He chuckled at that. “Because we’re a team. And you wouldn’t be doing this stupid thing unless you thought it was really going to work. So of course I’m here. But your head’s not in this. You went and caught a case of lovesickness. Which is cool. But if you can’t even admit to yourself how you feel, you’re going to stay distracted.”
I sighed. “Jesus Christ, Niko. Fine, I fell in love or whatever. But he walked out on me, so it is what it is.”
“Look, just try to put your emotions aside and focus on the plan. You get close enough to Nix and stab the fucker in the leg with the tranq dart. He goes down and you and the Kannon stand-in walk out safely. That’s it. Easy peasy.”
Why doesn’t it feel easy? Everything had to go perfectly. Wilder’s Kannon impersonator was tall enough, and he was built like Kannon. Maybe a little leaner, but he’d do. He had the same dark hair, and we’d cut it in roughly the same style, although he’d be wearing a hood so he wouldn’t be noticed right away. And maybe we’d get lucky and Truman Nix wouldn’t remember the details of Kannon’s face after two years. Either way, I’d work with what I had.
You have everything except Breck.
I still couldn’t believe he’d walked away from me when talking me out of this didn’t work. As if I had any other choice. I refused to let Kannon and London come back just to walk him straight into danger when I could stop it, when I could do something. And for all Breck’s talk about how he believed in me and my ability, how could he not understand that I needed to do this?
Shake it off, focus. I inhaled sharply and leveled my gaze on Niko. “I’m good. I will fix my messed-up love life later.”
If there was any way of fixing it. Because how could I be with someone who wanted me to be a different version of myself? I’d known we were different, and still, I’d let myself fall for him. I’d let myself dream about the possibilities. I had let myself believe. That’s why it had hurt so much when he walked away. That’s why I felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly between my ribs.
But Niko was right. I had to walk in there and follow the plan. Distraction would only get people killed.
We were half a kilometer from the meet point, where I and this poor guy—what was his name, Brighton? We were going to walk into a building knowing full well that the people inside it wanted to kill us. Inside, we would have no support. It would be the two of us, a tranq dart, a hope, and a prayer.
We wore normal clothes over our specially designed squirrel suits in case of emergency. In the platform lift of my boots were a tiny penlight, lock pick tools, and the syringe. Same for Brighton.
Niko started climbing out of the van. “All right, I’m going to head out and take position in the building across the way. If anything gets messy, head toward the south-facing side of the building with all the windows. Give me the signal, and I’ll start shooting things that aren’t you.”
“I hear you.”
That was Niko’s job. Eyes in the sky. We’d let it play out as long as we could, because the target was Truman. And so far, he’d only sent his henchmen. If something went wrong and we needed a rescue, we’d go to the windows, and he would start shooting. We were going to be on the fifteenth floor, just barely high enough for the damn squirrel suits to work properly if we had to bail out one of the windows. The only disadvantage was that Brighton’s hands would be cuffed. So if he got tossed out of the building, that was going to be a problem.
One step at a time.
An SUV arrived, and out climbed Wilder. I couldn’t help it; my heart squeezed when I searched for Breck and didn’t see him, but I focused on Wilder. “Your Highness.”
He lifted a brow. “Oh, really. You’re about to do something crazy, and now you’re going formal with me?”
I shrugged. “If not now, then when?”
“Good point.” His gaze searched mine. “Are you sure about this?”
“Like Niko, you worry too much. I’m coming back.”
“Seriously. You’ve got that beacon in the sole of your shoe. You hit it if you get in trouble, and the cavalry comes running.”
“You know you can’t do that. He says he has bombs rigged. He’ll level that building and three others in Alden, and we don’t know which buildings.”
“Listen, Breck’s on it, okay? We’ll figure out where the other bombs are located.”
I was just going to ignore that twinge of my heart. “If you say so.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder. It felt big and heavy. Similar to another hand, except this one was meant to reassure me. “Look, I don’t know what happened. But he was a wreck the other night.”
I shrugged. “None of it matters now. We have a job to do. Please tell me your team’s good enough to find those other bombs, because I can’t let him kill your man.”
“That’s not going to happen. Breck and his team are already searching.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I’m sure. In the meantime, we evacuated the buildings in Oldtown that are near the palace. You just have to walk in there and stall for time. Let him make some big villain speech.”
I wrinkled my nose. “No one ever does that.”
He laughed. “You’d be surprised.”
How was it Wilder could be here and Breck couldn’t be? “Okay. I guess this is it.”
I started to march toward the SUV, and he stopped me. “Hey, Sparrow?”
“Yeah, Wild?”
“You’ll be okay.”
“Right. Of course I will.” I really wanted to believe that.
He cleared his throat. “And just so you know, my brother loves you.”
I squared my shoulders and jutted out my chin. “Well, he’s got a funny way of showing it.”
Wilder winced. “I don’t think he can stand to see you walk headfirst into danger. Even if he knows you’re right, that this is your job and it’s what you’re supposed to do. He loves you, so of course, he doesn’t want this for you.”
“Then we are at an impasse. Because this is my job, and I’m not changing. I’m not walking away. This is part of who I am.”
“And I think he knows that. He just wants to be considered in your decision making.”
I shook my head. “No. He wants me to only consider his decisions. And I can’t do that.”
Wilder sighed, but then he nodded. “Good luck, Sparrow.”
“Thanks.”
I climbed in the driver’s seat of the SUV where Brighton was waiting in the back. My voice was low when I asked him, “Are you sure about this? You don’t have to do this.”
From the back seat, all I got was a mm-hmm.
I sighed. What did I expect him to say? I was quite possibly sending him to his death. At the very least, I was sending him into a hostage situation with nothing more than a tranq dart and his hand-to-hand combat skills. Oh, and Wilder had cuffed his hands behind his back and blindfolded him to make it look like I was delivering him to Nix against his will. Of course, he wasn’t feeling particularly loquacious.
When we arrived, I parked the car in the designated spot I’d been told to use and then eased out before helping Brighton out of the back. We took the rear entrance that led to a basement and walked down a long hallway. Brighton’s moves were quick and sure. As if he’d walked this very hallway more than once.