Page 37 of Before the Bond Breaks
MAZE
My phone vibratedwith an urgent message. I snatched it off Talon’s coffee table, noting the text message from Winter through the Valen-Steele Inner Circle group chat.
Anonymous tip. Balder sighting—industrial warehouse, LA. Must move now. Details in brief.
My body went rigid while my heart did a little dance in my chest. This was what we’d been looking for. A lead to where the bastard had been hiding.
Talon walked out of the bathroom and met my gaze. His was sharp as always as he focused on my features. “What?”
“Winter got a lead on Balder. He was spotted going into a warehouse in LA.”
Talon didn’t hesitate. “Let’s go then.”
I called Winter, and she answered on the first ring. “Hey. I’ve arranged for a safe house in the suburbs of LA, close to the warehouse. I sent the address to you and Talon.”
“Who’s on the team?” I usually assembled the teams, but knowing Winter, she would have alerted the others who would be going to the safe house with us.
“Me, Quil, Nicky, and Larc,” she said. “Quil and I are on comms, Nicky and Larc handle exterior recon. I’m pulling blueprints of the warehouse now.”
“Great. Open a portal. Talon and I are ready.”
I hung up when the portal flared to life in the middle of Talon’s living room. Talon grabbed my hand, and we walked through the portal and into the safe house.
The team was already there. Winter was turning the large dining room table into her mini command center. She wore dark jeans and a sweatshirt with her hair twisted into a high, messy bun.
Quil sat at the other end of the table with several drones. One of which was taken apart, and he was tinkering with it. Most likely, giving it a few magical enhancements.
Nicky and Larc kept near the back exit, faces set, already scanning the gaps between houses for anything out of place.
Winter barely looked up. “You’re late, boss.”
I snorted, dropping my bag inside the door. “We’re exactly on time considering your messages to me a few minutes ago. Start the briefing.”
Winter had set up the main screen where the TV used to be, cables snaking from a battery bank. She tapped the tablet, and the blueprints of the warehouse filled the display. It had three floors, catwalks, an interior office, and a sealed vault at the back, probably where Balder would keep the stone.
“Intel says Balder’s moved in with a small team, four, maybe five, but two are confirmedEitrborn. We have satellite feeds here and here.” Winter pointed to the back alley and a rooftop vent. “Both are cold right now, but I’m running facial scans to see if anyone’s moving inside.”
Nicky spoke next. “Larc and I will scope the warehouse to see what we are dealing with.”
I studied the layout Winter had pulled up. The main entrance faced an empty lot surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire.
After Quil opened the back door, Winter deployed one of the drones with a tap, sending it outside and up over the warehouse blocks away. Quil tweaked the magical cloaking on the drone, then double-checked the wards around the living room for good measure. The two of them worked in near silence, like they’d been doing it for centuries.
Talon stood at my shoulder, watching the screens, cataloguing every weakness, every angle of attack.
Nicky and Larc suited up in the foyer. Nicky laced her boots, grimacing only once as she cinched the brace tighter over her bad leg. She and Larc fixed micro cameras to their vests that repelled magic and bullets, then synced them to Winter’s command feed.
Winter ran one last systems check. “Feeds are live. Nicky, Larc, you’re a go.”
Nicky flashed a wide, reckless grin that belied the tension in her shoulders as she and Larc moved through a portal Winter created. They would come out about a block from the warehouse.
I watched them via the camera feed, noting Nicky favoring her right ankle. Larc moved so smoothly that he barely triggered the motion sensors. The drone’s camera tracked their approach as they slipped through the back alleys toward the warehouse’s eastern perimeter.
Nicky and Larc circled the warehouse, using the shadows. They barely spoke, relying on hand signals.
As they entered, the main chamber came into view. It was a vast open space with rough concrete underfoot. Ritual markings had already been painted onto the floor, the lines thick and precise, glowing faint green in the muted daylight. Smaller rooms branched off the main space.
Eitrbornpatrolled the perimeter, moving in perfect sync. Their faces never changed as their eyes tracked nothing but the pattern of their route. There were four of them in the main hall, three more at the side entrance, and another group circling above on the old catwalks. Their movements were mechanical. Each step landed with intent.
