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I am home.

She typed it before she could think better of it, then waited, heart pounding.

The response came quickly.

Your home is here. With us. Do you miss us?

Elena’s hands shook. She pulled up her messaging history, checked the encryption, verified the security protocols. Everything looked clean. No signs of a hack. But somehow, they’d found her. Somehow, they’d gotten access to systems that should have been impenetrable.

The tears came despite her best efforts to hold them back. After spending the last several years at Dynamis, building something resembling a life, it was ending like this.

I’ve had enough of this game. Drop dead.

Dropping dead is not an option.

Oh yeah, why not?

The response came as an image file. Elena’s finger shook as she clicked it. The photograph filled her screen and she stopped breathing. She recognized the dusty, trash-filled alleyway immediately. The run-down shacks lining each side. The dumpster that reeked of rotten food. The exact spot where they’d left her, broken and bleeding.

But this wasn’t an old photo. This was recent—she could see a smartphone on the ground that hadn’t existed seven years ago, graffiti on the wall that was new.

They were showing her they remembered. Showing her they could go back anytime they wanted.

Elena’s vision tunneled. The sleek apartment around her faded, replaced by memories of dirt and blood and pain. She pressed her palms against her eyes but it didn’t help. The flashback pulled her under, dragging her back to that January night.

She was twenty again. Terrified. Helpless.

No. She forced herself to breathe. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She’d survived. She’d become strong.

Another message appeared.

Time to pay up. You want your niece left in one piece. We want the data.

“Marguerite,” Elena whispered.

Her fingers flew across the screen.

Data? What data? I don’t have anything.

The response was immediate.

Don’t play stupid. You work for one of the most powerful companies in the world. We want access to the Dynamis network. The data you scrape for us will be worth millions. It seems fair, considering the data that was stolen from us when our network was hacked into.

Elena’s mind reeled. They wanted her to betray Dynamis. To compromise every covert operative, every classified mission, every government secret Atticus had worked to protect.

Impossible.

Nothing is impossible. Impossible means your niece will experience your nightmares. We have shown her the video. She seemed horrified. Did you know there was a video?

“Oh God.” Elena collapsed onto the couch. There was a video. Of course there was a video. Men like that always kept trophies.

And they’d shown it to Marguerite. Her sweet, innocent niece who’d been sent to the convent to be safe, who’d chosen a life of service and prayer, who’d never hurt anyone.

I do not have access to the network. My security clearance is low level. Let Marguerite go. Your fight is with me. She is innocent.

There are no innocents in war, and she is no different. But what can you do? You don’t have access to the network. Too bad. She’s lovely.

Then another image loaded. Black-and-white surveillance footage, but clear enough to make Elena’s stomach drop.