Maeve
Her little sister stood frozen behind a bank of curved monitors, her hands suspended above a keyboard as though she couldn't decide whether to run or whether this was another cruel hallucination. For one terrible heartbeat, neither of them moved.
Wren laughed through her tears. "You actually found me."
"I know." Wren pulled back just enough to look at her. "You look awful."
Peak raised an eyebrow. "I don't know whether to be offended or not. How can you not know what to call me, honey?" he asked.
Wren smiled. “He’s definitely your boyfriend, sissy. I mean, just look at the way that he looks at you. Plus, he just called you honey, so I’m betting that I’m right.”
"I like you already,” Peak said as he looked toward Maeve. "Is she always this opinionated?"
Maeve laughed. "Always."
Wren nodded proudly. "It's one of my better qualities." For just a moment, everything felt normal. Like two sisters teasing each other in a kitchen instead of standing inside a criminal empire beneath the Maryland marshes.
The Director's voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Touching." The room immediately fell silent.
"I'll admit—” The Director's calm voice filled the chamber.
“I underestimated family." Every monitor continued displaying his face.
"You crossed state lines, infiltrated a motorcycle club, and destroyed years of careful planning.
" He smiled pleasantly. "Quite impressive. "
Maeve stepped in front of Wren instinctively. Peak moved beside them both. The Director seemed to notice. "And Mr. Dixon. You've been especially inconvenient." Peak didn't answer, but the Director didn't seem bothered. "You've already lost."
Wren laughed—a genuine laugh, and the Director's smile disappeared. "You think so?"
"I know so,” he insisted. For the first time, Maeve saw fear flicker across the Director's face, but it was only for an instant, and then it vanished.
"What did you do?" the Director asked. Wren looked toward Maeve, and then Peak, before finally grinning. "I wrote better code than yours."
Peak's head snapped toward Wren. "How the hell did you do that?"
She walked to one of the keyboards. "I've been poisoning the system for months."
Maeve frowned. "You what?"
"I couldn't escape, so I started rewriting everything." Her fingers flew across the keyboard and lines of code raced across every monitor.
The Director's calm expression cracked. "No."
Wren smiled wider. "You should've let me sleep more."
"What did you do?" Peak asked.
Wren's eyes lit up. "I fixed the crawler."
Peak immediately understood. "You expanded it."
She nodded excitedly. "It stopped collecting data and started copying it."
Maeve stared. "All of it?"
"Everything,” Wren said proudly. “Bank accounts, shipping manifests, employee files, safe houses, offshore companies, and political payments." She looked back at the screen. "I copied every dirty secret Director ever buried."
Peak actually laughed. "I knew I liked you."
Maeve looked between them. "You are terrifying."
"Probably,” Wren said with a shrug. “But I couldn’t sit back and do nothing.”
The Director slammed one hand onto something off-screen. "Shut her terminal down!" he shouted.
Wren rolled her eyes. "I disconnected it yesterday."
The smile vanished from the Director's face. "You impossible little—"
"I know,” she said, cutting off his tirade. "My sister says that about me too."
Maeve couldn't stop smiling, despite everything; Wren was still Wren.
Peak stepped beside her. "Can we get the files out?"
Wren nodded. "Already did." She pointed toward a blinking green indicator. "They're uploading right now."
"To where?" Maeve asked.
Wren looked at her. "Every federal agency I could think of."
Peak looked surprised. "The FBI?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Homeland Security?" he questioned.
"Yes,” Wren breathed.
"The IRS?"
Wren shrugged. "They scare me, so no.” Peak laughed loudly enough that even Warden looked over from the hallway. Maeve hadn't heard him laugh like that before. It made her smile even wider.
Director's voice thundered through the speakers.
"Kill them!" Instantly, red emergency lights began flashing.
The blast doors behind them unlocked, and mercenaries poured into the hallway as gunfire erupted around them.
Warden's shotgun answered immediately. The booming blasts echoed through the underground complex.
Peak drew his pistol. "Maeve,” he shouted. She looked at him. "How long until the download is complete?"
Wren answered first. "Three minutes until every file leaves this building."
Peak nodded. "Can you destroy the servers after?" he asked.
Wren smiled. "Oh, I've been waiting eighteen months to do that." She typed furiously, and the screens changed again. Instead of financial records, a countdown appeared. SERVER PURGE INITIATED flashed across the screen.
Peak's eyebrows shot up. "You built a dead man's switch."
Wren looked offended. "Of course I did."
Maeve laughed. "You really are my sister."
"I know." Another explosion shook the facility, and dust rained from the ceiling.
Warden shouted from the hallway. "We've got company!"
Peak moved toward the door, and Maeve caught his arm. "Be careful."
He looked down at her hand around his wrist and then back at her. "I plan on it, honey,” he said.
Maeve smiled softly. "Good."
Peak leaned down just enough to kiss her forehead, and then he looked at Wren. "Take care of your sister."
Wren grinned. "I was about to tell you that I’d take care of Maeve.”
Peak laughed. "I guess that means we're on the same team."
"That’s not even a question. We always were on the same team, Peak,” Wren said. He nodded and then disappeared into the gunfire.
Maeve turned back and looked at the countdown on the computer screen. 126, 125, 124. Wren's hands never stopped moving. "What are you doing now?"
"Making sure nothing survives,” Wren said.
"The files are already copied,” Maeve reminded.
"I know." She looked up. "But if these servers stay intact, they'll rebuild.
" Maeve understood. This wasn't about revenge. It was about ending things completely. Wren wouldn’t leave behind any backups, hidden accounts, or secret identities.
No more women would disappear because someone rich enough believed people could be bought and sold.
Wren pressed one final key, and the countdown accelerated.
FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE CONFIRMED
Maeve's eyes widened. "You blew up the building?"
Wren looked surprisingly innocent. "I might've repurposed the emergency fire suppression system."
"What does that mean?" Maeve asked.
"It means—” A deep rumble rolled beneath their feet.
"We should probably leave." Maeve laughed.
For the first time in eighteen months, it wasn't from relief or hysteria.
It was because her little sister—the brilliant, stubborn pain in the ass she'd spent a year and a half searching for—had just declared war on one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country. And she was winning.
The first server went dark, followed by another, and another. The steady hum surrounding Maeve changed as entire rows of machines began shutting down. Wren stared at the monitors. “Come on. We have to go.”
Maeve looked at the countdown flashing across the nearest screen.
04:47
“Wren, that doesn’t give us much time.”
“I know,” Wren said.
“You just said you repurposed the fire suppression system,” Maeve said.
“I did,” Wren admitted.
“What exactly happens when that clock reaches zero?” Maeve asked.
Wren grabbed her arm. “You really don't want to be here to find out.” That was enough for Maeve. The server room doors had unlocked when Wren triggered the purge, but the corridor beyond them looked nothing like it had when Maeve entered. Red emergency lights flashed overhead. Smoke drifted through the hallway. Somewhere deeper inside the facility, an alarm screamed continuously. Maeve kept one hand wrapped around Wren’s wrist. She’d spent eighteen months searching for her sister.
There was no chance in hell she was losing her now.
“Which way?” Wren asked.
“Left,” Maeve said, trying to remember the path that they took to get into the server room.
They turned the corner and then stopped.
Gunfire erupted somewhere ahead. Maeve shoved Wren against the wall and raised her weapon as footsteps pounded toward them.
Maeve positioned herself between Wren and the approaching sound, and a shadow appeared around the corner.
She raised the pistol. “Maeve!” Peak shouted.
Relief hit her so hard her knees nearly buckled.
“Peak.” He rounded the corner at a run. Warden followed several steps behind him, shotgun in hand, and blood streaked across one side of his shirt.
Maeve didn't know whether it belonged to him, but it didn’t matter right now.
All that mattered was that Peak was alive.
She crossed the distance between them before she could stop herself. His arms closed around her, and for one second, Maeve allowed herself to bury her face against his chest before Peak pulled back. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Is Wren okay?” Maeve turned. Her sister stood behind her, looking between Peak and Warden.
“I’m good,” Wren insisted.
Warden stared at Wren. “So you're the hacker.”
Wren frowned. “So are you the one with the beard?”
Warden looked offended. “What the hell is wrong with my beard?” Maeve almost laughed, and Peak actually did. Another alarm began sounding, and the moment disappeared.
“We have to get out,” Wren said.
Peak nodded. “Working on it.”
“No, I mean now.” She pointed toward one of the red emergency displays. “We have less than five minutes.”
Warden's eyebrows rose. “Until what?”
“Until the servers are destroyed,” she said.
“That doesn't answer my question,” Warden said.
“It's probably better if you don't know,” Wren said.
Warden looked at Peak. “Why are all the hackers insane?”
Peak shrugged. “Occupational hazard.”
Maeve grabbed Peak's arm. “Where's Captain?”