Being angry wouldn’t change that, however. All I could do was stand there and wait, knowing that no matter how much trouble Hera and her little consorts could cause, they wouldn’t escape. I’d have them soon enough, and she would discover the ruthless side of me that had managed to run Larkwood for so many years.
“You’re sure they’ll come here?” a guard asked.
I nodded. “They were overconfident. My assistant already told me about Knox taking the key to the roof. They set up a fake alarm for the entry to draw guards there and leave the roof undefended.”
“How were they planning on getting down from here?” the guard asked.
“They likely planned to scale down the sides. A number of ropes disappeared from a storage room a few days ago. Not that it matters much, now.”
Because I stopped them. Because I outsmarted them.
Hera had been my surprise attack for a while now, the one who so many of my plans hinged on. I might have underestimated how powerful she could become, but if nothing else, this showed me how right I’d been to take an interest in her.No great leaps forwardoccurred without sacrifice, and those who died tonight were that sacrifice.
We would capture her again, send her back to the North Tower, and allow Corrander One to tear her mind apart. When she became an obedient little toy, she would prove immeasurably useful. Between what she could do with her power and what she could buy me with her connections and name, there was no end to the ways I could use her.
The rest of them?
Perhaps I wouldn’t kill them. Maybe I would have Corrander One change them as well, then offer them as presents to Hera. If she became as important as I suspected she would, giving her her own little harem would prove no hardship to me. It was a cheap payoff that might give me more power, more leverage.
I glanced at my watch. With communications still down, updates about Larkwood’s state were all but nonexistent. I’d sent word for reinforcements from outside Larkwood through a special line in my office that ran off its own battery backup. They would arrive in the next hour or two to clean up the mess, to help secure the shades, to regain order.
We could sweep most of this under the rug and keep the truth of it from the public.
Not all of it, though. I would never let a good crisis go to waste. I could use the story of a small riot to garner an increase in security funds. People wanted to feel safe, and they’d happily pay anyone willing to give them that illusion.
I shook my head, because that was a concern for tomorrow. For tonight, the number one task was to regain custody of Hera. Little else mattered. I’d happilyburn half of Larkwood down—guards and shades included—just to get her back.
Still, I would have expected them to appear by now. The guards stood on the roof, off to the side enough that Hera and the others appeared, they wouldn’t see any of us. Countless rifles were trained on the entry, tranqs at the ready.
This was it.
I’d get her back, and she’d realize she had no chance, that she couldn’t hope to stand against Larkwood or me.
My phone made a noise, making me pull it out and frown. With the communications down, I hadn’t expected to receive anything to my cell.
I froze when I read the notification.
Access to Warden panic room.
Which meant…
They’d just tricked us all.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hera
I held my breath as the door to the panic room in the Warden’s office slid open after I entered the code I’d seen in her memories. I’d wanted so badly to feel confident in our plan, but I hadn’t truly believed this room existed until I saw it with my own eyes.
So many things had gone wrong already, that I hadn’t accepted this could have been true. I’d expected to get all the way here only to find I’d been as foolish as Deacon and Kit liked to say I was. Instead, the door sat open like a sign from the heavens to keep going.
With the Warden’s forces no doubt split between the entrance and the roof, we’d gotten a clear shot into the staff floor and her office. It seemed letting myself examine all those memories I’d seen from her had paid off.
“Let’s go,” Knox said and tugged me forward, his arm around me to help me. I’d tried to walk on my own,but I’d stumbled time and time again before Knox had stepped in to help.
Brax went in first, his body still in its berserker form. He peered around, as if checking for danger, then huffed softly. It was funny that I already felt as though I understood him better and could read him in this form.
Maybe that skill came from my inability to speak, allowing me to read body language instead.