“When do we leave?” Hunter asked.
“In an hour. If you don’t want to go with, the Chief can call in other agents,” I said because Eva was right—if we were taking that many soldiers with, chances were that there was going to be a fight, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. As much as I wanted them there with me, I didn’t want to risk their lives.
“Don’t even joke about it. I’ve been on this case with you since the get-go,” Hunter said.
“Yeah, I’m definitely coming with,” Patricia said, patting the planter on her desk. “Together with this baby.” She smiled lovingly at her cactus.
“Well, Iwouldn’t,” said Eva, rolling her eyes, “but you’re going to make me feel guilty if I don’t, so sure. Let’s all go. Let’s all die—or better yet, get drugged,thendie.”
“Nobody’s going to die,” Hunter said.
“Fifty soldiers. They’ll take the fall if it comes to it.” Patricia grinned.
“Nobody’s going to die,” I repeated. “They won’t even see us coming. We’ll catch them by surprise, and it will be over in no time.” At least I hoped it would.
No—Iknewit would. The ODP was no joke. Its soldiers were trained, armed, deadly. If Dominic and I could best all those people on that ship in a fight and get away with our lives—thoughbarely—fifty soldiers were going to make sure that we definitely got away unscathed. All those weapons and all that magic would be hard to resist.
“I’m actually excited,” Patricia said, turning to her cactus. “I’m gonna do some protection spells on us before we get there.” And she closed her eyes.
“I’m gonna go take a leak,” said Hunter, standing up from his desk.
Eva shrugged. “I’m just gonna scroll through Instagram.” And she picked up her phone.
Smiling, I turned to my computer, even though my mind was already elsewhere. An hour was more than enough time to think about all the details I could remember from that night at the pier. More than enough time to make a plan. It was the perfect distraction, too.
And until the Chief came out of the office and took us down a level to get gears and weapons, I didn’t think about Dominic at all.
ChapterEighteen
The ODP workedwith the human police on the regular. I didn’t know the details, but the human authorities knew about the ODP’s existence—they just didn’t know what itreallywas. Word around the office was that the humans thought of us as an organization, like the FBI or the CIA, and they were required to cooperate whenever we needed it for big operations such as this. I don’t know how the high fae who owned the ODP managed to get all those permissions the Chief showed to the fifteen police officers who came at our call, but it worked. It took them another hour just to clear the entire dock—and the ones to its sides. The one on our right was where I had been three nights ago. It had been empty then, but now there werea lotof people there. It wasn’t the best strategy because whoever was on that ship was going to know something was happening, but it was the best we could do. Too much risk of casualties if we didn’t clear the place completely first, and the Chief didn’t want to wait a second longer. With good reason.
Eventually, the hour was over, and I’d gone through the plan with the Chief two times already. Except for making some changes in the numbers—I wanted five of those soldiers in the water around the ship, hiding in case we needed them, and he wanted ten—he agreed with all the places I’d marked with red on the map where the seven snipers would be, how the soldiers were going to be positioned around the ship, and even where the satyr agents would be waiting to make the rounds once it was over and wipe the memories of humans who might see something.
The excitement had my heart racing, and when we got the green light from the human police, I was already jumpy. I checked my bulletproof vest and the three guns on my person, tied my hair back tightly one more time, and I was ready.
Hunter and Patricia walked with me, and Eva was right behind. We moved fast and the fifty soldiers ahead of us were as silent as ghosts. They wore black uniforms, vests, more weapons than I could count strapped all over their bodies, and just to see them moving in formation like that made the fear in my gut ease. The last two ships on the dock were almost identical to the one I’d been in that night, only these were much smaller. We could actually see the decks much better. And it occurred to me, the closer we got to them, that this was actually my firstbigmission since the one in San Francisco. Even bigger than that—with a lot more soldiers and the Chief himself participating in it.
It waseverythingI’d left home for. This was it—what I’d dreamed of since I first learned about the ODP.
But the closer we got to the ships, the more the bad feeling in my chest expanded. The sky was already dark and the water was the same, though the half-moon reflected on the surface. We were silent, the sound of our footsteps barely there, but we could still beseenby anyone on those ships. By now, there should have been people on the deck, someone to talk to, someone who would try to convince us that they weren’t who we thought they were, and there was no need to search their ships because they weren’t doing anything wrong. That’s how it usually happened, according to other agents’ reports I’d read from the archive.
Yet nobody was on the deck. The large cargo ships looked completely empty. The narrow gangways connected them to the dock, though there were chains all over them. The soldiers already knew their positions. The snipers were behind us, hiding in the buildings that had a clear view of the ships, and the ten soldiers were already in the water, on the other side.
The soldiers ahead of us took their places in front of the ships. The dock was wide enough to fit all of them, and there was nothing but water on the other side, before the ships berthed to the next dock began. Hopefully, they were too far away to get damaged tonight.
I walked up to the Chief, standing there with his large ODP jacket to hide the holsters strapped to his torso, a piece of paper in his hand—the search warrant. His eye searched the two ships, the low lights and the containers placed one on top of the other. The dock on the right, completely empty now that they’d taken that ship away freely mocked me. If we’d just gotten that stupid warrant that night, right after I talked to the Chief, all of this would be over by now, but it was okay. We were here. By sunrise, there would be no more Crackdown circulating on the streets.
“They’re hiding,” I said, hands close to my hips where my guns were, searching the darkness behind the containers.
“Or they’re empty,” the Chief said.
“No, they’re not. That night, they were below deck.” And I was willing to bet that that’s where we’d find those people this time, too.
“Go on, then,” the Chief said, putting the warrant against my chest. “It’s your case. Go talk to them. See what they say.”
Shivers rushed down my back, but I grabbed the piece of paper anyway.Mycase. I’d made the plan and I was going to see it through.
“Be careful,” Patricia whispered from behind me.