Page 109 of Deadfall

Mahoney was throwing a birthday party for Octavius.

This could be the opportunity I’d been waiting years for. I remembered the day Lev found him like it was yesterday. I leaned into the spray as the past shoved its way front and center.

51

EMERSYN

Four Years Ago

“Syn!” At Lev’s shout, I raced into his office.

“Look at this,” he gestured to the screen and hit play.

A grainy black and white image of several people on a tarmac rolled through thirty-seconds of footage before they disappeared off the frame.

“What am I looking at?” Riggs asked, because of course he’d come in on my heels.

“Octavius got off that plane,” Lev said, excitedly. “Not even twenty-four hours ago.”

He clicked rapidly and pulled up another clip. “And, here he is heading into a meeting.”

“Oh my god,” I breathed when I saw where he was. “That’s not even two hours from here.”

“Yup,” Lev smirked. “We got him, Syn.”

I shared a rare smile with him. “Great job, Lev—this is great—”

“What’s his next move?” Riggs asked sharply.

Lev sobered. “Intel says he’s here for a meeting of some kind, but there’s also rumblings he is going to oversee a weapons drop with his Atrox reps while he’s here.”

“Is this live?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

A thrill rushed through me as I watched Octavius. The view was from a surveillance camera in the city, a little over an hour away from the safe house. The picture was satisfyingly clear.

“Keep an eye on him, Lev.” I headed toward the door. “Let’s call the team to the war room.”

“Wait,” Riggs snapped. “We don’t know for sure where he’s going to be.”

I froze in the doorway and took a deep breath before I turned. “We know enough. Lev will track him and we’ll hit him during the exchange.”

“We don’t have enough intel,” Riggs growled.

“We have enough,” I snapped.

Riggs shook his head. “Too risky. If we spook him—”

“I’m going to fucking kill him.” My voice rose, but I quickly tempered it because I didn’t want to show Riggs how important this was, or he’d double down. Even so, I knew this was going to be tricky to get him to agree.

“This is pretty solid,” Lev said. “We have a small window—I think we have enough to offset any risk.”

“You’re not tactical, Lev—stay in your lane,” Riggs snarled.

Lev’s lips pressed together, and he turned back to the screen.

“Lev,” I said, my attention still focused on Riggs. “Send everything you have to the war room monitors. I’m calling the team in.”