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I look over to Kai as I point to the direction I want him to go.

“Do you know how to use one of these?” I ask, handing him a silenced pistol.

He takes it in between his index finger and thumb, cocking his head to the side.

“I will not need this,” he says, handing it back.

I look over to Alok who’s leaned up against one of the trees and gesture to him to stay in place.

I wait for the guard to rotate toward me to take aim and shoot. He’s down quick, a clean head shot. I gesture for Kai to move to the back of the building.

He slides through the trees as I move into place and aim at the guards in front, shooting four times. One for each of them—all headshots. Target practice came in handy. Right as the fourth man drops I see the guard on the far side of the building come around the corner and I shoot.

The hairs on my arms raise as I hear fast shuffling in the back of the house. I quickly move through the trees to get a better vantage point when I see Kai.

One of the security guards is already on the ground bleeding out, and Kai has the other two in his hands. They’re lifted in the air, and I see him squeezing their throats. They both jerk and claw at his hands until they go limp. He drops both of them and brushes his shoulder off as if he just experienced a minor inconvenience. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed.

For the first time, I’m grateful he’s on my side.

Suddenly, Jack is in my ear. “Go through the back entrance; there are a few security cameras inside, so you’ll need to be cautious. I can’t help you in there. There are several rooms in the basement that do have live feeds, but they’re all empty.” Jack pauses. “I don’t see her. There is a room that should have a camera, but it appears to be broken.”

“That’s the one,” I say, looking over to Alok. “Change of plan. It’s probably best that we don’t split up.”

I look between both Kai and Alok, pointing to the men on the ground with the obvious security gear. “Kill on sight.” They both look at each other and smile.

“Then let’s not waste any time,” Kai says.

I quickly move to the back door and gesture at them to pause as I look in through the window. Seeing nothing, I check the knob and it’s open. Rosa was expecting us, but this has been far too easy, something must be up.

“Stay sharp, Rosa knows I’m coming, but she’s not going to expect you two,” I say quietly.

I see a large open hall, and what appears to be steps going downstairs. I clear it before heading to the steps into the basement. There appear to be bodies scattered throughout the hallway. By the positioning of some of them, they were caught off guard. This must have been Ben’s doing. Fucking idiot, I told him to wait.

“What the fuck happened here?” Alok asks with bewilderment, he and Kai having joined me at the bottom.

I don’t respond as I quickly make my way down the hall, kicking down door after door. When I get to the last one, there’s a broken security camera and a metal bed frame thrown against the wall.

“This is where they kept her.” I say it aloud without realizing. All rationality exiting my mind, I turn and see Kai. His eyes are dark and his face contorted. I turn and begin to move quickly back up the stairs.

Have you seen her, little ghost? Is she okay?

I focus all my efforts to let in whatever you want me to see. Visions of a small low-lit room come to mind. The door is opening, and I can see the silhouette of a woman stepping in. It’s Rosa. Her voice in my head is smooth and haunting: “It’s time, ladies.”

So Rosa is with Calli. She presumably has Gen as well. They must have caught Ben before he could succeed in getting Calli out.

Thank you. You’re doing so well.

“Ben said he would try to stop them.” I look around, double-checking if any of the bloodied bodies on the floor are Ben.

I pick one that’s face down, only to see he has no face; looks like it was blown off by a shotgun at close range.

“Fuck…” I hear Alok say from behind me. “So, want to tell us what the plan is?”

“We need to find the library,” Kai says as he pushes ahead of me.

“I don’t think this is a time to browse for books,” Alok says.

“Not books,” I say. “The ritual room. Rosa has Calli and that’s where they would go.”