7. The Nerve Center
The Nerve Center
Janice
By midmorning, the operations room has split cleanly in two.
Vegas fills the left side of the main display. Saint-Pierre fills the right. Steve sits beside me with access to both channels while I keep the traffic separated so neither team hears what it doesn’t need.
Forest’s team is preparing for the rooftop insertion. Victor and Adrian are already moving toward Saint-Pierre, while Angus, Ethan, Mateo and Noah are established separately under their fishing-trip cover.
“Vegas channel check.”
Forest answers first. “Copy.”
Jax follows. “Clear.”
Matthias, Jasper, Col and Pete confirm in turn.
I switch. “Saint-Pierre.”
Victor answers immediately. “Receiving.”
Adrian follows, then Angus from the advance team’s separate location.
G studies the system map. “No bleed between channels.”
“Keep it that way.”
Steve glances across. “Bossy much?”
“I prefer efficient.”
His mouth twitches before Forest comes back through my earpiece.
“HQ, weather update?”
G feeds the latest jump conditions through while Victor’s glasses take over the right side of the display.
The Council’s luxury launch is pulling away from Fortune.
A silver-haired man in a navy coat steps toward Adrian.
“Lord Rotherham. Welcome. Charles Beaumont.”
Adrian shakes his hand. “Mr. Beaumont.”
Beaumont turns toward Victor. “And your security?”
“Victor Harrison.”
Another man joins them, younger, dark-haired, immaculate in a charcoal overcoat.
“Kenji Yamamoto.”
Then a third.
“Friedrich von Kessler.”
G is tagging faces before the introductions are finished.
Felicity looks over. “Well, that saves us some work.”
Steve’s mouth curves. “Nice of them to introduce themselves.”
Three names in under a minute.
If the rest of the Council has the same manners, facial recognition may be unnecessary.
Mercy sits near Felicity, watching Hope’s Beacon status without interrupting Vegas comms. Every few minutes, her attention shifts toward me.
I send her the answer before she has to ask.
Hope’s signal is steady. Forest’s team is on schedule.
Mercy reads it and nods.
Forest’s voice comes through again. “Janice, when we move, I want Beacon messaging ready for Hope.”
“Already prepared. She gets one message when you’re committed, another when you’re on the roof.”
“What are you sending?”
“Stay away from the balcony doors. Keep your Beacon hidden. Be ready to move when Forest reaches you.”
“Perfect.”
I queue both messages so they can go the second we authorize them.
Across the other channel, Adrian says something low to Victor, and I glance toward the Saint-Pierre feed.
One operation is preparing to come down from above. The other is carrying Victor and Adrian toward a Council meeting whose exact location we still don’t know.
I bring the channel map back to center.
I don’t need to be in either field team. I need to make sure nobody loses the thread.
Steve reaches across and taps the Saint-Pierre display once. “You’ve got both.”
I glance at him.
“So do you.”
His hand settles briefly over mine before he returns to the Vegas feed.
We’re both exactly where we need to be.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1015 hours.
The first useful change on Hope’s side comes through G’s screen before anyone says a word.
Her Beacon position hasn’t moved, but the hotel data around it has.
G leans closer to the display. “Janice.”
I’m already looking.
A new access record has appeared against the penthouse level, not from the guest elevators but through a private service route tied to executive security. One badge has been used three times since Hope arrived.
“Same credential?” I ask.
“Every time.”
Felicity pulls the record onto her screen. “Registered to hotel operations, but the employee profile doesn’t match the person using it. Photo’s wrong.”
“So they cloned or reassigned the credential.”
“Looks that way.”
I bring Forest’s channel live.
“Forest, we’ve got movement.”
His answer comes immediately. “Go.”
“One access badge is being used repeatedly on the penthouse service route. Three entries since Hope arrived. Credential belongs to hotel operations, but whoever’s carrying it isn’t the employee attached to the profile.”
Jax cuts in. “Can we get a face?”
“Working on it.”
G searches the hotel camera feeds while Felicity starts cross-referencing the badge use against security footage. I keep Forest’s channel open without flooding it with every step.
Seconds later, G freezes a frame.
A man in a dark suit steps out of a restricted service corridor carrying a tray.
Hope’s description matches. Close-cropped brown hair. Mid-forties. No tie.
“That’s him,” I say. “Sending image now.”
Forest’s voice changes slightly. “Got it.”
Jasper comes onto the channel from his position near the neighboring hotel. “I can work with that.”
Felicity finds another timestamp. “He came down twelve minutes after Hope’s last Beacon message.”
I look at the access pattern.
“Forest, he’s checking her roughly every forty to fifty minutes.”
“That gives us a window.”
“Maybe. Don’t treat it as fixed yet.”
“I won’t.”
Steve glances across at me while I keep building the timeline.
Three entries. Similar gaps. Same service credential. Same man.
Finally, something with rhythm.
“G, keep tracking every use of that badge. Felicity, I want every camera angle covering the service corridor and every person who enters that floor.”
“Already pulling it.”
I switch back to Forest.
“You’ve got one confirmed captor moving on a repeat route. If the pattern holds, we may be able to tell you when he’s away from the penthouse before you commit.”
“That’s exactly what I need.”
Until now, Forest has been planning against architecture. Now we’re starting to map people, and people repeat themselves. They get hungry. They take breaks. They use the same doors because the last three times worked.
Patterns create openings.
Across the room, Mercy looks toward me. I give her a small nod.
We’re closer. We still have work to do, but we’re closer.
I return to the live feeds while G adds another timestamp to the sequence.
Forty-six minutes.
If the next one matches, we won’t just know where Hope is.
We’ll know when the security around her is weakest.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1040 hours.
The hardest part of running two operations isn’t the information. It’s the people attached to it.
Mercy has barely moved from her workstation since we confirmed Hope’s location. She watches the Beacon, Forest’s channel and every update G adds to the penthouse timeline as though looking away might somehow change the outcome.
I take a bottle of water over and put it beside her.
“I’m fine.”
“I didn’t ask.”
She gives me a tired look but opens it.
“Have you heard from Mom and Dad?”
“Three times.”
That tells me everything.
“They want to come here.”
“Of course they do.”
“I told them there’s nothing they can do.”
“There isn’t.”
“I know. I still hated saying it.”
I pull a chair closer. “Next time they call, put them through to me. You don’t have to keep giving them operational updates while you’re waiting for your sister to come home.”
Her eyes fill. “What am I supposed to tell them?”
“The truth. Hope’s alive. We know where she is. Forest has a rescue plan and everyone she needs is already in position. Anything beyond that comes from us.”
Mercy nods and wipes beneath one eye.
On the Vegas channel, Jax’s voice comes through, calm and clipped as he works with Forest on the extraction timing. He isn’t furious now. He can’t afford to be. Whatever he’s feeling about Hope being held in that penthouse has been pushed behind the job in front of him.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
“Janice,” he says. “Any change in the access pattern?”
I return to my workstation. “Nothing yet. Next likely movement in approximately eighteen minutes, but we’re not treating it as reliable until we see it.”
“Copy.”
Professional. Focused. Exactly what Hope needs from him.
My phone lights with another message from Mercy and Hope’s parents. I send back a brief update, enough to stop them imagining silence means something has gone wrong.
Then my attention shifts to the other screen. Victor’s glasses are still feeding us Saint-Pierre. Adrian is beside him.
Both men are walking willingly toward something we don’t understand, surrounded by people who may have ordered Hope’s abduction and who’ve spent years destroying anyone who threatens them.
I don’t get to dwell on that either.
Steve looks across at me. He doesn’t ask if I’m worried. He knows.
I’m carrying Hope’s family because Mercy can’t do it alone. I’m keeping information flowing to Jax without letting his personal stake interfere with Forest’s command. I’m watching Victor and Adrian disappear deeper into Legacy’s world while making sure nobody in this room hears fear in my voice.
There’ll be time to feel all of it later.
Today, HAVEN needs something else from me.
G lifts a hand. “Janice. Penthouse badge just moved.”
I’m back on Forest’s channel immediately.
“Forest, movement. Same credential. Ten forty-three.”
“Copy.”
Mercy turns toward me.
I meet her eyes and nod once.
The net around Hope is tightening.
Until we can put her back in Mercy’s arms, I’ll keep everyone connected long enough to get her there.
Blackstone Ventures HQ, San Francisco. 1100 hours.
The next forty minutes give us more of the same pattern around Hope’s penthouse.
Same credential. Same service route. Similar gaps between visits.
G and Felicity keep building the timeline while Forest’s team prepares to move into the next stage. Across the other half of the room, Victor’s glasses continue feeding us Saint-Pierre, giving us a view into an operation we still understand far less than I’d like.
“Vegas channel,” I say. “Forest, status.”
His answer comes back immediately.
“Team accounted for. Gear checked. Aircraft confirmed. We’re still on schedule.”
I breathe out slowly.
Beside me, Steve’s hand finds mine beneath the desk and squeezes once. I squeeze back.
That’s all we have time for. Right now, it’s enough.
“Copy,” I tell Forest. “Beacon messages are queued. We’ll send the first when you commit.”
“Understood.”
Mercy looks across from Felicity’s workstation. She heard him too.
I give her another nod. Everyone is still in. Everyone is where they’re supposed to be.
For now.
G shifts the Saint-Pierre feed onto the larger screen as the Council’s launch cuts through the water. Victor’s glasses give us a clear view of Adrian speaking with Charles Beaumont while Kenji Yamamoto and Friedrich von Kessler stand nearby.
Three Council names confirmed from their own introductions, and we haven’t reached the meeting yet.
Felicity is already building profiles beside the live feed.
“Anything on the destination?” I ask.
“Nothing,” G says. “They haven’t mentioned it once.”
That bothers me more with every mile.
I switch back to Vegas long enough to confirm Hope’s Beacon remains active, then check the channel map again.
No interference. No lost signals. No unexpected movement.
Steve catches me checking it twice.
“Jan.”
“I know.”
“You built it. Trust it.”
I glance at him. “I trust it. I also check it.”
“Fair.”
The launch feed shifts as Victor turns toward the approaching shoreline.
At the same time, Forest checks in again from Vegas.
Steve takes Victor’s channel while I answer Forest.
We settled the division before either operation went live. Steve runs point on Saint-Pierre. I run Vegas. We both hear everything and can step across when needed, but there’s never any question about who answers first.
I look at the two live feeds.
“Both channels clear,” I tell Steve.
He nods. “Then we keep going.”
So we do.
Somewhere between Las Vegas and Saint-Pierre, the day has stopped belonging to any one person.
It belongs to all of us now.
Every voice, every decision, every second.
Until both teams are clear, Steve and I don’t get to look away.