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I could only think about the rest of the Blades, and the fact that I needed to make sure that the Everglades Viper never hurt anyone else.
I could only think about Sofia–about the way she threw her head back when she laughed, about the curls bouncing around her pretty face whenever she tilted her head. Fuck.
I needed to focus on the damn vault, which was far more complex than I had anticipated. The security system was a beast, a tangled mess of code and firewalls that would’ve sent most hackers packing. But me? I thrived on this. Each line of code was a puzzle piece, and I was damn good at seeing the big picture. Despite my knack for it, that didn’t make it any less tedious.
This was taking me longer than I wanted it to.
“Come on,” I urged silently as I worked my way through the digital labyrinth. Beads of sweat trailed down my temple, not from the Florida heat but from the adrenaline that surged through my veins.
The familiar rush of breaking into systems that were meant to be impenetrable was intoxicating.
Then, a breakthrough. “Gotcha.” I whispered triumphantly as lines of green text scrolled past, signifying success. The encrypted network that wormed through the Everglades Viper’s lair lay open before me, raw and exposed.
I took in a sharp breath when I realized it was cameras. Mostly cameras. A closed circuit that monitored every room in the vault on the island.
Now that I had this, though, I was going to be able to guide my team in and out without much of a problem.
“Guys?” I asked into my earpiece.
No one answered.
My temporary victory was hollow. My earpiece crackled uselessly – silence from the rest of the Mercy Blades. It gnawed at me, the not knowing. They could be cornered, or worse, and here I was, playing spy games with computers.
“Should have heard something by now,” I spoke into the party boat, hoping for a phantom reply. I scanned the feeds, heart hammering against my ribs like it wanted out. The static-filled screens offered only snatches of the hellish tableau within the Viper’s den.
“Where are you guys?” My voice was a whisper, barely carrying over the hum of the computer. The isolation bore down on me, each silent moment stretching long and torturous. “Teo? Sof? Grayson? Victor? Come in.”
Of course, nothing happened.
The thought of them hurt or captured was a blade twisting in my gut.
“Focus, Jace. They’re counting on you.” I shook off the dread creeping into my mind and forced my attention back to the monitors. Time to make the Viper blind to our movements, to even the odds. Because one thing was clear: I was the eyes now, the watcher in the dark, and I wouldn’t let my family down.
Not now.
Not ever.
After looking and studying the cameras, I had something of an idea of what the inside of the lair looked like. I also thought that there was a good chance that someone else was watching, andwhen I slid my eyes over the screens again, I found just that. One feed snagged my attention–a room ringed with monitors, each displaying a different part of the lair. Henchmen sat before them, their gazes hungry and alert.
“Gotcha,” I muttered as adrenaline coursed through me. My hands danced over the keys, coding a loop on the fly. A tap here, a keystroke there, and I had it—a snippet of benign footage cycling endlessly. They wouldn’t know we’d gone dark. I just needed to make sure that the Blades got out of there before they ran into this room in particular.
“Lost in the crowd now, aren’t we?” I said to the oblivious guards on the screen, pride lacing my words. But that triumph soured quick when I realized I still couldn’t get in touch with my team.
Yet. They clearly had some sort of closed network and if I just hacked into it, I might be able to get back in touch with them again by co-opting their communication channel. That took a while longer than I wanted; the network was encrypted and the work was tedious, but I finally thought I managed to do it when I spoke into my earpiece again.
“Hello?” I said. “Sof. Where are you?”
“Jace, come in. Any luck?” Her voice crackled through suddenly, so clear it was like she was beside me. “Are you okay? We lost you for a bit.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “You guys?”
“Okay,” she replied. “Just…going in deeper and deeper.”
“Okay. Thank God you guys are okay. There are guards somewhere, but I got you guys off their radar for now.” My relief was short-lived. “Sofia, any sign of Sam?”
“I don’t think my father has him,” Sofia said. “If he does, it’s not here.”
“Keep your head down; I’m on it.” I leaned back, scanning the endless loops of video, praying for a glimpse, an opening, any lead on her brother. “We’ll find him, Sofia. Promise.”
