For a heartbeat, Jay’s brain stalled. He’d expected a bigger impact. Rage. Fear. Something. Instead, clarity filled him with purpose. She wasn’t the monster he’d built in his mind, not some towering shadow, or malevolent force.
She was just a woman.
Flesh and bone.
Cold, calculating, and ruthless—yes—but human.
Which made her more dangerous than ever. Because humans were capable of anything. She’d taught him that lesson. And he’d never forgotten it.
“Well, this is a surprise,” she said, her voice syrupy sweet. “I thought you two would be pulling every trick you knew to find me after we missed each other on Big Diomede. What? No IP trace? No signal triangulation? It’s like you’re not even trying.”
Like theirs, her blurred background offered no clues as to her location, but her body language let him know she wasn’t alone. She had company off-screen, just like they did, which meant they weren’t talking to her. Not really.
And that worked in their favor.
“We don’t need to find you,” Jay replied, keeping his voice cool and getting straight to the point. “Because you’ll come to us.”
Maya laughed and shook her head. “You’re a good fuck, sweetheart. But why would I do that?”
She’d hit a nerve, and Jay’s heat started to rise, but before he could clap back, Becca leaned toward the camera and intervened. “Because Johnson wants to be top dog on the Imperium, and we’re willing to bet he’ll trade you to secure the position.”
“Is that so?” Maya’s expression didn’t change, but Jay caught the flick of her gaze to the left and back again. Definitely not alone.
“Yeah,” he said, ready to end this. “Thanks to Becca, we’ve got a shit ton of intel from Volkov’s secure servers, and we know he’s escalating his timeline to release Dominion.”
Maya smiled, a slow, taunting grin. “You’ll have to do better than that, Jay, because I know he doesn’t have the lock and key to control it. You do.”
“Oh, he doesn’t want to control it,” Becca cut in. “He’s got a plan B, and he’ll be executing it as soon as he gets his servers back online.”
“Bullshit,” Maya snapped. “There are rules to the game, and the Imperium would never allow it.”
“Volkov doesn’t give a shit about the rules or the Imperium,” Becca said. “He’s a loose cannon. A megalomaniac who won’t bow to anyone, especially Johnson.”
“So why tell me?” Maya demanded. “Over a secure line that’ll destruct in—what? Thirty seconds?”
“Fifteen,” Jay said, not even bothering to look at the timer. “The JTT doesn’t have the resources to take Volkov down, so tell Johnson we’re willing to give him the intel so he can do it himself.”
“In exchange for what?” Maya demanded.
“You,” Becca said.
Another flick of Maya’s eyes to the side, and her jaw clenched.
Gotcha.
A hint of fear, outrage, and surprise crossed her face, brief but recognizable as the realization she’d been outsmarted set in. Then her smile returned. Serpent-slick and venomous. “You want a reunion, Bec? I thought we already did this dance. I left you breathing, didn’t I? Isn’t that enough for you? Or are you still angry about the whole losing the baby thing?”
“Tell your boss he gets one chance,” Jay said flatly, denying Maya the reaction she was after. “You in exchange for the top spot on the Imperium.”
She shook her head. “No deal. He wants the code to control Dominion.”
Jay stared her down. No flinch, no fury, not even a flicker of acknowledgment. Just cold, deliberate control. “Tell him to agree to the exchange, and we’ll talk.”
“Where?” she demanded.
“We’ll send you the meeting coordinates. Be ready to go on short notice.”
A faint crackle skated across the feed—and right on time—the connection cut, and the screen went dark.
