Page 84 of Playing with Fire

"Yes, you are." Algerone's voice took on a tone of absolute command. "Because that's what you're trained to do. Complete the mission. Survive to hunt another day."

Leo's voice broke through again, more urgent this time. "Xavier, you have to move. Now. They've established a perimeter and they're closing in. If you don't get out in the next sixty seconds, you'll be trapped."

I met Algerone's gaze, fury and frustration burning through me. His expression held none of the fear or panic I might have expected. Just that calculating assessment I recognized from my own mirror.

"Listen carefully," he said. "RoyalFlush1947Ace. The master password to Lucky Losers Inc. Full access to everything I own. Resources. Personnel. Intelligence. All of it."

My breath caught. "Why would you—"

"Because I've been planning for this possibility since the day I found you," he cut me off. "Now go. Find Phoenix. End this." His eyes hardened. "And when you do, make him feel every second of pain he's caused our family."

"Xavier, please," Leo's voice cracked with desperation. "I can't lose you."

Those four words cut through my hesitation more effectively than anything else could have. Leo needed me. And I'd promised I would always come back to him.

"This doesn't make us even," I told Algerone, already backing toward the exit. "This doesn't change anything."

"I didn't expect it to," he replied, drawing his sidearm and checking the chamber.

I turned to go when his voice stopped me.

"Tell Maxime…" He paused, jaw working as if wrestling with unfamiliar words. For a moment, I thought he might actually say something human, something vulnerable. Instead, his expression shifted back to controlled precision. "Tell him to be happy."

"I'll tell him," I promised, understanding more than Algerone probably intended to reveal.

"Now run. I'll buy you time."

Footsteps echoed in the corridor outside, growing louder by the second. I took one last look at my biological father, memorizing the sight of him pinned but defiant, weapon at the ready.

"Go," he ordered one final time.

I went.

The building had become a maze of debris and flashing emergency lights. I navigated through collapsed sections of hallway, following Leo's urgent directions in my ear. Behind me, gunfire erupted from the hidden room, Algerone's final stand buying precious seconds for my escape.

"Northwest exit," Leo directed. "Reid's team has regrouped and is providing cover from the tree line. Burns' forces are mostly concentrated on the east side where the explosion occurred."

I pushed through a service exit and into the cool night air, immediately dropping into a crouch to minimize my profile. Searchlights swept the compound perimeter, guards shouting to each other as they coordinated their search patterns.

The fence line seemed impossibly far away, open ground stretching between me and safety with minimal cover. But Reid's team was out there, waiting. Leo was waiting.

I sprinted from shadow to shadow, using every scrap of concealment available. A shout went up behind me. I'd been spotted. Bullets kicked up dirt at my heels as I zigzagged toward the fence.

"Cover fire incoming," Reid's voice announced through the comm. A heartbeat later, precisely targeted shots forced my pursuers to dive for cover.

I reached the fence and vaulted over it in one clean motion, rolling to absorb the impact on the other side. More gunfire followed, but I was already in the tree line, the darkness of the forest swallowing me whole.

"Move," Reid said, materializing from the shadows to pull me deeper into cover. His face was streaked with dirt and blood, but his eyes were clear and focused. "Where's Mr. Etremont?"

"Not coming," I said, and the words hurt to say for reasons I couldn't fully understand.

Reid processed the information with only a slight hesitation before falling into step beside me. "Package secure. Regroup at extraction site in two minutes."

I followed him through the forest, away from the chaos of the compound. My mind kept replaying the sight of Algerone pinned beneath the rubble, the calculating acceptance in his eyes as he made the decision to sacrifice himself.

Whatever Algerone had considered worth dying for was now mine, and I intended to use it. Not for him. For Leo. For my family.

For revenge.

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