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“Well shit, you dirty dog, Nico. I didn’t know you had it in you.” Jonas almost whoops as Nico rolls his eyes, but when I wink at him, a grin tugs at his lips as his watch counts down.
“Remember your position and check the corners. Dimitri has disarmed all alarms and cameras. The main focus in the house is the mainframe and command centre. Get any research or data before it’s wiped. Ours is to check every other room in case there is a . . . subject being held here. Understood?”
“Yes, boss.” I salute, making Jonas grin.
“As long as I get to be behind Nova, I’ll behave.” I realise that is exactly why they put Jonas with me. Jesus, I’m like a psycho’s babysitter, if the baby was an almost seven-foot, built, weapons expert with enhanced senses and intelligence.
“Louis, am I with Jonas to make him behave?” I mutter as I look back at the darkened house.
“Yes,” he answers without shame, making my eyes narrow.
“And Nico?” I hedge.
“To make you behave.” He chuckles. “Sorry, baby, but we all know if anything goes down, you and Jonas are firing first.”
“Touché,” I mutter, even though I’m annoyed and, yes, slightly turned on that he thinks that much about me. Grinning over at Nico, I wiggle my eyebrows. “I guess that means you get to punish me if I misbehave.”
“Oh fuck, me, me, let me!” Jonas shoots his hand up, and without looking, Nico knocks it down.
“No, that’s my job as this unit’s commander for the mission.” The heated look he gives me makes me want to misbehave just to see what he would do. As if reading it on my face, he moves closer in his crouched position and wraps his hand around my neck, twisting my head back until it hurts, and I meet his gaze.
“But if you’re a good girl, you’ll get a reward too, and trust me, baby girl, the reward is better,” he promises, his lips almost touching mine.
“Fuck, you two would make beautiful babies,” Jonas randomly remarks, his eyes wide and confused. We both turn, so our cheeks touch, and stare at Jonas, who is just grinning at us, and then we glance back at each other and laugh.
Just then, his watch beeps, and he transforms back into commander mode. “Thirty seconds until we move. Stay low, silent, and keep your faces hidden just in case. Watch for traps, and be aware of what is within.” With that, he moves to the edge of the bush, gun in hand, as he counts down silently. I slide behind him, palming a blade while Jonas pats my ass from behind me, sighing dreamily.
“If I’m good, do I get to eat your ass later?” he whispers in my ear.
“We both know you’ll prefer the punishment,” I murmur, and then Nico starts to move, and Jonas quiets down as we hurry in a crouched run to the back door. It’s a seemingly normal house in a rural area, but we all know it’s a lie. The windows are dark on both the second and first floor. I peeked in the one next to the back door earlier that leads to a kitchen and a hallway. Dimitri found some blueprints, but we all know it has probably been modified by now. However, it did show a basement.
Which is where we are assuming everything is.
I move past Nico to take my position at the door, quickly picking the lock and grabbing the handle as he counts down with his fingers. On three, I rip it open, and he rolls in, sweeping the room before a whispered, “Clear,” comes. I hear Louis and the others coming in the front in my earpiece, but I focus on keeping them safe. It never mattered before, when it was only me.
If I messed up, it was only my life, but now it’s theirs too, and I refuse to let them down.
I follow Dimitri as he sweeps the room, and Jonas brings up the rear. We move through the silent, empty house. There is a layer of dust everywhere and old furniture covered in sheets, but the dirty floor has booted footprints leading to the hallway. We follow them and see Louis shadowed by Isaac and Dimitri. Isaac breaks off with Dimitri, and Jonas and I break off. They sweep upstairs, and we sweep the rest as Louis and Nico watch the door. Every corner must be checked before we go down there. We don’t want to be crept up on.
When it’s clear, I call it out and move back to the door to see them hurrying downstairs. Once there, Nico points at Jonas and at the ground. I feel him grumbling, but he agrees to stay and watch our backs while we head downstairs.
Nico opens the door for Louis, who strides in. Nico and I are next, followed by Dimitri and Isaac. The stairs creak as we walk down them, and we flick on our torches, lighting the way. It’s deeper than I thought possible, but I’m betting they built the house to conceal this. At the bottom, the corridor runs left and right. Louis points right and heads that way with his team, while Nico and I go left. There’s a corner up ahead, and I peek around it before rolling and coming up with the knife just in case, but there’s no one there, so I wave and move on. Nico moves past me, his eyes sharp as his torch lights up the white walls that make me shiver in memory.
This place is definitely one of my father’s locations. It has the same clinical feel to it. Recycled air and pain almost circulate in the air. The corridor ends at another set of stairs. These are metal and only have a few steps, and once we are down them, we freeze side by side in a huge laboratory and observation room. There are computers and workspaces everywhere. Notes are scattered all over the floor, half-trodden and destroyed, and each computer seems like they were broken in a hurry.
“Fuck, boss, they knew we were coming. Everything has been ransacked,” Nico informs the others as he walks through the room, which extends both left and right, but I move straight ahead to the glass window running along the whole front wall.
When I look out, I see nothing but white. I follow it down, and what I see makes my heart skip as a scream claws at my throat.
Spinning on my heel, I find the entrance to the left and hammer on the red button. The door opens with a hiss.
“Nova!” Nico growls, but I ignore him as I race to the other door and smack the button, turning to see it close the outer one before the inner one opens. Putting my knife away, I rush down the metal steps, my booted feet loud as I land on the tiled floor, sliding in the blood there.
I don’t breathe until I’m next to it. My fingers hesitate before I press them to the body’s neck, knowing he’s already dead. When I don’t feel a pulse, I let my head fall back and scream.
And scream.
There are panicked questions coming through the comms, but I rip it out as I swallow my pain and glance down at the boy. Just a boy. Just a fucking kid. No older than fourteen, he wears a hospital gown like I used to wear. His head is shaved, and his bright blue eyes are locked on the ceiling. His hands and feet are chained to the operating chair.
