AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But Lyssa and Scarlett are equally formidable. They move with a synchronicity I’ve never seen before. Scarlett provides cover fire while Lyssa advances, then they switch roles seamlessly. But for a minute or two, Katy matches them move for move. She uses the house’s layout to her advantage, ducking behind pillars and using doorways as cover. Each time I think she’s cornered, she slips away like smoke.
But at least she’s not able to get close to Brie.
There’s a lull in the shooting, and for a moment I can hear my own ragged breathing, feel the thundering of my heart against my ribs. Then I hear the smallest of creaks.
I spin toward the sound, my finger tightening on the trigger. Katy emerges from the shadows, her gun trained on Brie. Our eyes lock, and I take a step to put myself between Katy’s gun and Brie’s heart.
But for the first time, maybe because she’s so close to her goal, Katy has overstepped. In focusing on Brie, she left herself exposed. Lyssa and Scarlett emerge from their own positions, their weapons trained on Katy. She’s surrounded, outgunned, with nowhere left to run.
The standoff feels like it lasts an eternity, though it’s probably only seconds. I can see the moment Katy realizes she’s done. She kneels to put down her gun, still smiling at me.
My trigger finger tightens.
“Don’t kill her!” Scarlett shouts.
For fuck’s sake. Now I’m supposed to do the Syndicate’s work for them? But I allow Lyssa and Scarlett to advance.
Katy looks from one to the other of them as Lyssa restrains her hands behind her back with zip ties and Scarlett kicks her gun away, then searches her for more weapons, discarding them as she finds them. “Didshesend you here?” Katy asks eagerly. “Do you know where she is? Comms went dark.”
“If you’re talking about Grandmother, she didn’t send us,” Lyssa says. “But I’m glad you’re in a talkative mood, because it’s time for some answers.”
But then we hear it.
Sirens.
“We need to get her out of here,” Lyssa says to Scarlett, and then she looks at me and Brie. “How about you two. Interested?”
“I know where we can go,” Brie says, and I’ve never heard her sound so fierce. “There’s a place out in the desert where the Colombos like to bury their problems.”
“Well, fuck me,” Lyssa says with amusement, grinning at Brie. “You’d been an alright candidate for the Syndicate, too, along with your girlfriend. Lead the way.”
Brie doesn’t say anything about Lyssa calling me her girlfriend. All she does is look at me and say, “We’d better take Holden, too.”
The desert night is cold as we gather around Katy, on her knees in the middle of our small circle. Brie insisted that Holden wait in the car, and he was only too happy to do so. I wanted to tell Brie to do the same, but…
She’s changed. Sometime in the last few hours she seems to have found a new version of herself. I used to hate that she had so many faces, so many masks, but I find myself almost excited to see this new side to her.
She’s fascinating in all her iterations.
But even though I can sense a new toughness about her, I stand with my body angled slightly to shield her if needed. She’s still under my care, after all. And opposite us, Lyssa and Scarlett stare down at Katy.
Katy’s eyes dart between us all, but they keep returning to Lyssa. There’s a strange mix of fear and…admiration? in her gaze. When she speaks, her voice carries a hint of awe.
“You’re Lyssa, aren’t you? The Wolf?” Her voice trembles slightly. “You were a legend when I was training. We all wanted to be you—or kill you.”
Lyssa just snorts. “Yeah? Well, better luck next time.”
“Grandmother would have been so pleased with me,” she says almost wistfully. “She hasn’t been in contact for a while. I thought maybe I’d done something?—”
“Grandmother’s dead,” Lyssa says bluntly.
Katy stares at her. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she says again, shaking her head in denial. “You’re lying. Grandmother can’t be dead.”
“It’s true,” Scarlett confirms, her voice gentler than Lyssa’s. “You know it is. You’ve reached out to her and had no response. You know there’s only one reason that would happen.”
