The Girl Who Dared to Endure (The Girl Who Dared #6)

I blew out a breath. Dylan still didn’t entirely understand why I had gone to Lacey and Strum before I moved against the legacies, and I couldn’t exactly explain that they were also legacies without it getting messy fast. Instead, I told her a version of the truth that might better explain it.

“Lacey was Ambrose’s aunt. She approached me after he died to ask me to look into the matter, and I promised her that I’d involve her if and when I found anything out. Besides, arresting Salvatore is going to divide the department—at least until we can explain to everyone why we had to do it. And I can’t tell my commanders that without the authorization of the council until after I walk them through all the evidence and convince them of the conspiracy. Hell, I had to exclude at least half of the Commanders from mobilizing on this, because they were in the Academy with Zale at one point or another.”

Dylan nodded at my words, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “All very excellent points,” she said. She cocked her head at me, giving me a canny look. “I think the Knights chose well when they voted you in. I’m not sure I would’ve been so circumspect of my Commanders’ loyalties like that. But you’re right. You can’t trust that Salvatore won’t prey on his relationship with others to—”

She was cut off by Quess coming over the line. All teams in position. I repeat: all teams in position. Be ready to breach in ten seconds, on my mark.

I exchanged a glance with Dylan, and then motioned for her to pack up the tensor. She nodded and quickly detached it.

Ten… nine… eight…

I slipped my baton from the loop in my belt and clicked it on, inhaling deeply and letting my eyes drift closed. From here, I would override the door. Dylan would enter first, sweep the living space, and then proceed to the bedroom, where Salvatore and his wife, Alisha, were lying asleep. Our goal was Salvatore, but Alisha was a seasoned Knight as well, and likely wouldn’t let us take her husband without a fight.

Five… four… three…

I opened my eyes and turned to the door, my face tilting toward it.

Two… one… Mark!

“Open door. Arrest mode. Authorization Champion Liana Castell, 25K-05,” I commanded toward the door.

“Authorized,” the door replied, and a second later, it slid to the side. I held back as Dylan stalked through the entry hall, her baton held out before her in one hand, light in the other. I gave her a three count and then followed, my eyes darting around the dim lighting of the room.

I stopped when Dylan did, letting her sweep the light around a tidy living room and kitchenette area as she searched the shadows for any sign of life. There was none, and she resumed moving forward and crossed the floor into the second hall beyond, her boots barely making a sound. I followed suit, keeping my knees bent to prevent any extraneous noise, uncertain of how lightly either of the married couple slept.

We paused at the door opposite a bathroom, and I waited, nerves tingling with anticipation, while Dylan quickly cleared the bathroom. At her nod, I turned my focus to the bedroom door and took one last deep, calming breath.

“Go,” I whispered.

She hit the door control, and the door slid open, the pneumatic hiss harsh in the silence. I pushed through in spite of it, in time to see Alisha sit up, the tall, reed-thin woman’s brown eyes wide and searching. She spotted me in an instant and flung the sheets aside with a sharp, “Salvatore!” to the lump beside her.

I bit off a growl as I drew my baton up, intent on hitting her in the shoulder, but she sprang forward off the bed, going low. Her move was unexpected, and my momentum too great, and she drove her shoulder into the center of my chest. The breath exploded from my lungs and I went down, landing hard on my back. My eyes were wide open—wide enough to see her draw a foot back for a kick—and even though I felt I couldn’t breathe, I reacted quickly, bringing my hand, my baton still tightly clenched in its grip, up and into the sole of her foot.

She gave a strangled cry, her body trembling, and I heard Salvatore say, “Contact Sadie—” before his voice abruptly cut off. I jerked the baton away, letting Alisha topple over onto the bed, and sat up, one hand going to the spot she’d hit on my chest. I tried to suck in a breath through my frozen lungs, and it came in a sharp wheeze that prompted me to start coughing.

In spite of the crisis of air that had overcome me in the span of a few short seconds, I stood and searched the room for Dylan. I found her hunched over Salvatore’s still form on the bed, already pulling out the extraction kit for his net.

“You okay?” she asked.

I nodded. “Alisha always could pack a punch,” I wheezed slowly, moving gingerly into a kneeling position over the downed woman and pulling out my own extraction kit. Alisha’s loyalties were questionable at best, and I wasn’t about to take a chance on anyone being missed.

I paused what I was doing as I listened to the reports flooding through my ear, waiting for my chance to slip in my own update.

…6, target apprehended, net removed.

This is Team 3, target apprehended, net removed.

This is Team 4, target apprehended, net removed.

Team 5, I interjected, grateful that I could transmit orders neurally instead of wasting even more of my breath. Target apprehended, net removed.

As if to emphasize my point, Dylan leaned back, a net pinched between two fingers. Black, which meant it wasn’t a legacy net. However he’d been working with Sadie, it hadn’t been as one of their leaders. Unless, of course, he had taken the legacy net out to keep it hidden, which was possible.

Roger, Quess replied. Sending collection teams in now. All clear for the Citadel. I repeat, all clear for the Citadel. Relief poured through me as I realized that all our teams had reported back, but it was premature; we still needed to hear from Lacey’s and Strum’s people. But we were getting there.

I looked down at Alisha, and then began to roll her over. She was gasping for air like a fish that had been taken from water. I quickly cut her net out and removed it, my hands practiced from having done it five times already today. I hoped it ultimately proved unnecessary, and that Alisha had no knowledge of her husband’s activities, but we couldn’t take the chance. In fact, the orders we had all agreed upon were taking the legacy spies and all their family members. I already had several rooms and babysitters ready for the youngest members—anyone under fifteen—as they couldn’t be held accountable for the actions of their parents. But the adults would be detained in the bottommost cells below—where the expulsion chambers were.

Well, for the first time in a long time, the cells in the Citadel would be teeming with people who actually deserved to be there. I looked up as the secondary team of Knights entered and motioned one of the two men over to carry Alisha. I was still too winded to do it, and besides, it was good to be the boss.

I let him help me up, and then hobbled over to the door. I was halfway there when Quess said, Strum and Lacey have reported in. All clear. But, Liana, Lacey reported that her target attacked her, and she was forced to kill him in self-defense. Dreyfuss is dead.





40





Anger snapped through me, making my skin tight and hot over my muscles. I didn’t believe for a single second that Lacey had killed Dreyfuss in self-defense. She had been too eager about going, which told me only one thing: Lacey had gotten revenge for Ambrose’s death.

I’d be happy for her, if it weren’t so shortsighted. It was going to look mighty damned convenient to Sage and Scipio that he was killed when every other legacy we had grabbed so far had been taken alive. Not to mention the fact that his place in the entire conspiracy made him an essential live target, as he might be the only one who knew where the kidnapped women were being kept.

Thanks for the update, Quess, I thought before disconnecting the line. Cornelius, contact Lacey right now.

One moment, Champion.

I used the pause to move away from the others, not wanting my Knights to see anything of the exchange.