Page 116 of Till Death Do Us Part

Petra stopped the car, killing the engine and dropping us into the silence of the lot. “Everything’s ready?”

“Everything’s ready,” I said. “Be careful out there, Petra. Stay alive. We need you.”

She gave me a long, loaded look before the smallest smile passed over her lips, and she nodded, falling back in her seat. “Right back at you. Your wife would be devastated if you died, and I don’t know how to handle a crying girl.”

“Well, we can’t have that.” I threw open the door. “Let’s kill this bastard.”

Caitlyn stayed back in Petra’s car, but Elaine joined me and a few of Yulia’s and Rail’s people at the old transit complex, shut down at this time of night. We strafed the place with guns out, making sure the halls were empty, and got up to the next floor, where we crouched in sentry position at a back window, looking out on the Blackbird headquarters building across from us.

Nostalgia’s twisted cousin stabbed me in the chest when I saw the building. My old family home pulled at me with a heavy feeling, telling me I was supposed to go in there, go in and find Glenn, kneel like an obedient dog in front of Master. To uphold my promise, to not betray the family.

But Elaine saw the tangle of feelings, and her hand on mine pulled me out of the spiral.

“We’re here for you,” she whispered. “Your real family.”

I gripped my gun tighter, nodding. “Make sure… you don’t get hurt, Elaine.”

“We’re doing this together.”

Like a family.

The haze of dark thoughts left my head, leaving only clarity in their place.

Glenn was going to pay for this. And god willing, I’d be able to finally get my hands on Quayle.

I took out my radio, hailing Rail. “We’ve got eyes on the building. Clear on the eastern side.”

“Understood,” Rail said. The radio crackled as Petra came in.

“Cait’s picking up more defense than usual.”

“Hardly surprising. Glenn’s going to be gathering forces here.”

Caitlyn’s voice came through quietly from the background behind Petra. “Worse than that. Hand me the radio.”

“What, are you the boss now?” Petra said.

“My sister is the boss. Hand it over.”

“Jeez, someone wishes she were a nepo baby.”

Some shuffling happened, and Caitlyn’s voice came through clearer. “There’s someone else in the system. Someone looking for me.”

I frowned. “Scanning the lots?”

“No, not looking for me physically. I bet they think I’m back at the manor or the safehouse. But they’re looking for me in the system. I’m getting reports that must be spoofed, and machines are getting disconnected when I’m trying to jump into them…”

Rail’s voice came gruffly through the radio. “I’ve heard they recruited a good systems expert recently.”

“I knew it,” Caitlyn said. “They’ve been leading me on this whole time!”

“Leading you on?” Elaine leaned in closer to the radio, her voice soft. “What’s happening, Cait?”

“Everything on their servers has been a trap. The Bellare Convention Center, the South Yard…”

I narrowed my eyes. “They knew you were in the systems, and they’ve been leading us into traps? How do you know this is the same person?”

“The spoofed info matches up. It’s the same utility, so it’s either the same person or the same team.”