Page 42 of Faron
“I’ll rest,” I said through a shaky grin, “when the painting’s done.”
Cyclone
Northwood District – 7:21 p.m.
Officer Nina Alvarez. Community cop. Local legend. She’d single-handedly shut down two gang recruitment lines near an elementary school. She was the second name we found on the list.
Raven scoped out the block. “She’s being watched. Van across the street. No plates.”
“We go in fast,” I said. “Quiet.”
Raven covered the street while Gage and I moved in. I found Alvarez mid-coffee in her kitchen, blinked twice, and yanked her out before she could spill her mug.
Gage hit the guy in the van like a freight train. Disarmed him before he could even curse.
Ten minutes later, Alvarez was safe and relocated. Another name scratched off the list—in black ink this time. The good kind.
Blue
I wandered through each room like it was a cathedral.
In the library, I found a sticky note taped to the whiteboard. Kid handwriting in crooked letters:
“Dr. Blue saved my mom. She’s a superhero.”
That broke me.
I sank to the floor, tears spilling unchecked. Faron sat down beside me and handed me a marker.
“What should we write?” he asked.
I looked at him. Voice thick. “Hope lives here.”
He smiled. “Then that’s what we write.”
40
River
11:09 p.m. – Reyes' Safehouse
“Reyes is in the penthouse,” Cyclone said through comms. “Four guards. Maybe five. All armed. No idea we’re coming.”
“Good,” Gage replied. “I brought the party favors.”
We took the service elevator—quiet as shadows.
The hallway smelled like wealth and blood. Marble floors. Crystal wall sconces. And Reyes behind a bulletproof door.
Didn’t matter.
Cyclone took out two guards like he was brushing lint off his coat. Gideon neutralized a third with barely a whisper. The fourth almost reached his weapon—until Gage stuck him with a tranquilizer dart that dropped him like a stone.
Reyes sat behind a mahogany desk worth more than most homes.
“I’ve heard of you,” he said as we entered. “Golden Team. Government ghosts with guns.”
“You’re done,” I told him.
