Page 14 of Taken

I straighten my shoulders, settling into the mask of compliance I’ve perfected. Time to become what they expect: the broken witch, the reluctant seer, the asset resigned to her fate.

But beneath the mask, something shifts. A spark of hope I haven’t felt in years. The vision pounds through my blood like a second heartbeat. Change is coming. I can feel it in the air, in the walls, in the very foundation of this place.

The last time I sensed this kind of shift was six years ago, when a vision showed me Elena… older, her eyes sharp with intelligence as she bent over a case file in an apartment I didn’t recognize. She was alive. Building a life without me. The knowledge had kept me going through countless long nights, a touchstone of something pure amid the violations of this place.

This new security head, this Allard Reeve… He’s just another variable in an equation I’ve been solving for all my time here. Another dragon to navigate, to study for weaknesses. His arrival doesn’t explain the tremor in the magical current, the sense of pieces shifting on a cosmic board. Whatever’s coming has roots far deeper than a personnel change.

But every new element creates opportunity. Every disruption in routine offers possibilities.

And possibility, however small, is all I have left. That, and the fragile hope that someday, somehow, I might see my daughter’s face with my own eyes instead of through the fractured lens of prophecy.

Chapter 5

Talon

The mountain air bites at my skin as I wait, leaning against the hood of my Jeep at the deserted viewpoint. Below, the Syndicate facility nestles in the valley like a tumor. Gleaming architecture and reinforced walls. Pretty packaging for the rot inside.

I check my watch. Zoe’s late. Not like her.

The crunch of tires on gravel jerks my attention to the access road. A nondescript sedan pulls in, parking twenty feet away. Smart—keeping distance in case things go south.

Zoe steps out, her blood-red hair whipping in the wind. Former Syndicate intelligence, now one of Viktor’s most valuable assets. Also, the only person I truly trust in the Aurora Collective.

“Cutting it close,” I mutter as she approaches.

“Unavoidable.” She hands me a small metal case, her eyes constantly scanning our surroundings. “Security protocolschanged this morning. They’re implementing new biometric systems. Wasn’t easy getting this.”

I flip open the case. Inside lies an access card, a data drive, and what looks like a vial of blood.

“Tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

Zoe’s lips twist into something that’s not quite a smile. “Creed’s second-in-command got sloppy during his last… recreational activity. He’ll never miss it.”

Dragon blood. Essential for bypassing certain security measures. I don’t ask how she obtained it. With Zoe, it’s better not to know.

“The intel solid?” I ask, pocketing the card.

“As it gets. Your cover’s ironclad. Reeve’s records were wiped during a scouting incident—no one left alive who can contradict your identity.” She leans against the Jeep beside me, her shoulder barely touching mine. “Three assets in the east wing. The Rossewyn witch is in isolation, level four, north quadrant. Highest security.”

“Guards?”

“Rotation of four. Plus her handler. Hargen Cole. He’s been with her the entire time.”

Two decades with the same handler. Unusual. “He compromised?”

“Unknown. He’s… peculiar. Devoted to protocol but shows unusual concern for the witch. Watch him.”

I nod, processing. “Extraction route?”

Zoe pulls out her tablet, swiping to a blueprint of the facility. “Three options. Service tunnel here.” She points. “Emergency exit here. Or the loading dock—less security than you’d expect, given their overconfidence.”

I study the layout, committing it to memory. “These updated today?”

“As of 0600.” She zooms in on a section. “They’ve added motion sensors in the corridors near the witch’s quarters.”

“She have a history of escape attempts?”

“Three in the first year. None since.” Something flickers across Zoe’s face—respect? “Either they broke her, or she’s playing the long game.”

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