“No,” I replied. “Keep your eyes peeled. We need to make sure she doesn’t double back on us and make a run for it.”
“Think she knows she’s under attack?” Leona whispered.
My lips thinned. “Absolutely.”
We crept up the stairs. Her IP address had led me to payment records that indicated she was in an apartment on the second floor, but it was difficult to know if that was accurate. We had to go off the best information available.
“We should split up,” Ryuji suggested.
I pursed my lips, but before I could answer, a crash sounded behind us. Shattering glass.
“Back this way!” Wynn shouted, sprinting down the hallway. A flash of brown hair leapt from the second-story window. “She’s on the run!”
“Shit,” I hissed. We had to catch her before she disappeared. We rushed back down the stairs, past some onlookers, who gasped and screamed at the sight of our weapons.
“Move!” Leona shouted, pushing past another young woman.
By the time we got back to the van parked in the front, a motorcycle engine revved, and peeled down the street, head covered by a black helmet.
“Follow her!” I shouted. The guys fanned back to their vehicles. Leona and I yanked open the back door and jumped inside. “Leona, drive!”
She slid into the front seat without a word. I logged into my systems, trying to keep a lock on her through security cameras. Lucia wove through traffic, mounted curbs, almost ran over pedestrians.
“I cannot follow,” Obi said with a grunt. “Blocked.”
“Same,” Cas echoed. “Fuck this traffic.”
Wynn and Ryuji’s motorcycles whipped past us, staying on her trail.
“I can see you. The two of you need to split up, one of you keep on her, and the other needs to try to get ahead of her to cut her off.”
“Got it,” Ryuji grunted. “Wynn, you try to cut her off. I’ll keep my eyes on her.”
“We’ll get her, Ciel,” Leona said from the front seat.
“We have to catch herbeforeshe alerts the entire city that we’re after her. I’m trying to jam any outgoing signals in case she’s calling for help.”
We chased her through the city, Wynn gradually gaining ground on her.
I zoomed out on the GPS. “Force her south and then west toward the Hudson. She’s going to run into the park.”
They followed my commands as we wove through traffic, with Ryuji and Wynn herding her exactly where I wanted. Finally, we cornered her. Wynn cut her off in one direction while Ryuji had her pinned in the other. With the water at her back, she had nowhere to run. Even at this time of evening, there were still plenty of people around, but we didn’t have any other choice.
“Don’t move!” Wynn shouted at her, dismounting from his motorcycle. With practiced movement, Lucia pulled a gun from her jacket and fired. He ducked to the side and grunted. Civilians started screaming. We didn’t have long before the park would be crawling with cops.
“Wynn, did you get shot?” My heart choked my throat.
“No,” he replied, breaths heavy. “Get that gun out of her hand, Ryu.”
“Do not kill her,” Obi warned.
“I know, I know.” Ryu aimed his gun. A shot cracked through the air and Lucia’s gun flew to the side. She ducked, hand over her head, as she tried to hide behind a knee-high brick wall.
Leona and I jumped out of the van, our own weapons raised. Ryuji and Wynn followed her, hopping over the wall, and training their weapons on her.
She stood slowly, eyes flicking back and forth across all four of us before she sighed and raised both hands. “Wait,” she called in English, tinted with an Italian accent. “Stop.”
I kept my gun raised but walked closer. Giving up? Fucking doubted it. “We have to find her phone.”
