27. ~Caterina~
27
~Caterina~
I made my way toward Levi’s room.
The equipment we’d been waiting on had arrived, so it was time to get down to working together to root out Erebus. Fortunately, the time it had taken to get what we’d needed had come right as Erebus had been reeling from our victories. Many of which my men had accomplished while I’d been sequestered away at the safehouse and recovering.
This last leg, though, we’d do together.
I’d bring everything I had to the table once again and destroy those motherfuckers. We’d remove Leo and bring that bastard down, with Milo getting the justice he’d so long been denied. And then Nico could officially take power.
As I approached the room that Levi was staying in, music reached me. Someone singing an edgy, hard-rock song.
“Dangerous, feral, ruthless/ Far from toothless/ Dark horses to the rotten core/ We collided with a ball of sunshine/ Pink bubble-gum, cotton candy/ Vicious things tangling in the night.”
“Wow, Colt. That sounds incredible,” I heard Levi speaking.
A voice via speakerphone returned, “Yeah? Did you notice how I made the drums heavier and emphasized the bass a bit more?”
“It’s definitely got a harder edge. You also altered the melody a little, yeah?”
“I did. Shit, I can’t wait to play it live. It’s gonna kill. You’re gonna be there, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
“Even if you’re still with Rina and her guys helping out?”
“We’re at the tail end now.”
“Yeah? Because we fucking miss you. Big time, brother.”
“I know, cupcake. I’ve been down here longer than I anticipated.”
“Because of that black ops group that’s complicated everything. Bree told me.”
“That’s right. But now Rina’s back, we’ll crack it.”
“All right. I’ll let you get back to it. I’ve gotta put some finishing touches to a couple of other songs. Group video call later tonight?”
“You’ve got it.”
“Love you, Lev.”
“Love you, brother.”
I heard Levi blow out a heavy breath as their call ended.
He was clearly feeling the weight of things, of being away from his family.
I had to make sure that wouldn’t last for much longer.
He’d already done so much for me and my men as it was.
I gave him a few moments, then I rapped on the door.
“Come on in,” he called out.
I turned the knob and stepped inside to find him sitting on his made bed with his phone beside him and his laptop out. He slapped the lid closed, then rose to his feet.
“Hey,” I greeted.
He smiled out at me. “Hey there.” He folded his arms across his chest. “What’s up, sweetheart?”
“The equipment is here.”
His eyes lit up. “Excellent.”
“Ready to get started?”
He looked back at his laptop, hesitating.
“What’s wrong?”
Unfolding his arms, he blew out a breath, then told me, “When you got back here and we were waiting for Nico to arrive, you mentioned that the boss of Erebus is apparently Nathan Donahue. So I put out feelers—very carefully—across the Dark Web like we discussed, monitoring forums, darknet marketplaces, and accessing encrypted chatrooms.”
“And I warned you that it likely wouldn’t yield any results.”
“Right. Because he’s so elusive and also because of the fear that he inspires through Erebus’ activities, their influence, so nobody would come forward, not even through these more covert avenues.”
“Was I proven wrong?” I grinned. “Because this is one instance where I’d be happy to.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Wow. That’s really something, Rina.”
“Shut it,” I said, chuckling.
“Right. You can’t help it if you’re the shit, and so damn good, huh?”
“Exactly.”
Unfortunately, the jesting died away all too quickly, as concern took its place for him.
“I’ve had a darknet crawler running and searching for specific keywords related to Erebus and Nathan Donahue, through the onion network for the last few hours. I was hoping to pick up chatter related to them, but I found a direct post from Joe instead.”
“What? You’re serious?”
He nodded solemnly, then opened up his laptop again.
He accessed the post, then turned the screen toward me so I could take it in.
It was an encrypted message that matched Joe’s old encryption key, making it clear that it was definitely him who’d sent it out.
“Red Bishop. Things have shifted due to resistance. Current mission is mutually assured destruction. Abort and I’ll step into the light. This ends with me. Contact me via our old protocol.”
“Shit,” I choked. “Red Bishop is one of Donahue’s aliases. Did he respond?”
“Yes, but it had a TTL expiration, so I have no idea what was said. By the time I got to it, it was already deleted.”
“What the hell is he playing at?”
“Trying to end things here and now, it seems.”
I shook my head to myself. “We’re going to end things. We’re on track. And now the equipment is here, we’ll get it done. He’s being a fucking martyr.”
“For you. It sounds like he’s intending to sacrifice himself to protect you and those you love.”
“No. It’s because it’s easier in his mind to martyr himself than to actually fucking live. To come out of the shadows. To face what he’s been hiding from all this time—a relationship with his long-abandoned daughter, my mom, everything he left behind when he became a ghost.”
“With Santino gone and us taking down Erebus, he’d have no reason to continue to live like that, off the grid and cut off from everyone. I wish we’d known about his connection to Donahue a hell of a lot earlier. There’s a lot we could have done. He spent years barely living, just existing and on the run.”
“He’s stubborn, and he doesn’t like other people being pulled into his problems. I’d like to think it was about protecting us, but a lot of it is also driven by ego. You know how he is.”
“I do, yeah.”
“This isn’t happening,” I seethed. “No fucking way.”
“I hear you, Rina, but this is Joe we’re talking about. He’s always several steps ahead of everyone.”
“Not Nathan Donahue.”
“I disagree.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “I’m not following. He hasn’t been able to eliminate the threat that Donahue and Erebus are.”
“The opportunity has presented itself, but he hasn’t taken it. I’d say that’s the first time ever that he hasn’t jumped at the chance to take out an enemy. And he hasn’t for you. ”
The realization of what he was saying sank in. “The moment Erebus started getting its claws into the city, he could’ve made his move.”
“Exactly. But it would have ruined you and those you love. Fuck, it would have ruined my father, too, and me by extension.”
“Because he’s never avoided going the extreme route to destroying a threat before. And, in this case, that would have basically meant leveling an entire city, so there was nothing for Erebus to take, and also taking out Donahue’s people at the same time.”
“Yes. We’ve both looked into him. Hell, a few years ago we looked into him together. We found out that he’s committed acts likening to mass fucking genocide in the name of decimating an enemy before. He won’t shy away from it as a rule. But he does appear to have a line that we didn’t think he had before. And that’s those he loves.”
“So, for him, the only viable option left is self-sacrifice? Fucking shit… it’s from one extreme to the other with him.”
“It’s how he’s lived his life for so long. He doesn’t operate anywhere close to normal.”
I shook my head to myself. “I know how to stop him from doing this, but I need something from you first. Or, more specifically, access to a certain something.”
Intrigue shone in his eyes.
Before I got into it, I laid my hand on his and told him resolutely, “Once we’ve tracked these assholes, I want you gone, Levi.”
“What?”
“You’ve done enough. And I’m sorry that I need you to do more, that what I’m up against can’t be done solo.”
“Rina, it’s no problem. You know I live for this stuff.”
“Now you have a lot more to live for, Levi. Things are different for you now. And I want it to stay that way for you. You’ve fought too hard and come too far for it not to be. So, once we’re done, the moment we access the intel that we need, you head home to your loves. Okay? Promise me.”
He took a moment, then gave a nod. “All right, sweetheart. You have my word.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, what is it that you need access to?”
“Something that will ensure I’m the one a step ahead if he actually does this, if I can’t talk him down.”
As I made my way down the corridor intending to have a little talk with Joe about what the fuck he thought he was playing at, I was pulled up short by the sight of Nico and Milo carrying in some of the equipment that had just arrived.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the sight of the quantum processor that Milo was hefting in. It looked like some sort of next-gen, futuristic chandelier, with gold wiring visible on the inside, along with coiled fiber-optic cables that connected to the cooling system. It was contained in a sleek glass panel that was reinforced. Once it was all set up and connected to our systems, it would be lit with glowing LED indicators with pulsing blue lights of the circuits, signaling that the processor was ready to get to work.
Through our separate research into Erebus via their hacks, and Levi looking into the devices that had been retrieved from the safe zone takedowns, it had become apparent that Erebus used military-grade cyber defenses that would take some major equipment to crack, the encryption so fucking advanced. This portable quantum processor was slated to help with that. Erebus was using post-quantum encryption, meaning mine and Levi’s regular hacking approaches weren’t enough and wouldn’t get the job done. Hence this.
For starters.
There was also the real-time intrusion spoofer we’d managed to acquire thanks to one of Roman Knight’s contacts, something that Nico was carrying in. As I’d looked into the hack when Erebus had infiltrated my system, I’d discovered that one of the things they were also doing was employing AI-based counter-hacking. So we needed to fight fire with fire by using this spoofer to create thousands of fake hacker profiles to overwhelm that aspect of their security. While employing that smokescreen, with the aid of the quantum processor, Levi and I would carry out the real hack.
Milo caught sight of me and grinned. “It’s really something, isn’t it?”
“It sure is.”
“Having one of these is a dream come true, hmm?” Nico said.
“Definitely something I can cross off my bucket list,” I admitted.
“I’ll take some photos once we get it set up,” Nico told me.
“Thank you!”
“We’ll make a scrapbook,” Milo joked.
Scrapbook. That jolted me right back to my immediate task concerning Joe.
But before I could get back to it, Milo told me, “I’m gonna set up a redundant generator to guard against a blackout. I’ll also rig some emergency shut-offs so we can kill the power in case Erebus tries to fry the system. No way in hell are we letting that happen.”
“Perfect,” I said, smiling out at him. “We’ll also need to set up some Faraday shielding. With these guys having military-grade tech, we can’t rule out them sending out an EMP if they detect our hack.”
He nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
This was where his tech-savvy skills were really going to come in handy. And, judging by the enthusiasm all over him, he was happy to get down to it, to put those skills to good use like he had with reinforcing and updating the security system in and around Charon Manor.
As the two of them brought the equipment into the largest living room where Levi had already set up his stuff while I’d been away, I stopped at the threshold.
“What’s wrong?” Nico asked, putting down his piece of equipment while Milo was settling the processor into place.
I shoved a hand through my hair. “It’s Joe. He’s—”
“He’s what?” the voice belonging to the man himself sounded.
I spun to see him now just a few feet from me, his ghost-like movements meaning his entire approach had gone undetected. Despite him training me to do the same, I still couldn’t pick up when he was doing it.
He was dressed in one of the many teal shirts he had on hand, along with a pair of worn blue jeans. He was sipping from a tall glass, the brown smoothie-thick liquid with an orange tint looking a whole lot like Nico’s protein shakes that he used to skip breakfast when he was in a rush or preoccupied with this matter or that. There’d been a lot of that lately with all his meetings.
“Thanks for this suggestion,” Joe told Nico. “Definitely hits the spot. This is your own recipe?”
“It is, yeah. Created through a whole lot of trial and error.”
“I might have to steal it, use it on a more permanent basis.”
“Have at it,” Nico said.
I reached out and stroked his arm. He was really giving it his all, trying so hard when it came to Joe.
And what was Joe doing in return? Merely just playing nice, while secretly looking to get himself fucking killed!
“Permanent basis, huh?” I snapped. “How will that be possible with you dead?”
That actually got a reaction out of him. He jolted, the glass shaking in his hand. Fortunately, he’d already consumed half of it, so it didn’t spill all over him. Although, that was a fraction of what he deserved for this bullshit he was trying to pull.
“What’s going on?” Nico asked, looking between us with a whole lot of concern. And suspicion when it came to Joe.
Joe’s gaze flicked to him briefly before it settled on me. He at least had the decency to look regretful. “You saw my message to Nathan.”
“What message?” Nico cut in.
“The message where he offered to give himself up to end this nightmare,” I ground out, my eyes drilling into Joe.
“That wasn’t part of the plan,” Nico ground out. “It certainly wasn’t authorized.”
“There wouldn’t have needed to be a plan at all if he’d accepted my offer,” Joe bit back at us in that almighty know-it-all way of his. This time, he was wrong, though. It wasn’t the right way. He was making a bad call. A really bad call.
He looked at me. “You clearly didn’t see Nathan’s response.”
“The message had a TTL expiration.” I eyed Nico, explaining without the jargon, “Time-to-Live expiration, which meant it deleted itself after a certain specified timeframe.”
“Well, he denied my offer.”
“Your offer to step into the light and basically get yourself killed, offer yourself up to him in exchange for him aborting his current mission and pulling his troops out of Tolhurst.”
He gestured at the equipment in the living room. “It would have nullified the need for all of this. For another battle, too. For more fucking risk to all your lives.”
“ If Donahue could be trusted to keep his word. And that’s a major if . Let’s not forget that your history with him involved him betraying your entire unit when you were overseas. He was dishonorably discharged and even up for prosecution until he disappeared into the ozone. Your strategy was beyond reckless. It was insane. It was the work of a man with a fucking death wish!”
“That’s not—I was trying to do what was best for you, to protect you!”
“You’re no longer in a position to decide what’s best for me. I decide that.”
“Caterina—”
“No! You don’t get to come out and reveal that you’re my true father, then try to fucking sacrifice yourself like this! You don’t get to make that emotional connection with me, then rip it all away by getting yourself killed!”
Julian came out of the kitchen down the way, shoving a spoonful of Nesquik cereal into his mouth from the bowl in his hand. He must’ve been in there with Joe having a second breakfast to the healthy one we’d all shared earlier.
“This is also the direct opposite of the advice I gave you concerning Cat,” he told Joe as he reached us and stood off to the side of Joe. “Giving her the choice? Remember?”
He’d actually said that? I beamed out at him. Of course he had.
“Things are more complicated than that and they go far beyond personal sentiment,” Joe argued. “Do you understand me?”
“We’re well aware of the complications,” Nico told him. “We’ve been in the thick of it. For a long time, we were even operating without vital intel because you actively withheld it. Yet, we’ve not only survived under this onslaught, we’ve thrived. There’s a way to do this, to end it, without losing your life, or any of ours in the process. You need to trust in that.” He stepped up to Joe, breaching his personal space and looming over him. “You need to fall in line here or you need to fucking walk. And that’s where things get really fucking simple. Make your choice, because I won’t tolerate any more unilateral moves and action that could put those I love, all my soldiers, and my allies at risk.” A growl escaped him as he uttered, “Do. You . Understand. Me ?”
They locked glares.
The intensity ramped up, and I saw Julian still with his spoon in his bowl, and Milo stop his setup in the living room to watch the interaction on tenterhooks, clearly prepared to step in at any moment to bolster Nico.
I readied myself, too, knowing how Joe could be.
His ruthlessness was beyond Nico’s.
Although he often thought otherwise and was hard on himself when it came to this sort of thing, Nico Marchetti did have a line. When it came down to the bedrock of it, he was a good man.
Honorable.
Loyal.
And loving.
All three of my men were.
Despite the world we’d lived in for so long turning us into monsters, that wasn’t all that we were.
We’d still somehow managed to maintain some semblance of our humanity.
Of goodness.
Of fucking decency.
Our ourselves.
Those parts that we’d had to bury deep down in order to survive against the brutality that had bombarded us for so long.
“I understand,” Joe said, surprising me. Surprising all of us.
He stepped back from Nico.
And then he followed his agreement up with a caveat. Much more like him.
“However, if things go south, I will do whatever it takes to end this. If your plan doesn’t work, I’ll put mine into effect.”
“Joe—” I started.
“No,” he said, holding up his hand. “I won’t fail again.”
“What are you—”
“When you were a child. Leaving you here. Thinking you’d be better off here. But now… knowing all the pain it caused you… everything you’ve suffered through… I clearly made the wrong call. I failed to protect you once. I won’t fail again. You’re my daughter.”
With that, he turned and disappeared back down the corridor.
Julian shoveled in a mouthful of his cereal. “Intense bastard,” he muttered between bites.
Nico wrapped his arm around me. “It won’t come to what he’s suggesting. We’re close, so close. We’re ending this. Mark my words.”