Page 105

“Border security footage first, then Declan’s contact.” Seamus is still frowning when we pull up and park.

We’re covered in darkness, wearing night-vision glasses. “This way,” Declan says.

Valentina slows down, letting Declan and Seamus get ahead of us. “Torin,” she whispers when they’re out of earshot.

I lean in close and nod. We should avoid talking as much as possible.

“I’m with Seamus. It’s a little too convenient how Declan knows so much. Do you question him at all?”

I shake my head. “Absolutely not.” I put a finger to my mouth.

I don’t have time to explain to her that he’s trustworthy and that his time undercover served us well. Seamus’s hand goes up to signal our approach. We go silent and fan out in a semicircle.

Ashland, big, bulky, and a world-class fighter, meets us, along with his brother Lorcan and Declan’s younger brother Colm.

I hold up a finger to Valentina. She nods.

It’s been eleven minutes. No signal. There’s something in the quality of the dark around us. Something isn’t right.

Valentina stops beside me silently, her gaze assessing as I count the exits. Loading dock to the south. Fire escape. Windows blacked out. No vehicles.

“Here!” Declan hisses, pointing near the door that leads to the entrance. He pulls out the thermal scanner.

One red bloom on the screen. One.

There should be a roomful. I stare at the scanner, disbelieving. That can’t be right. We’re here to take them all out. Why is there only one?

Where are they?

Declan’s already looking at me. Neither of us says it out loud. He moves his eyes back to the scanner, his jaw tight.

The smell comes through the door before it’s fully open—chemical, faint, sweet in a way that’s nauseating.

Seamus steps back and gestures for me to go in with Declan. It hits me all at once as my eyes dart from one corner to the next.

The room is small. A single overhead light, a bare bulb, casts a yellow glow. I take in the space quickly, then see the chair in the center of the room.

He’s naked. Duct tape at the wrists and ankles, looped across the chest. The kind of job someone does when he has to be certain and doesn’t fucking care if skin comes off in the process. His head is down, chin toward his sternum, and the skin has been worked over in a pattern of lacerations. Someone wanted information and had the patience to go after it.

He’s weeping. My eyes move down. The duct tape doesn’t stop at his torso. Something brick-shaped lies flat against his ribs, with wiring that disappears around his back.

Fuck.

I take a step back, and my hand finds Declan’s arm, but it’s too late.

That’s when the man lifts his head. His face has been worked over as well, one eye swollen shut, the other red-rimmed and streaming. “I’m sorry, Declan.” His voice is wrecked. “They had my family, brother. Please forgive me.”

Declan steps forward too late. I reach for him to hold him back when his foot snags on something. Something clicks, small and mechanical, like the striking of a match. I know what it is before I see it.

“Get out!” I scream. I grab his shirt and pull him back. “Everyone back!”

I can’t move fast enough. I can’t stop time.

“Go, go, go!” Declan screams as I launch myself outside and straight toward Valentina. Declan falls to the ground ahead of me.

“Move!” I shout. I yank her to her feet, and we’re all running, tripping over tree roots in the dark, when the bomb detonates behind us. Shrapnel and fire consume the forest. Something hot and sharp shoves me down as I push her to the ground and cover her with my body. Colm’s down somewhere to my left.

“Torin. Torin!” Valentina’s slapping my chest. I can see her mouth moving, but the ringing in my ears is so loud that her voice comes through all wrong, like she’s speaking underwater. I don’t know how I’m on the ground. I don’t know when it happened. I blink, and smoke and fire fill my vision. I can hardly hear anything.