Page 70 of One Step After Another

“And what does that—”

Dare reached over and tapped a key on his laptop, silencing Penny instantly when the screens switched from security camera views to something else entirely. The pyramid made up of faces had changed since the first time she saw it. Now, a few of the faces were grayed out with a large, red X crossing over their images.

Men ...

Women.

All her victims.

Five years worth of her life stared at her from the glowing wall. Five years of hard work and pain to X out the few she had managed to end. After training that could only be described as complete and total hell, years overseas dismantling one organization kill by kill ... she had finally come back home.

Here.

To get all of them.

The faces of The Elite watched her without movement or emotion. Yet, despite only being digital photographs, their presence and lives were still all too real to her. Especially the two pictures at the very top.

Neither had an X.

She hated that the most.

Unable to look away from the top two images—the people who controlled the innermost aspects of the pedophile ring—Penny ignored the sinking sensation in her stomach. That wasn’t real, she had to tell herself. They no longer had the power to hurt her but especially not their images. She refused to even think their names.

“After a discussion with your boss,” Dare said, “we’ve decided that it would be the right choice to call off any further hits on The Elite until we have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.”

Stay calm.

Maintain composure.

She didn’t look away from the screens.

Couldn’t.

Still ...

“Why, because they’re fighting back now?” she demanded. “Sounds like we just need to ramp up the pressure. If a little made them crack, then a lot will make them break.”

“We need a safe route from—”

Penny scoffed, her sharp gaze finally cutting to Dare and breaking the haze she’d been in while staring at the screen. “Nothing about this was ever safe. We knew the risks. I know the risks and agreed anyway. It was the only way. You don’t get to decide when the risks become too much for me to take, Dare. It’s my choice.”

“Actually, it’s not. You didn’t pay for your training and position. You don’t make the final calls on the plans. You have a boss—”

“If we give them even a month to recoup, then it’ll be like starting over!”

They had too much money.

Way too much power.

It would be stupid to let The Elite have even a second to start digging backward toward Penny and The League. They already had the bone; now they were just looking for the rest of the skeleton.

“I agree,” Dare said calmly, “but in the last day, circumstances have changed and we have to consider what it means.”

“I don’t—”

“I know, Penny. You know nothing. You’ve been unplugged and underground, and then on a plane. I don’t expect you to already know, just understand.”

Dare hit another key on the laptop. The screens changed again to a news anchor sitting behind a desk ready to report—something Penny hadn’t expected. What did this have anything to do with their current situation?