Rain fell in heavy sheets, drenching the city in a curtain of silver and shadow.
Jayden adjusted his black gloves, feeling the tension roll down his spine like an electric current.
Below them, Victor Legrand's private club gleamed like a jewel — arrogant, gaudy, untouchable.
Until tonight.
Aria crouched beside him, checking the zipline. Her brown hair was plastered to her forehead, but her grin was pure mischief.
> "You sure you don't want a raincoat, boss?
Looking a little broody."
Jayden snorted, flashing her a quick smile.
> "And ruin the aesthetic?"
Sophie's voice crackled through the earpiece.
> "Focus, Romeo and Juliet.
Victor's about to arrive."
Elias added, deadpan:
> "Remember: Plan A is in, out, no fireworks."
> "And Plan B?" Aria asked.
> "Run like hell."
> "Comforting," Jayden muttered.
---
Victor Legrand's convoy pulled up with a roar — blacked-out SUVs, bodyguards in suits with dead eyes.
Victor himself stepped out last, a heavyset man with slicked-back hair and a gold cane he didn't need but loved to show off.
> "Showtime," Jayden whispered.
The team moved like shadows.
Jayden and Aria slid down the zipline, landing on a maintenance platform halfway up the club's facade.
Sophie jammed the security cameras with a clever virus that made the feeds loop harmlessly.
Elias waited nearby in a getaway car, engine rumbling low like a beast eager to run.
It was perfect.
Too perfect.
Jayden's instincts screamed, but there was no time.
They moved.
---
The club was all glass and marble, glittering like the inside of a diamond.
Victor moved through the lobby with a careless swagger, flanked by guards.
Jayden and Aria ghosted behind them, sticking to the shadows.
> "Ready the spike," Jayden whispered.
Aria pulled a tiny device from her belt — a miniature EMP charge — and tossed it into the security hub.
The lights flickered.
The cameras died.
The guards stiffened, confused.
Jayden acted.
He slid forward, grabbing the nearest guard in a chokehold, dropping him silently.
Aria took out the second with a brutal jab to the throat.
Slick.
Silent.
Efficient.
Victor rounded on them, eyes widening.
> "Who the hell—?"
Jayden didn't give him a chance to finish.
He stepped out of the shadows, mask pulled down, voice cold.
> "Your past caught up, Victor."
Victor sneered.
> "You're just kids."
> "Kids with a cause," Aria said sweetly, cracking her knuckles.
Victor's bravado faltered.
Because behind Jayden's calm eyes, there was no mercy.
---
Just as Jayden reached for the cuffs to take Victor in, a door exploded open.
Gunfire roared.
Jayden yanked Aria down behind a marble pillar as bullets chipped the stone to dust.
From the smoke, masked mercenaries poured in — not Victor's men.
Someone else.
> "Ambush!" Sophie screamed through the earpiece.
"They knew!"
Jayden's heart hammered.
How?
They were careful.
They were ghosted.
They had planned for weeks.
Betrayal?
Or bad luck?
No time to wonder.
Jayden fired back, Aria covering his flank.
Victor used the chaos to run.
> "Not today, you slippery bastard," Aria snarled, chasing after him.
Jayden followed, ducking gunfire, his mind racing.
This wasn't just a simple grab anymore.
This was war.
---
Victor shoved through the club's back exit, bolting into the alley.
Rain turned the cobblestones slick and treacherous.
Jayden skidded after him, breathing hard.
Behind him, Aria fought off one of the mercenaries with a vicious kick.
Elias roared up in the car, skidding to a halt.
> "Get in!"
Jayden didn't think.
He tackled Victor mid-sprint, both of them crashing into a pile of trash bins.
Victor punched wildly, but Jayden was fueled by rage and adrenaline.
Two hits later, Victor lay gasping, face in the mud.
Jayden hauled him up, shoving him into the car.
Aria dove in after them, slamming the door.
> "Go, go, go!" she screamed.
Elias floored it.
The car fishtailed, bullets sparking against the back bumper.
They tore into the night, leaving chaos behind.
---
In a deserted underground parking garage, they finally stopped.
Victor moaned in the backseat, bleeding from a split lip.
Jayden yanked him out roughly, shoving him against a pillar.
> "Who tipped them off?" Jayden demanded.
Victor laughed, low and ugly.
> "You really think you're the only rats scurrying around this city?"
Jayden slammed his fist into the pillar inches from Victor's head.
Victor flinched.
> "Talk."
Victor wiped blood from his mouth.
> "You're already dead, kid.
The Syndicate knows your names.
Your faces.
Your families."
Jayden's stomach dropped.
Family.
His friends.
Their loved ones.
All at risk.
Because of him.
Victor sneered.
> "You think you're some kind of hero?
You're just another sacrifice."
Jayden stepped back, fists trembling.
Aria touched his arm gently.
> "We're not them, Jayden.
We're better."
Jayden looked at Victor — pathetic, broken, hateful — and saw exactly what he never wanted to become.
He turned away.
> "Take him to the police," he said quietly.
"Make it anonymous."
Sophie's voice buzzed through the earpiece.
> "Already working on it."
Jayden walked away without looking back.
Some victories tasted like ash.
---
Back at headquarters, soaked and battered, the team regrouped.
Elias threw himself onto the couch with a groan.
Sophie peeled off her wet jacket, glaring at everyone like a soggy cat.
Aria plopped beside Jayden, bumping her shoulder against his.
> "Well," she said,
"that was a disaster."
Jayden laughed, exhausted but real.
> "And yet... we're still alive."
Aria grinned.
> "Barely."
Sophie tossed a blanket over them both.
> "Huddle up, losers.
No one's allowed to die of hypothermia."
Jayden let the warmth sink into him.
Let the laughter bubble up.
Let the exhaustion finally catch him in its arms.
Tomorrow would be worse.
Tomorrow they would face retaliation.
But tonight, for just a heartbeat, they were safe.
Together.
Alive.
Still fighting.
---
Far across the city, in a room lined with monitors and maps, a woman watched the footage of the failed ambush.
She sipped her tea calmly.
> "Interesting," she murmured.
Behind her, masked figures waited silently.
> "Jayden," she said thoughtfully.
"You move faster than I expected."
She smiled.
Not kindly.
Not warmly.
Like a wolf baring its teeth.
> "Let's see how long you can keep running."
The monitors flickered, showing faces: Jayden. Aria. Sophie. Elias.
Targets.
---