Page 89 of Code Name: Reaper
“Me too.”
“The text said the coalition was compromised.”
“A tactic that worked. Except for the part where I ignored it.”
“Do you think they’re on their way?” she asked.
“I know they are.”
“They need to hurry.”
“What happened to you knowing we were going to make it through this?”
“It isn’t us I’m worried about. It’s Mercury.”
“She’ll have a plan, an exit strategy we don’t know about.” I shifted my weight again, feeling the weak points in the chair give another fraction of an inch. A few more minutes and I had no doubt it would give enough for me to break free.
A door groaned open behind us, and footsteps echoed across the concrete—two sets.
“Remember what I told you,” I whispered, continuing to work at the weakened weld while keeping my voice too low to carry.
“Which part?”
“All of it. Especially the part about following you to the ends of the earth.”
Aldrich appeared around the corner of stacked pallets. Ember followed. She was far more composed than when she’d walked out. Every trace of her earlier vulnerability was erased.
“It shouldn’t be long now,” she said, looking at her watch as she moved to a position where she could observe both the service entrance and the loading dock, creating overlapping fields of observation. Ember took the opposite angle, and I realized they were setting up crossfire positions that would give them control over all possible approaches. Seconds later, the other three men entered from the opposite side of the space.
“What exactly are you planning to finish when Mercury arrives?” I heard the shift in Amaryllis’ tone that meant she was probing for information.
Aldrich’s smile was winter-cold, but there was regret beneath it. “A mission that should have ended years ago. One that’s cost lives it never should have.” Her quiet words carried an inevitability, an acceptance.
As the roll-up door at the loading dock that looked as though it hadn’t been used in years creaked open, I held my breath, waiting to see who would be the first to walk in.
21
AMARYLLIS
The loading dock door groaned upward with a rusty shriek that echoed through the warehouse. My heart hammered against my ribs as I strained against the zip ties cutting into my wrists. The sound of metal grinding against metal filled the cavernous space, drowning out everything except my pulse thundering in my ears.
Mercury stepped inside, her arms raised but empty. Even from across the warehouse, I could see the familiar set of her shoulders and the way she held herself with a confidence I remembered from a thousand briefings. Seven months of searching, and there she was—older, thinner, but unmistakably the woman who’d shaped my entire adult life.
The relief that flooded through me was so intense it made me dizzy. She was alive. After all this time, all the dead ends and false leads and sleepless nights wondering if I’d ever see her again—she was here, walking toward me.
But the relief had lasted mere seconds when terror took its place.
She’d barely cleared the threshold when the service entrance door opened with a crash that made me jump so hard thechair rattled against the floor. Vasiliev entered with four FSB operatives. Their automatic weapons were drawn, and the Kevlar vests they wore gleamed under the harsh industrial lights. They moved like predators, spreading out, each man covering a different sector.
My breath caught in my throat. This was my worst fear coming to life in front of me. Mercury was walking into a trap, and there was nothing I could do to help. In fact, I was the reason she was here. I was the bait.
A split second later, the main entrance on the opposite side also burst open. Blackjack entered first, his weapon already drawn, followed by Dagger and Beacon, with a full coalition response team behind them, all dressed in combat gear. Their boots pounded against concrete as they also spread out and began firing.
My chest tightened until I could barely breathe. The warehouse became a powder keg of four opposing forces, all heavily armed, all with conflicting objectives, all ready to kill anyone who stood between them and what they wanted.
Mercury hadn’t arrived alone. I watched as she was tossed a weapon, then took cover behind one of the weight-bearing columns.
Cold sweat broke out across my forehead despite the chill in the air as I sat powerless to fight back or even shield myself.
