FOURTEEN
It was good to be back on the surface. Even if it was still under layers of the twisting buildings and roadways on the edge of the metropolis. The fact that the metal and concrete were so densely packed meant that the smog and exhaust from the vehicles left a choking, dense cloud in the air at all times. It caught in Nadi’s throat and made her eyes sting.
And the acrid, chemical reek from the mushroom processing plant they had come here to destroy didn’t help matters either. Even from their vantage point from an alleyway three blocks away, the smell of the facility was going to make her sick.
Rotting flesh combined with the stench of machine oil mixed with the fungal cultivation that fed on the rotting flesh.
“Uglier than I remembered,” she muttered, adjusting her grip on the curved knives at her sides. The weapons felt reassuring after carrying around the damn bolt cutters for so long. Though she really would have preferred a damn gun, nobody in the Iltani clan was going to give her one.
And they hadn’t given Razielanything.
They weren’t going to take any fucking chances, it seemed.
Raziel stood beside her in the alleyway, his red eyes scanning the facility with professional interest. Now, watching him studytheir target, Nadi could see the predator awakening beneath his carefully controlled exterior. All thoughts of their marriage had been put aside.
This was about work.
“The scout says sixty-three guards, according to the latest count.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Twelve on the perimeter, twenty-four inside the main building, the rest scattered between the holding areas and the processing floors.”
“Any changes since the surveillance was done?” Nadi asked. Sometimes, having a vampire around was convenient. If anyone could pick up movement from this far away, it’d be him.
“Additional patrols, it looks like.” His smile was almost feral in the lamplight. “Mael and Lana are learning to be paranoid. Good for them. Bad for us.”
Behind them, the Iltani strike team made final preparations. Twelve fighters had been sent with them, armed with a mixture of stolen guns and improvised explosives. They moved with the quiet efficiency of people who’d learned that noise meant death, but Nadi could see the tension in their movements. This was probably the biggest operation they’d attempted since the destruction of their clan.
“Remember,” Kalo’s voice carried through the narrow space, pitched low enough to avoid detection but clear enough for everyone to hear, “we’re not here to win the war. We’re here to send a message. Get in, destroy what we can and get out. Anyone who tries to play hero gets left behind.”
Harsh words, but Nadi understood the logic. They couldn’t afford heroics when survival was still uncertain. And none of them wererighteousanyway.
“Two minutes,” Kalo announced, checking his watch.
Raziel turned to face the strike team, and Nadi saw several of them unconsciously step back. Even knowing he was supposedly on their side, the Iltanis couldn’t entirely suppress theirinstinctive fear of the Serpent. And Nadi couldn’t say she blamed them.
“Listen carefully,” he said, his voice holding the authority of someone accustomed to command and leaving no room for argument. “The humans inside that facility are tools. When I give them orders, they will obey without question or hesitation. We will use that to our advantage.”
“And the vampires?” one of the younger fighters asked.
“Leave them to me.” Raziel smirked.
The simple confidence in those four words sent a chill down Nadi’s spine. She’d seen what Raziel could do to humans—make them turn their own weapons on themselves with nothing more than a spoken command. But vampires were different. Vampires required more…personal attention. They were immune to his control, after all.
“Positions,” Kalo ordered.
The strike team scattered, moving with practiced stealth toward their assigned entry points. The plan was simple in concept, complex in execution. Three teams would hit the facility simultaneously—one through the main entrance, one through the loading docks, and one through the ventilation system on the roof. Maximum confusion, minimum opportunity for organized resistance.
Nadi and Raziel were the fourth team. Raziel simply held out his hands and dissipated into a swarm of bats, taking to the sky. Nadi, meanwhile, shifted her form into that of the facility’s lead guard who she hadotherwise detainedby the raiding party earlier that night.
Otherwise and rather permanently detained.
Somewhere up above them, Mael and Lana were probably sleeping peacefully in their beds, unaware that their shiny, new and carefully constructed empire was about to take its first real hit.
The thought filled Nadi with savage satisfaction.
The facility’s roof was a forest of ventilation shafts, cooling units, and access hatches. According to the intelligence files, the central air intake led directly to the main processing floor—their best chance of reaching the prisoners before the guards could execute them in retaliation. That would be Raziel’s path of entry. He would go in from above.
As for Nadi? She was going to walk right in through the front door.
She scratched at the stubble on her chin and didn’t even glance behind her as she headed toward the front of the building. Shoving her hands into the pockets of the grubby coat she wore, she didn’t do anything but grunt at the other guards standing at the door as one of them opened it to let her in.
