."
"And Jace?" Kira asks.
"Jace is with us. Floater. He goes where he's needed."
Jace nods once, expression unchanged. The Reaper, ready to reap.
"Security response time?" Marlee asks.
"Four minutes to local backup, fifteen to anything substantial. We need to be in and out in under ten."
"That's tight."
"That's the job."
Jonah raises his hand like a schoolkid. "Question. What happens if the kids are, you know, not super cooperative? Because I've read the files and some of them sound pretty murder-y."
"Elliot handles psychological triage when we get them back here. During extraction, we keep them calm however we can. Tranquilizers as a last resort."
"Cool. Cool cool cool. Just checking that we have a plan for tiny assassins."
"They're not assassins," Jace says quietly. "They're children. Scared, conditioned, probably violent, but still children."
"Who may try to stab us."
"Who may try to stab us," Jace agrees. "Don't let them."
"Solid advice. Very helpful. I feel extremely prepared."
Kira shifts against the wall. "What about facility staff? Medical personnel?"
"Neutralize anyone who sees us. We can't leave witnesses."
"They might be civilians. People who don't know what they're really working for."
"Then they picked the wrong employer." Jagger's voice is flat. "This isn't a clean operation. It was never going to be."
The room goes quiet. Dom clears his throat, he rasps, voice rough from the old throat damage. "Twelve guards, forty kids, ten-minute window. That's a lot of variables. Going to be hard."
"Hard like Jinx was last night," I say.
The silence that follows is deafening.
Jinx's head snaps up. His eyes meet mine for the first time all morning, blazing with fury and want he can't quite hide.
Jonah chokes on his coffee. Jagger closes his eyes like he's praying for patience. Jace's expression doesn't change, but his hand twitches toward his knife, reflexive rather than threatening. Elliot makes a small sound that might be a laugh or might be horror.
Marlee stares at me. "You did not just say that."
"I absolutely did."
"In front of everyone."
"Seemed relevant."
