AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Doesn’t matter.”He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles as they stepped onto the glides that took them up a few levels.“No, don’t pull away. Holding hands just helps us blend in. We’re just a couple in love taking a stroll through this shithole of a station.”
“Lucky us.”
He let out a snort of laughter in response.
“Flirting on your way to a massacre,”Cedric quipped through their ear comms.“This is certainly a new one for you, boss. I’m not sure if I should gag or applaud.”
“You can’t hear us,” Secret pointed out. “How do you know we were flirting?”
“I’d say kissing your hand counts as flirting,”Cedric said dryly, reminding them that he was watching everything through the security feed.
“Can you all maybe pay attention to the fucking mission? Laken and I are about to head in,”Teale hissed out.
“I’m capable of flirting with my keeper and watching you walk,” Talon commented blandly. Tapping his wrist unit, he opened up the comms feed to Maverick’s team, who were following them at a distance. “Maverick, when you get up to this level, block it off.”
“We’ll block both entrances to the balcony and start quietly redirecting people away from the area now. Should I send the other teams to start rounding up the other people on the list, or do you want to wait?”
“Send them now,” Talon confirmed. “As soon as you see us enter the site, you can follow us in.”
“Got it.”
“We’re doing the same down here, and we’ll wait for your signal,”Winston reported from where he was stationed one level below.
The restaurant was located on the fifth level balcony of the atrium. Once they blocked off both entrances to the balcony as well as the level below, they’d be able to keep the area pretty well contained.
Secret had fought plenty of battles. She’d also schemed, plotted, and executed her share of plans while she’d been in captivity, but never something with so many moving parts like this mission. Crazy as it might have sounded, she enjoyed watching it all come together.
As she watched Laken and Teale make their way into the restaurant, Secret sighed. “Is it strange that I wish we were the ones going in first? I know we can’t since someone would surely recognize me, but still…”
“No,” Talon said. “I feel the same.”
“Eleven diners and five staff members present in the main dining area. The private room isn’t visible from the front,”Laken reported through the comms.
“Say the word and we’ll get things rolling,”Teale said.
“Do it. Everyone, get ready to go in,” Talon ordered.
“Hold on. Give us another minute or two. I think some of the customers are about to leave,”Laken murmured.“Yep, they are getting up now.”
Talon pulled Secret to a stop in an area between two shops that was partially shielded from view. They removed their cloaks since they no longer needed them, then they put on the half masks that had been hanging around their necks. Once released, the somnium wouldn’t last too long, but the masks would help defend them against any lingering remnants of the sleep drug in the air.
As Laken had predicted, a couple of civilians strolled out of the restaurant a few seconds later. They were too busy laughing and chatting that they didn’t even notice the lack of people on the balcony until they were swept away by the Strike Force Team at the end of the walkway.
“Mist is released,”Laken announced from inside the restaurant.
“Everyone move in,” Talon ordered. “Cedric, monitor the surrounding shops for any hidden exits we might have missed.”
“Got it, boss.”
At their approach, the automatic doors to the restaurant slid open, releasing a cloud of somnium that quickly dispersed.He rushed toward the entrance with Secret by his side. They’d gone over the plan countless times and had even strategized for contingencies and potential issues. But in reality, things could drastically change in a heartbeat, making all of those plans obsolete.
In this instance, they had underestimated the sheer cruelty of their enemy.
Talon had only made it a few feet into the restaurant when the world exploded around him. Fire and smoke billowed, and a shrill alarm rang out that was barely audible over the deafening sound of the blast.
He turned and tried to shield Secret with his own body, but it did no good. The force of the explosion lifted them off their feet and hurled them over the balcony…straight down to their doom.
Chapter Ten
