Page 201 of Deadfall

The boat was a stunning piece of work that bobbed ominously in the water of a small cove. It was the size of a yacht really—all matte black and geared out for tactical operations. There wasn’t a single piece of chrome anywhere.

There was an empty landing pad on the stern where the helo would go, and the whole thing looked fast and lethal. The boat would get us the rest of the way to the vicinity of the island and be used as our launch point.

My father clasped Knight on the shoulder. “If you’re nice to me I’ll let you drive it.”

“I’m always nice to you!” Knight exclaimed. “Remember that time I took you in when you looked like a crazed mountain man and were being followed by two homeless men?”

“Hey!” Nyx exclaimed. “That’s offensive.”

“In all fairness, we were homeless,” Atlas shrugged.

After admiring the yacht, I followed the team into one of the tents where everyone broke off to see to last minute details. Kaelin grabbed a tablet and headed over to a table where two massive military drones sat, being tinkered with by a few members of the team.

Knight slapped a hand onto Griffin’s shoulder. “Come on, man, let’s go check over the explosives.”

The rest of us surrounded a table in the center of the room, and I couldn’t hold back an exclamation of awe. It was an insanely detailed topographic map of the island complete with a model of the estate perched on a mini cliff.

“Courtesy of Atlas and Kaelin,” my father said.

“Wow—it’s very accurate.”

“Thanks to your intel,” he said. “And a lot of additional drone footage.”

I scanned the map and jerked my head at the Menagerie. “Do we have a plan to get the women out of there?”

My father nodded, but it was an unfamiliar voice behind me that answered.

“That’s where we come in.”

I turned to see a group of five men I didn’t know enter the tent.

My father shook the hand of the one who’d spoken. “King. Thanks for coming.”

“Of course, boss.” The man turned piercing eyes my way. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Emersyn, this is King and his team,” my father said. “They work for Northern Tactical’s European sector. They assisted us on a few raids searching for you, and are going to focus primarily on freeing the Menagerie and any other trafficked survivors we find.”

“I’m glad to see you home safe, Emersyn,” King said. “We will do whatever we can to help here.”

“Now that you’re all here, we’ll go over your part of the operation,” my father moved around the table. “Em, will you stay and assist? There may be some additional information you can share with them that could help.”

I spent the next hour listening to my father brief King’s team on their role in the upcoming operation. I gave them a few key pieces of information, but otherwise stayed silent.

Once they left, I frowned down at the map. This should have felt like any other operation. But, I realized it didn’t. It all seemed to carry more weight to me than Riggs and the crew I used to run with. I hadn’t realized that until an ache in my gut demanded that I acknowledge how high the stakes were. My father came and stood beside me, his shoulder touching mine in silent support.

“You ready for this?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah.”

He let the silence deepen, seeming to know I had more to say.

“When I was running with my last crew,” I said slowly. “It never really felt like this.”

My father tilted his head, and I waved my hand around at the people.

“This is—family,” I fought to explain what I felt. “My crew before was definitely not that.”

He seemed to know what I was getting at because he nodded. “It makes it harder. Sometimes,” he said. “Sometimes it makes it easier.”