“I love a good kidnapping,” Ryuji responded as an engine revved in the background. He and Wynn had taken our two motorcycles; Cas and Obi both had armored SUVs. With their speed and maneuverability, they could reach Lucia’s apartment in no time.
Leona and I raced to the van in the parking lot basement. I drove so she could monitor the tablets and signed me into my mobile computer systems. The internet was already restored in Lucia’s area, and she’d switched back the hardwired connection, but I’d noticed no other drops in service or activity. She had an active IP address, but I still had no luck breaking through her security defenses.
“She’s still there,” I said through the radio. “Obi, are you there yet?”
“I am pulling up now, but there are two men guarding the door outside,” he responded, displeasure carrying in his voice. “I think I recognize them.”
“Really?” Leona asked. I glanced at her in the rearview. “How?”
“From the night of Giulio’s meeting.”
Leona’s jaw clenched. “Max’s men. This has to be her, then.”
“I’ll verify when I get there,” Cas added. “Two minutes out.”
“Leona, listen to me.” I locked eyes with her in the mirror. “I want you to be ready to cut the power to the building. Pull up the program and run the commands on my mark, just like I showed you, okay?”
She nodded. Just like I thought when I asked her to train under me in tech, she’d picked it up like a natural. What most people take a year to learn, she’d learned in less than a few months. Her fingers typed furiously, but then she paused, and waited for my signal.
I loved her so fucking much. She was perfect for me. For all of us.
“Those are definitely Vero soldiers,” Cas finally said, the rumble of his motorcycle clear in the background. “Old generation, but they were there, and sided with Max.”
“Fucking great,” Leona grumbled.
Max was guarding Lucia. She was definitely working for him. If we could cut her off tonight, we would deal a massive blow to his control over New York. He’d be like a boat without power in the middle of the dark ocean—sailing blindly into deadly waters.
“Obi and Cas, be prepared to take out those men,” I commanded as I glanced at the GPS. Only a few minutes until we arrived. Ryuji and Wynn had to be close, too. “We have to be extremely coordinated. Otherwise, she’s going to run, and she’ll disappear like smoke.”
“On your word, Ciel,” Obi said.
I needed us to be close enough to mark all the exits before we alerted Lucia to our attack. If we mistimed this, if she got away…My hands clenched on the steering wheel. She wouldn’t.
I’d taken out the man who killed my parents. I’d tracked down this ghost. I would take her out, here and now.
“ETA two minutes,” I murmured.
“I’m here,” Wynn announced. “Obi, I have eyes on you.”
“Same,” Ryuji said. “Waiting on the side street. I see another man back here, just standing by a back door. He’s got an Uzi.”
“There may be more inside, too,” I said. “Cutting power in one minute. As soon as the power is cut, take them out.”
As we pulled around the corner, I didn’t slow the van.
“Cut the power, Leona,” I said.
She typed the command, and the electricity to the entire street went down at the same time the van pulled up in front of the entrance. The men standing guard barely had time to look up before Obi and Cas’s bullets knocked their heads back. They collapsed, blood splattered on the entrance.
“My guy’s dead,” Ryuji’s voice cut through the comms. “You guys good?”
“Two confirmed kills,” Obi responded. “Stand by for breach.”
Our habits took over. In a blur, the four of us coordinated entry into the apartment building as we’d done countless timesbefore. A well-oiled machine, we fell into the patterns we’d drilled time and time again. Ryuji and Obi at the vanguard. Wynn and I were at the rear.
“Do we know what floor she’s on?” Cas asked. He hung behind the four of us, practically glued to Leona’s side, but even she had her hands on a gun and carefully crept beside him. All of Wynn’s training paid off in her relaxed, yet primed stance.
The six of us, working together in the field for the first time.
