Page 171 of Uprising

She gulps, leaning against the desk. “My mother and Darius were in a relationship long before I was born. I needed to know that I wasn’t his daughter.”

My eyes widen. How the fuck had I never thought of that? How had that thought never crossed my mind?

“I’m not.” She says. “I had him run a DNA test. He doesn’t understand why but he fast tracked it for me.”

“But you are his niece?” I say.

She nods and something flickers across her face again. “Yes.” She spits.

“I’m so sorry…”

“Don’t be.” She says as her eyes flash. “I’m done feeling sorry. I’m done wallowing. I want my vengeance and I know you have a plan Roman so tell me what it is.”

I smile, wrapping my arms around her, pulling her to sit in my lap as I bring up the map on the screen. Quietly I explain what’s in my head. What I’m thinking. How exactly we are going to bring the bastard down.

Rose

I’m nervous. Jittery. On edge.

I expected to be calm. I expected to have that same confidence I had when I brought down my mother.

Only today it feels very different.

I’m armed, with a gun in my hand and a knife strapped to my ankle. I feel like an assassin as we make our way through the snow, up the incline to where the bastard is hiding.

We’ve got enough men around us to feel like we’re an invading army.

And yet there’s something niggling in my head.

Maybe it’s just my past, maybe it’s my own headspace expecting failure, conditioned to believe that I can’t win.

My feet crunch under the snow. None of us are talking. We’re all moving as quietly as we can. I’ve got an earpiece in.

Roman already has something in place to scramble all the comms. Any cameras, any radar, anything that might pick us up has been disabled. It was a risk we gambled on. If we did it Darius might know we were coming. But if we didn’t, and he was monitoring it then he’d get the alert anyway.

We had to make a call.

As his voice murmurs in my ear, calming me, I tell myself that we made the right one.

We had one final conversation about whether I should go. Roman wasn’t trying to tell me not to. I think he just wanted to make sure I was comfortable, that I was certain, and that the decision really was the one I was happy with.

Once I’d confirmed it he spent time training me, teaching me how to shoot, how to actually hit something and, if worse came to worse how to kill someone with a knife. When I pointed out that I didn’t think I need any tips in that he gave me a look that said he didn’t find it funny but he kissed me anyway and murmured that I really was trouble.

We’ve been walking for an hour. We knew the hike would be bad. That the road would be blocked and besides we didn’t want to give any signs we were coming, any giveaways.

I’m cool but not cold. My boots are big enough and my clothes thick enough to keep the chill out, and my adrenaline is definitely helping.

My hand grips the gun, it’s got the safety on just in case but it’s reassuring to be in my hands. Reassuring that I have it if anything goes down.

“Ten more minutes.” Roman murmurs into my ear. “Then we’ll reach basepoint.”

Basepoint. Where we get out first glimpse of the cabin.

I nod enough for him to see. We’re spread out, with the trees as they are we could hardly walk beside one another. Roman is a good twelve metres from me but I can feel it every time his eyes look over to where I am.

As we breach another mini hill the sun hits my face and it’s so bright I have to throw my hand up to block it.

Someone shouts.

---