Chapter 44 Gage
FORTY-FOUR
GAGE
I don’t trust many people, but here at Maddox HQ, I feel like I’ve finally found my crew. Sure, Arrow and Knight have been my best friends since grade school, and Ozzy, Render, and Poe are great friends we’ve met along the way. Hell, I even consider Juno a bestie as we met in middle school too.
And well, I’ve known Lark since my parents brought her home and changed my life. But the men of Maddox Security are top notch, and I can see the determination in each of their eyes as we sit here, laying out the plan.
I’m sitting in The Aquarium, elbows on the table, my knee bouncing with barely restrained energy. River’s file, the one Rae decrypted an hour ago, is up on the large screen behind Dean. Lancer. Shell accounts. Code commits with Helena’s signature.
Helena’s not just dirty.
She’s radioactive.
“We need to corner her,” Dean says, arms crossed. “Not spook her.”
“She’s already spooked,” I say. “She kidnapped River and framed me for murder. That’s not the behavior of someone feeling confident. That’s someone unraveling.”
Dean nods once. “Good. Then we push her until she slips.”
Across the table, Rae pulls up Helena’s financials—what we could get, anyway. “She’s moving crypto to a new wallet cluster. Looks like she’s preparing for an exit.”
“Where to?” Arrow asks, leaning forward.
“Unknown. But she’s got an identity change kit loaded into the system. Fake passport, new name. ‘Theresa Voss.’ We dig into that alias, maybe we can figure out her timeline.”
“Or we cut the legs out from under her before she ever leaves the city,” I mutter.
My fists are clenched so tight they’re white-knuckled. I feel River’s hand land lightly on my forearm, grounding me, like she always does.
“You’re not alone in this,” she whispers.
God, I love her. I fucking love her so damn much.
Dean lifts his chin. “Gage. You know her better than anyone. If we feed her the right piece of bait—something she can’t resist—what would it be?”
“She likes control,” I say. “Power. Her biggest weakness is pride. She always wants to win. Make her feel like she's already won, and she’ll come out of hiding.”
“Good,” Dean says. “So how do we do that?”
“I tell her I’m surrendering,” I say. “I call her, say I know she set me up, but I’m done running. I offer to meet her somewhere quiet. Say I’ll delete whatever evidence River has if she gives me a clean break.”
“Risky,” Knight says. “She might just show up with a sniper and take you out.”
“But I gotta try,” I reply grimly.
Dean walks around the table slowly, considering. “We’ll control the environment. Get her to pick the location, but we’ll prep it with surveillance, weapons, and backup.”
“Where’s the best place for a setup?” Rae asks.
“Pier 47,” I answer without hesitation. “She’ll like the water. It’s off-grid and always has ships coming in and out.”
Sawyer types quickly, bringing up drone images of the pier. “Yeah. There’s enough cover for extraction teams. Let’s plant charges on the rear exits. Keep the perimeter tight. I’ll call in the rest of brAVO team.”
Dean nods, then points to Rae. “You’ll run surveillance. Knight, Arrow—you’re on the roof for overwatch. Ranger, Jaxson, Sawyer, Riggs—secondary perimeter. I want shooters in three different locations. Miller. Hayes. Colton. They can perch with rifles. Make the calls.”
Sawyer nods. “On it.”
“And me?” I ask.
“You’ll bait the trap,” he says. “We’ll be in your ear the whole time. But don’t try anything slick. She’s smarter than she looks.”
River shifts next to me. “I want in.”
“No,” I say immediately. “You’re staying here.”
“I’m the reason she’s doing this.”
“That’s exactly why you’re staying put,” I say, looking her dead in the eye. “If anything happened to you—”
“I’m not a damsel, Gage.”
“I know that. But you’re mine. And I don’t let what’s mine walk into a warzone.”
The room is quiet for a beat.
Even Dean raises an eyebrow, but says nothing.
River’s cheeks flush pink, but her expression softens.
“You better come back to me,” she whispers.
“I will.”
I lean over, press my forehead to hers.
“I swear to you, baby. I’m ending this.”
Hours later, I’m dressed in all black—combat boots, dark jeans, a hoodie. No weapons. Just a mic in my collar and a transmitter in my back pocket.
The wind off the pier is biting. Cold salt air whips through the rusted beams of the old warehouse Helena picked as our meeting point. Of course she picked it. Of course she wants me isolated.
My earpiece crackles. “Mic check,” Rae says. “We’re live.”
“Copy that.”
“Signal’s clean. We’ve got you from three vantage points. Arrow’s on overwatch.”
I keep walking, slowly, hands visible. The gravel crunches beneath my boots.
“Eyes on her,” Knight murmurs. “Ten o’clock. Red coat.”
I turn and there she is—Helena, in a blood-red trench coat, black gloves, sleek bun. She looks like the devil’s attorney.
“Gage,” she says smoothly. “Didn’t think you’d actually come.”
“I’m tired of running,” I lie. “You win.”
“Do I?” Her eyes glint. “Even after last night?”
My jaw tightens. “You think I don’t know that was you?”
“I think you don’t have proof.”
She’s close now. Close enough to shoot me. But I don’t move.
“I have something better,” I say. “I have a clean conscience.”
She laughs. “Well, that won’t help you in prison.”
She reaches into her coat.
My heart kicks. “Rae—?”
“Hold,” she says calmly. “It’s not a gun.”
Helena pulls out a USB drive.
“This is your out,” she says. “I’ll scrub your name. Make it disappear. All you have to do is walk away.”
“What’s on it?”
“Everything tying me to Cathedral. To Regent,” she says. “Except I made it look like you wrote it.”
The sickest part is—she smiles when she says it.
“I’d rather burn with the truth than live with your lies,” I say flatly.
Then I turn away, just slightly—enough to trigger the signal.
“She’s burned,” Rae says. “Go.”
The flashbang goes off behind me in a white-hot burst. Helena shrieks, disoriented, just as Ranger and Sawyer come in from behind, pinning her to the ground. She fights like a cornered animal.
But it’s over.
We’ve got her.