“What are you talking about?”
“The kid who went in before? He died. It killed him. But the vault didn’t kill Raquel. Why is that?”
“We’re not sure.”
“Sylvia.”
“I know, I know. But we really aren’t sure.” Her face flushed. “The Board ascertained that when you were stuck with that needle at the Reverence Sisters compound it was because they needed to use your DNA to change someone’s genetic makeup so that it allowed them in.”
“But the theft happened after.”
Sylvia shrugged. “Maybe it was a test, and they didn’t have it right. Or they hadn’t perfected it yet. It probably was recon.”
Eliana shook her head. “They needed my DNA so the vault wouldn’t kill them?”
Sylvia lifted her chin. “It is what it is. I suggest you don’t worry about it so much. The Board deemed it necessary, and it seems like it worked out in your favor.”
“I cut the cables. There is no Board.”
Sylvia pressed her lips together. “I see.”
“It’s over now, right?” Eliana asked. “I need to get Carlos before Wallace kills him.”
“You know where he is?”
“Maizie is—” She looked around and found her sister at the wrecked reception desk, working on her laptop. Finding Carlos. “I think we’ll know soon enough.”
Sylvia nodded. “I’ll make a call. We’ll use our people, and the police can join us if they have the personnel available. We’ll take care of it.”
Eliana didn’t think she meant only Carlos.
Right now, she didn’t care what the Shrine did with the Board. She just wanted the man who had always had her heart back in her life.
She walked over to Maizie.
Her sister turned to her as she approached. “I know where he is.”
Half an hour later, the town car pulled up outside the house. Cop cars parked out front clogged the street, making it so they couldn’t even get near the house where Wallace had been holding Carlos.
Eliana peered out of the window, straining to see something.
Maizie had checked the location on their parents’ phones and sent them this address so they could head here. Right nowEliana needed a hug from her mom and her dad more than ever. After today? She might stick with them for a while.
They at least needed a big family debrief. After that was done, she was going to call Auntie Zeyla and thank her for all those self-defense lessons. They’d probably saved Eliana’s life.
The car came to a stop.
Rather than wait to be let out, Eliana flipped the lock in the handle and shoved the door open. She stumbled on the ground, fatigue weighing her down. Injuries… Well, she had so many bumps and bruises right now she wasn’t even sure what parts of her weren’t injured.
Uniformed cops in SWAT gear stepped out of the house, walking Detective Wallace between them. His head down, hands cuffed behind his back. The group of half a dozen officers headed for the van at the curb.
An EMT came out next, pushing a stretcher. But there was no one lying on it.
A couple of guys in black fatigues, carrying rifles, came out. Between them, Carlos walked under his own steam. Maybe more of a limping stride than a walk. He had a bruise on the side of his face and visible abrasions on his elbows and hands. He looked like he’d been through something serious.
And he’d never looked better.
She picked up her pace to a run, weaving through people toward him.
