Page 373 of Scars of Fate

35

LUCAS

Geneva appeared beneath us in the morning light.

Clean streets.

Blue water.

Snow-covered mountains in the distance.

Thousands of people moved through the city with no idea how close they had come to dying.

A portable biological weapon waited beneath one of those streets.

So did one of Minser’s operatives.

Minser himself remained somewhere outside the city, moving pieces we couldn’t see.

I touched the pocket beneath my vest.

Ghost’s one-use wafer rested inside.

A copy of Fate’s second encryption key.

Part of the reason my marriage had been destroyed.

Wynn sat beside me.

Her head rested against my shoulder.

She hadn’t slept.

None of us had.

Blood stained her clothes.

A bandage circled her thigh.

Another covered the cut along her hairline.

Her emerald eyes remained fixed on the live bank-security display.

The vault shutters were still closed.

The dispersal unit remained stable.

Elise and Camille were alive inside the hostage alcove.

Minser’s operative hadn’t appeared on any camera for nearly two hours.

That bothered me.

“Where is he?”

Hawk checked another security feed.

“Still no movement.”