Hawke’s chest lightened under the warmth of it. He noticed an unfamiliar slight tenderness in her expression, when Archer said, “Victor’s not going to expect an incursion.”
“Underestimating us could be his biggest mistake,” Rhys replied.
Archer leaned in, eyes scanning the layout with intensity. “Precision is key. We get in, we get what we need, we get out.”
Standing next to him was Hunt, who said firmly, “Make no mistake, you need to do this clean. No deaths. We don’t want to bring more heat to Phoenix.”
Hawke nodded. “Affirmative,” he said, then glanced at the two men next to Hunt. “Ronan and Jett can disable then inject Ketamine.” The dose had to be high enough to render the guards incapacitated long enough to tie up and silence, while they got in and got out, but not kill.
Every head around table nodded agreement, their faces etched with the same determination that Hawke felt coursing through his veins.
“Let’s talk entry points,” Jett, a thickly built thirty-year-old, said with a Boston accent. His brown eyes scanned the blueprint with a sharp gaze as he tapped a spot near the estate’s rear garden. “This could be our best shot at getting inside undetected, given the guards stationed around the main entrance.”
“Agreed,” Ronan, a dark-haired man with green eyes, chimed in. “But Victor’s got surveillance covering every inch of ground.”
“That’s where I come in,” Penny interjected from her spot at the head of the table. Every set of eyes snapped to her, and she added, “I’ll have control of those cameras, so you’re not going in there blind. Just before we go in, I’ll temporarily disable the cameras long enough for us to slip through and get out.”
Hawke couldn’t look away from her.Before we go in.He suddenly realized this brilliant hacker held pieces of his heart he’d never realized he’d given away. She was their ace in the hole, the one person capable of breaching Victor’s cyber defenses. But the thought of her in danger made something primal stir within him—a protective instinct that roared to life.
Obviously, Hawke’s expression revealed his worry, since Hunt asked, “And Penny needs to go along?”
Hunt’s question caught her off guard, and for a moment she looked surprised that he cared. But then she replied with determination, “I have to do it. I need to hack into Romano’s computer. If you try to take it, there could be safety precautions in place that will wipe the hard drive. It’s too risky. I have to go.”
“We’ll cover her,” Archer promised.
Hawke gave a firm nod, and said, his stare locked on Penny, “And we’ll make damn sure she comes out safe.”
Again, she smiled.
“Time will not be on our side,” Rhys reminded them, his words slicing through the haze of Hawke’s concern. “You will need to act fast.”
“Fast and clean,” Hunt emphasized again.
“Let’s talk contingencies,” Hawke said, straightening up, pushing his concern to the back of his mind for now. “If things go sideways, we need options.” He wouldn’t take any chances, not with Penny there.
“Escape routes, fallback points,” Ronan suggested, tapping different areas of the mansion layout. “And we should have a secondary extraction plan if Penny gets compromised.”
“Comms need to be secure. Encrypted channels only,” Jett added, his analytical gaze not leaving the intricate web of rooms and corridors. “No risk of interception.”
“Every angle covered,” Archer confirmed, the intensity in his eyes mirroring the resolve in his stance. “Every scenario planned for.”
The dialogue continued, as they dissected Victor’s mansion piece by piece. Hawke’s mind raced with tactical assessments, but beneath the surface, a darker current of emotion surged—the primal fear for her safety, the burning desire to end this once and for all.
Because when they ended this, not only would Phoenix and his friends be safe, as would Julia and her sister, but Penny would no longer have a reason to keep that final guard up. The excuse that the job came first would no longer be hanging between them. And he wanted to give their relationship a real shot.
He snapped back into focus as Rhys pressed his hands against the table, his eyes alight with the fire of determination. “If things go south, you pull the plug. We’re not here to play heroes.”
Every head around the table nodded in agreement.
“Then let’s finalize this,” Hawke declared, feeling the adrenaline beginning to pump through his system. He looked to Penny. “You got this?”
Penny agreed with a nod. “I got this.”
He inclined his head in understanding. “What do you require from us?”
She leaned back and ran a hand through her hair. “I need some equipment,” she said. “But I assume it’s too risky to go to the warehouse?”
“It’s not off the table,” Hawke clarified calmly, “However, it’s likely that Romano is still monitoring the warehouse.”
