Page 52 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

"Max, what's your status?" Yamanu's voice broke through, clearer than before.

Max deactivated the teardrop so his speech wouldn't get automatically translated to Farsi, although it might be a futile effort if Rana spoke English.

"We have Rana with us in the van, but Doomers are in pursuit. We are implementing evasive maneuvers."

"Understood," Yamanu acknowledged. "Kyra and Jade have also encountered resistance. Appears to be a coordinated effort to secure all targets simultaneously, which is troubling, especially given that Durhad is no longer in the picture. But we'll discuss the implications later."

"Roger that."

It appeared that the Brotherhood had mobilizedsignificant resources across Tehran, likely in response to their raid on the compound the previous night. The strike had been unavoidable, given that the Doomers had taken Yasmin and her family, but it alerted the enemy to their presence.

"How many Doomers do they have in this city?" he muttered.

Anton didn't answer, executing another hard turn, then unexpectedly shifted into reverse, backing rapidly down an alleyway barely wide enough for the van to fit through.

Max checked the side mirror, noting with satisfaction that their pursuers had overshot the turn, buying them precious seconds. "Good move. Can you get us to the fallback point?"

"I'll do my best." Anton cut sharply down another side street.

The van lurched as they hit a pothole, causing Rana to bump her head against the van's ceiling.

Max reactivated the teardrop. "Put your seatbelt on, Rana."

She cast him a baleful look, then struggled with the seatbelt as the van kept lurching from side to side. Finally, Max leaned over and buckled it for her.

"Thank you," she gritted. "I think." She hesitated for a moment. "What about my husband? Does he also have any special genes?"

"No. Those genes were passed to you by your mother and from you to your daughter."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you know about my daughter? Where is she?"

"She's safe. We rescued her and her cousins from these people, and that's how we learned about you. If everything goes according to plan, you will be reunited with her shortly."

For a long moment, she just gaped at him. "I want to believe you, but I don't know if I should."

"For now, you'll have to take my word for it." He gave her an apologetic look. "But once we get to the safe location, you will be provided with proof. Your daughter sent you a note."

Tears glistened in Rana's eyes. "I want to believe you so badly. My husband and Soraya's utilized all of their resources to find our girls, and they had no answers. I was losing hope of ever seeing them again." She swallowed. "I feared the worst."

"It could have been even worse than what you imagined if we weren't there to rescue someone else and got them out while we were at it."

Her eyes widened. "Thank you for taking them."

"No need to thank me. We wouldn't have left any women, let alone vulnerable young girls, in the clutches of those monsters."

Rana lifted shaking fingers to her mouth. "What was done to them?" she whispered. "To my Azadeh?"

He leaned over and placed a hand on her arm. "We got to them in time."

"Oh, thank God." Her shoulders slumped.

Anton took another series of rapid turns, the vanweaving through narrow streets and alleyways until they emerged into a more commercial district. The sudden transition from residential alleyways to a busy market street was jarring but effective—their pursuers would have a much harder time spotting them amid the increased traffic.

"I think we've lost them." Anton slowed down and checked the mirrors. "I'm switching the license plates."

It was a simple but effective modification that Nadim's people used. The van was a popular old model with no distinguishing feature, so switching the plates should do the trick to throw off their pursuers.

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