Chapter 22 Knox
I stared down at the documents scattered across the table, my focus flicking up to the map pinned on the wall, routes and locations marked in sharp lines.
Where would Marco take Lena?
The door slammed open drawing my attention.
“We’re moving,” Silas said, striding in. “T-minus four hours. I pushed Mallory. We go now, not later.”
I straightened. “He approved it?”
“Seven teams assembled. All briefed and on standby.”
“Good,” I muttered, dragging a hand across the table, shifting papers, searching for something I might have missed. “But we can't move until we have her location. If we hit blind, we could lose her.”
Silas stepped beside me, leaning over the table, eyes scanning the spread.
“Anything?” he asked, tension bleeding through the single word.
“I’m trying to think like her,” I said, forcing my thoughts to sharpen. “If Lena were here, she wouldn’t guess. She’d know.”
Silas grabbed a file, flipping it open.
“What’s this?”
“Shell corporation,” I said immediately. “Marco’s. He uses it to buy and hold properties off the books. Most of the private homes purchased are abandoned. Uses the commercial properties as fronts to launder money.”
Silas’s jaw tightened as he scanned the page.
“This one’s familiar,” he said.
“The stakeout house. We used his own property to spy on him,” I confirmed.
He exhaled sharply, flipping to the next page.
“There’s over a hundred properties tied to this,” he said, frustration creeping in. “How the hell are we supposed to narrow that down?”
I stared at the map, forcing myself to slow down, to think like her, seeing each piece as a puzzle that fit together into something whole.
“We’re not looking for a random location,” I said, more to myself than to Silas. “We’re looking for a decision.”
Silas frowned. “What?”
“Marco didn’t just take her anywhere,” I continued, my finger dragging across the marked districts. “He chose a specific place for a reason.”
Silas leaned in closer. “What the hell are we missing?”
“He kept Lena for five years in his personal residence,” I went on, my voice tightening. “She's special. You think he finally gets her back and throws her in some stash house with random guards and other omegas?”
Silas shook his head once. “No. He isolates her.”
“Exactly.” I tapped a section of the map. “Private. Controlled. Somewhere he can keep her quietly, no business operations or traffic…”
Silas’s eyes sharpened. “Not a residential district. Too risky and too much traffic.”
“Too exposed,” I agreed. “And after Yuri, he knows we’ll come fast. He won’t risk storing her in a place we can hit clean.”
Silas dragged a hand through his hair. “So not public, not private residence, not a stashhouse… that still leaves too many.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It doesn’t.”
I turned back to the files, flipping fast now, scanning, not reading. Looking for patterns.
“Think like Lena,” I muttered. “She wouldn’t look at what’s listed. She’d look at what connects.”
Silas watched me, tense. “Connects how?”
“Proximity. Access. Control points,” I said. “What’s in his territory, but isolated? What’s owned under the shell corporation, but not actively used? What has private access, limited visibility, and no traffic?”
Silas searched the map.
“Somewhere he can take her immediately,” he said slowly, catching on. “No prep. No setup. Already secure.”
I flipped one more page, then stopped.
There.
My finger pressed down on the address. I cross referenced it with the map.
“Industrial sector,” I said. “Inactive storage. No staff assigned, no active shipments, no financial movement in months.”
Silas leaned over my shoulder, scanning quickly.
“Private access road,” he added. “Limited visibility. No neighbors.”
I nodded once, the pieces locking into place.
“It’s one of his only commercial properties not in use or generating anything,” I said. “No profit, no activity, no oversight. It's a perfect place to bring her."
"Well, let's go get her then."
Night settled heavy over the city, silent and eerie, like the calm before a big storm.
Engines idled as convoys lined up in front of the AIED headquarters, loaded with officers ready to wreak havoc on Marco's operations.
Everyone moved with quiet precision, clad head to toe in black tactical gear, weapons checked and rechecked, comms tested in clipped murmurs that barely carried. Soon, the comms went silent completely.
There was a weight in the air. Anticipation. The kind of energy that buzzed through you and tightened with every passing second.
Then we moved out, headlights killed, stealthy silhouettes of armored vehicles barely visible under the dim glow of scattered streetlights.
Seven targets.
Seven teams.
One strike window.
Synchronized, clean, and deadly.
Across Marco’s territory, units took position, stacking outside doors, lining rooftops, sealing exits before the storm hit. Boots shifted against concrete. Gloves tightened around rifles. Breaths slowed behind masks.
Waiting.
Counting down.
Over the comms, a voice cracked, "Alpha Team One, you're a go."
Then—
It started.
In the distance, the first breach cracked through the night, followed by another… and another… the sound echoing across the city like thunder rolling in from every direction at once.
The omega raids had begun.
Chaos followed.
Shouting. Gunfire. The distant roar of doors being blown, commands barked over comms, the entire district waking up to violence all at once.
But Knox and I weren’t there.
We were going after Lena.
Just the two of us.
Our vehicle cut through the edge of Marco’s territory, dark and fast, no lights, no backup, and no margin for error.
In the distance, the echoes of the other raids followed us, a reminder that soon most of Marco's omegas would be in Arca custody. All of Knox and my careful planning had been leading to this.
But suddenly revenge didn't matter to me.
Not really.
Not compared to getting her back.
My grip tightened around my weapon as we approached the industrial sector. The quiet felt wrong, untouched by the chaos ripping through the rest of Marco's territory.
“She’s here,” I said, more certain now than I had been before.
Knox didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
We both felt it.
And we were coming.