Page 59 of Final Sins

He couldn’t run. Where would he go? No. The only option was to deliver the goods. If he couldn’t capture Reilly, he’d make sure the man was dead.

But he couldn’t do it alone. This time, he needed the best of the best.

His fingers hovered over his phone, trembling slightly as he weighed his options. The risk was immense, but the alternative was unthinkable. With a deep breath that did little to calm his racing heart, he dialed the number he’d long ago memorized, but so rarely used.

One ring. Two. Then, a voice like warm honey poured through the speaker.

“This is unexpected,” the woman purred.

He swallowed hard, throat suddenly dry. “I need a favor.”

A pause, pregnant with unspoken costs. “I’m listening.”

“I have targets that need to be eliminated. Immediately. Four days, tops.”

Another pause, this one calculating. “Unrelated casualties?”

His response came without hesitation, the words leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. “Absolutely. Preferred, even.”

That would tidy up the annoying little loose ends. Might as well. The woman charged by the job. The cost would be the same either way.

“I understand.”

The line went dead, leaving him alone with the weight of what he’d just set in motion.

A fresh sheen of sweat broke out across his forehead.

He sank back down onto his sweat-soaked sheets. He’d crossed a line, one there was no coming back from. The television droned on, forgotten, as he stared unseeing at the ceiling.

In five days, he’d be on top of the world.

Or six feet under it.

Which outcome did he truly fear more?

31

Alex pacedthe length of the safe house’s living room, raking her fingers through her hair for the hundredth time. The adrenaline from their failed mission had long since faded, leaving a potent cocktail of frustration and self-recrimination.

“We were so close,” she muttered, more to herself than the others.

Jason, slumped in an armchair, looked up. The defeat in his eyes mirrored her own. “We underestimated their resources. We won’t make that mistake again.”

Tai stood by the window, his massive frame tense. “We adapt. We overcome.”

Fenn nodded in agreement, but the worry lines creasing his forehead betrayed his concern. Kate paced opposite Alex, her nervous energy palpable.

The oppressive silence was shattered by Paige’s excited voice from the computer station. “Guys, I’ve got something!”

They converged around her, hope flaring anew. “Remember the DNA sample from Gabriel’s lab? It’s a match to a known Seven-Five operative.”

The air left Alex’s lungs in a rush. “Seven-Five went after my cousin?” The words felt wrong, impossible. Yet the evidence was right there on the screen. “Why?”

Cody leaned forward, his brow furrowed in concentration. “They probably know about his research, and they want it.”

“But they didn’t take anything,” Paige protested.

“Because they need Gabriel,” Jason said.

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