Page 152 of Fallen Empire

“You see the others?” Reaper said, and we looked back. “Looks like someone already took a few out.” But we didn’t have time to figure out who that someone might be right now.

The images from the stairwell had already entered the room, leaving us with a disadvantage.

“What’s our entry route?” I asked into the comm, adrenaline spiking through every vein. My grip tightened on the rifle, pulse syncing with the steady beat of boots on concrete.

We needed to move. Fast. The separation gave us just enough time to get the upper hand.

“Side entry,” Nic’s voice came through the comm. “You’re already in a good position to take it. That construction access with the scaffold and plywood. Once you’re inside, comm’s useless. I won’t be able to help anymore.”

That was our window.

“Keep an eye on us from the outside, Nic.” Jaxson said, his voice low but steady.

We started to move, closing the distance toward the side entry, boots whispering over concrete.

“Wait,” Reaper said, his tone sharp. “What are they doing?”

We followed his line of sight to the thermal display. From this angle, the ground floor was clear. Every heat signature sharp against the cooler background.

One figure was being dragged across the floor.

No… it was beingpulledoff another. Shoving a body aside until a single heat signature remained. Human life was nothing in their world, discarded as easily as moving furniture.

The one that had been holding the gun was now hauling a body upright. My stomach went tight when I realized what I was looking at. We all continued to watch as the smaller image was pushed into a chair, their arms pulled back and being bound behind them.

A low growl rumbled out of me before I even knew it was there.

“Those are our girls,” Jaxson’s voice cut through my comm, low and lethal.

We moved as one, no hesitation.

Reaper’s gaze shifted upward through his scope. “Got a body down on the second floor.”

I looked up, catching the faint, unmoving heat signature.

“Has to be Layla,” Jaxson said. “He wouldn’t take out the two most important pieces.”

I scanned again, counting. Ten heat signatures still upstairs. Not coming down… not yet. They paced in tight loops, restless and waiting.

We moved into position. Reaper took point at the top corner, angled into the hall, his rifle steady, suppressor attached. Any shot from him would be nothing more than a whisper, and whoever was upstairs would have no clue what was happening below until it was far too late.

I held at the corner wall just before the hallway opened up, keeping my sights locked ahead. Jaxson was close behind me, ready to move the second I did.

The walls inside were unfinished. The one holding our women had two exterior concrete walls, but from here we could see the images clearly through peeling paint and bare sheetrock.A few rooms above were nothing more than four concrete slabs, some of them not giving way to anything through our thermal glasses.

“Fuck.” Reaper’s voice cut in, sharp enough to drag my focus back to the ground floor.

That’s when I saw it. An arm raised high, then swinging down like it was meant to break bone.

The scream that followed sliced through me, sharp and cracked, as if it was tearing itself free from her chest.

Every muscle in me locked. I knew that sound. I’d know it anywhere.

“Mills.” Her name left me like a growl, low and primal.

My legs were already moving before I realized it. I pushed forward, ready to storm that room and end whoever touched her.

A hand clamped hard on the back of my vest. Jaxson’s grip was iron, yanking me back so hard my teeth snapped together.