Page 88 of Elven Prince

If it worked, it gave them an invaluable advantage of multiple enemies. Maybe even an opportunity to deal with one or two of them for good before all the other gangs and criminal organizations of Chicago could band together against them.

Shade had to try, or they would find themselves penned in on all sides, unable to either defend against an entire city’s criminal underground or effectively fight back.

And now Rick wanted to know what they needed to get started.

She scanned the room and almost let herself get excited about the possibilities. “Has anyone seen Bruce?”

25

Rebecca’s pounding heart and the rush of blood in her ears were all she could hear as she scanned the darkness.

This was it. The culmination of Shade’s single purpose over the last two days. Every single member, field operative and support staff alike, had pooled together their energy and ingenuity to make this a reality, and now they were here.

If they pulled this off, their chances of surviving Chicago’s magical power vacuum would increase astronomically. And then they’d have a real chance at defending themselves, beating back the slavering predators sniffing around their front door, and maybe even wiping the slate clean for everyone after that.

For Shade. For Rebecca.

Ifthey pulled this off…

When they emerged from the thick trees and overgrown bushes along the seldomly used dirt road, the arching silhouette of the defunct Polly “L” Bridge rose against the star-studded sky and the waxing moon, it’s crisscrossing beams almost like more tree branches against the faint light.

Rebecca and the twelve other operatives of Alpha Team glanced up at the ironwork behemoth still half a mile ahead of them, but they weren’t the only ones.

Three other teams closed in on their target location from three other directions, each of them having stalked through the night on foot to avoid as much detection as possible. The city lights winking through the trees became far more visible in the distance beneath the curving arc of the defunct L bridge now used to signal neighboring railroad lines.

Out here, those signal lights on the unused bridge were the only reminder of civilization still close at hand—not too far to access but still far enough to make for a quiet, remote, isolated rendezvous spot for two over-eager magical gangs and one cautiously hopeful task force.

So far, there had been no sign of either gang, nor had Alpha Team spotted any of their counterparts out here in the woods tangled with underbrush. But they would soon.

The Shade teams had come early, and when Big Boss and Suit arrived with their own forces, Rebecca’s teams would be ready for them.

Whether it fostered her confidence or her growing apprehension as they advanced, the tingling warmth of Maxwell’s presence beside her might have been her only familiarity tonight. Maybe even her only comfort.

She also felt the shifter’s overactive suspicion and rising doubts just as strongly.

At Maxwell’s signal, Alpha Team emerged from the tree line to sneak soundlessly toward the bridge, staying off the road and in the shadows.

The next wave of uncertainty crashing against Rebecca’s body almost made her stop before Maxwell finally voiced what she’d felt in him.

“Are you certain this will work?” he whispered, slowly sweeping his gaze back and forth while he pressed forward with silent footsteps, augmented firearm at the ready.

“It’ll work,” she whispered back. “They shouldn’t be here for another hour. By then, we’ll already be in position. And if somethingdoesgo wrong, they won’t even be able to find us afterward.”

She chanced a quick look in his direction and would have burst out laughing if it hadn’t risked compromising their position.

Maxwell Hannigan looked nothing like himself. Not even a shifter.

Instead, a gray-haired old man stalked beside her, the top ring of his bald head glinting under the starlight. Thick, untrimmed gray mustache, each end curled nearly three inches away from his face on either side. A nonexistent chin. One of the biggest hooked noses Rebecca had ever seen. And two dull, squinty brown eyes, completed by a slight hunch.

A snort escaped her, which elicited more of the barely subdued grumbling and grousing she’d been dealing with for the last several hours.

“I appreciate nothing about this situation,” he growled.

“It’s really good, though,” she whispered.

“Says the curvy redhead straight from a magazine. The gnome didn’t eventryto make mine believable. No one has a nose like this.” Glowering through the trees, Maxwell gestured sharply at his own face that wasn’t his face.

“After taking on three last-minute apprentices to draw up the specs and craft us fifty illusion cuffs in under sixty hours, I’d say Bruce did a pretty damn fine job.” Rebecca glanced down at her own body that certainly wasn’t hers and shrugged. “I don’t know. I kinda like the curves.”

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