“I think so. My brain’s a little mushy, but I know how to lock it down. I may pay for it later…” She smiled at him. “But some things are worth it.”
He took her hand and raised it to his lips. The kiss he brushed across her knuckles left the sweetest tingles in its wake. “Be safe.”
“I’ll just be in the van,” she countered, turning his hand over to press her lips to the center of his palm. “Keeping you safe. Now go, before Dani decides to poke her head in here to see what’s keeping us and gets an eyeful.”
“Frankly, she’d deserve it.” But he slipped away to gather up his clothes anyway.
Maya closed her eyes and curled her fingers around her rumpled quilt. Her thoughts were enthusiastic puppies again, tumbling over one another in glee. Hopefully, the drive would be long enough for her to wrangle them into obedience.
She had a feeling she’d need all of her wits on the other side.
August 13th, 2066
The only reason the entire mess with 66–221 wasn’t black-holed is that he hurt the wrong person. A TechCorps VP has the power to demand consequences. Vice President Anderson was impressed by my foresight regarding her grandson’s murderer.
Now I have a powerful ally. And a goal.
The Recovered Journal of Birgitte Skovgaard
TWENTY-ONE
Emerge BioCore had come down in the world.
The abandoned office building in which they’d taken up residence had seen far better days. Half of their security seemed like plausible deniability—from the outside, no casual observer would guess the place was even occupied. The flexible solar arrays unrolled across the roof and the wide satellite dish were the only tells, and they were only visible from the air.
A useful deception, unless the people hunting you had access to satellites.
The place was a dump. Rainbow probably could have broken in. Dani could have infiltrated it sleepwalking. Even so, Maya’s heart pounded as Nina maneuvered their van toward their target. The familiar sounds of last-minute mission prep filled the tiny space. The rasp of Velcro, the whisper of knives going into sheaths, the rhythmic click of people checking their firearms. Conall’s fingers were already flying over his keyboard.
Knox’s calm, authoritative voice rose above it all, repeating the plan in all its blunt, brutal glory one last time. “The back door is our point of entry. Nina and I go first—”
“With me,” Ava interrupted.
“With Ava,” he continued smoothly. “We’ll clear a path. The rest of you cover us. Conall and Maya…”
“We find the kids,” Maya supplied, “and lead you to them. As fast as we can.”
“As fast as you can.” Knox’s gaze took in every one of his soldiers in turn. “This isn’t about stealth. This is about destroying everyone between us and those kids and anyone who tries to stop us on the way back out.”
“A real fucking pleasure,” Rafe growled, flexing his hands inside his tactical gloves.
“Understood.” Dani fastened a sheath around her right thigh, a twin to the one she already wore on her left. The only difference was that one was for pistols, the other for knives. “This is a take-no-prisoners operation.”
Ava sat across from Maya with her legs crossed, watching them all with faintly amused superiority. Even her armor was bespoke and fashionable, from her knee-high heeled boots to her tailored tactical vest. Rows of delicate, shiny throwing knives lined the front like accessories, and her usual tightly braided bun was adorned with silver spikes she’d no doubt rammed through many an enemy’s neck. The silver bracers buckled around her forearms were so polished Maya could see her reflection in them.
“I still question the tactical wisdom of bringing compromised men into a firefight,” Ava said, her gaze taking in Mace and Gray in turn. Gray stiffened next to Maya, and she briefly contemplated snatching one of those pretty hair ornaments up and poking Ava somewhere nonlethal with it.
“The last time we rolled out with you in our vicinity, you were the asshole zip-tying our hands together and shooting at us.” Dani grinned, baring her teeth. “If I didn’t get to peel your face off for that, you don’t get to question shit.”
“I have a perfect grasp of their skills and limitations,” Knox said in a tone that allowed no argument. “A far more thorough understanding than I have of yours, quite frankly. You trust my judgment and obey orders, or you stay in the van.”
Ava studied him for a moment before inclining her head. “Fair enough.”
Knox seemed to accept that as agreement. “Is everyone clear on the plan?”
Mace tapped a full magazine on the frame of the van, then slid it into a pistol bigger than a person’s head. For the first time Maya could remember, his hands weren’t shaking. “Crystal.”
“Good to go, boss,” Conall agreed.
As the van coasted to a stop and Knox ran a final comms check, Maya snuck her hand down to Gray’s and curled her fingers around his. The warmth of his skin kindled memories that she couldn’t allow to drift into glorious focus, but they brought with them both peace and a purpose.
“Have faith,” he murmured.
She usually did. Nina had infected her with it, with boundless hope and a belief in miracles. Some part of her still thought she might find a way to pull Gray back from the edge. To steal back the months and years that could have been theirs.
All it would take to snuff out her dreams was a stray bullet.
Maya swallowed back the fear. Trying to stop Gray from doing what good he could in the time he had left would be a betrayal. She rallied a bit of her usual sardonic humor and gave him her best no-bullshit stare. “Don’t get dead,” she told him tartly. “Or I’ll kick your ass.”
“Deal.”
Nina caught Maya’s gaze, then glanced at Conall. “Keep your comms open. We’re not being sneaky, but we still need to be quick. The second you get into their systems and find those kids, let us know.”
“We got this,” Maya promised.
“We know.”
Knox gestured with two fingers, pointing toward the back of the van, and everyone exploded into movement. Gray’s fingers tightened on hers for a brief moment before he followed Rafe out the open door. Mace and Ava followed, with Dani behind them, keeping an eye on both.
In a matter of moments, it was just Maya and Conall. She slid next to him at the mobile workstation and powered up the monitors as his fingers flew over the keyboard. “How bad is security?”
“Negligible,” he muttered, which for Conall meant actually pretty good. Conall cut through most systems like a blade honed to a killing edge, but there was a furrow between his brows now that Maya didn’t like.
“They got an upgrade since last time?” she asked.
“Probably fired the last asshole. Whoever set them up this time is not a complete idi—” He whooped suddenly. “Got you, fuckers. I’m in.”
Over the comms, Maya could hear the team advancing on the point of entry Knox had identified. The crunch of boots over gravel, the soft scratch of fabric against armor. The single external guard announced his presence with a startled intake of breath followed by a soft crack and a heavy thud. Nina and Knox’s whispered voices followed.