The Girl Who Dared to Endure (The Girl Who Dared #6)

Still, it didn’t matter. In a few hours, she would be attending the council session, and would be bringing Tony to testify. Soon, he would be reunited with the others—all except for Kurt and Alice. But hopefully, we would find them too.

I returned my view to the screen and paused when it suddenly dawned on me that Lacey had lied to me a very long time ago, when we had first met. “There was no specialized bacterium, was there?” I asked as she slipped a pad into Strum’s hands and clicked it on to reveal his own department. “Tony figured out our hiding place under the Menagerie, didn’t he? He tracked us like he’s tracking the legacies now.”

Lacey gave me a smug look. “You never asked yourself how the hell we got hold of a specialized bacterium?” she asked.

I considered it for a second, trying to remember why I hadn’t questioned it too hard, and found it all coming back to me. “I just assumed you stole it or something. It made sense, especially if you had spies in other departments. Why not the Medica as well?”

Lacey gave me a thoughtful look. “That is a good conclusion, which was the point. I didn’t want anyone knowing about Tony. But we can talk about the old days once they become just that—the old days. For now, let’s focus on what we’re doing. My department has already started cleaning out the spies.”

“Mine as well,” Strum said, cracking his neck. “I need to be joining them, but I wanted to wish you both luck.”

He was wishing us luck because I was going after Salvatore, while Lacey was going after Dreyfuss. I wasn’t happy about Lacey going after Dreyfuss without me or Strum there to make sure she remained in control, but she’d been adamant that he was hers, because she knew how to get in and out of the Farming Department undetected. I didn’t like it, but the fact of the matter was that we had to grab as many of their leaders as we could, save for Plancett and Sadie. And that meant grabbing Dreyfuss early, because any one of the uncollected spies might try to contact him if they noticed something was up before we could capture them.

Controlling the leaders meant we could monitor those who tried to contact them and scoop them up before they could reach out to anyone else. And I was already in charge of getting Salvatore.

Letting Lacey go after Dreyfuss had really been my only option.

“Thanks,” I said, tucking the pad under my arm. “You as well. Just remember, we need the casualties to be zero—and that goes double for Dreyfuss. We need him taken alive, or our story is going to look less believable to Scipio and Sage. They are going to need someone to punish, and he’s the other half of this. He’s been fathering the undocs and running the undoc side of things. It’ll scream conspiracy if he just up and dies.”

Lacey tsked under her breath. “He doesn’t deserve to live,” she snapped irately.

“Lacey,” Strum said, before I could even utter a syllable in response to her vehement and alarming statement. “We agreed on this plan together, and this is what it will take to see it through. Do not jeopardize everything we have managed to accomplish here with your petty need for revenge.”

I kept my teeth clenched shut under his wise and calming words, watching Lacey closely. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I would lead her team in after Dreyfuss, when she sighed, the anger draining out of her in an instant.

“You’re right, of course,” she said tiredly, rubbing a hand over her forehead. “I’m sorry. I’m just amped up.”

I knew the apology wasn’t for me, and I could tell that Strum accepted it readily, but I wasn’t as convinced. “Lacey, if you think for a moment you are emotionally compromised in this, you need to take a step back. Let Strum go in your place, or even me.”

“I’m fine,” she said firmly, some of the anger returning. “I will take Dreyfuss alive. I’m not saying he’s not going to be a little banged up, but he will be whole and healthy, okay? Now, can we get moving? We are burning some precious time here. The council meeting is happening soon, and we need to get this done.”

I kept my mouth shut and didn’t argue. I had to trust that Lacey meant what she said and would do what she promised; I had people waiting on the data on the pad, and a raid against Salvatore to carry out.

And only two hours before the council meeting started.



Thirty minutes later, Dylan and I were standing on either side of Salvatore Zale’s door, not even a stone’s throw from my own father’s quarters, and I was trying to distract myself from yet another of the endless waits that seemed to have become my life over the last few hours. She had a tensor placed over the door, the round rubber suction cup holding a very finely tuned receiver that could hear everything happening in the room beyond. It was unnecessary; the pad in my hand showed me the two figures of Zale and his wife sleeping in their bed. Of course, the thermal signature didn’t translate to sound, so I relied on her to tell me if they were awake and talking, and if so, what they were talking about.

“Anything?” I asked her.

“Two sets of breathing. Deep and even,” she reported, before giving me a look and adding, “Same as before. Same as on your screen.”

I ignored her jab, knowing that I was probably driving her crazy at this point, and followed my question with another one directed to a different person. Command, how long before everyone is in position? Dylan’s lips twitched, and I could tell she was fighting back a smile.

I knew I had asked the question before—and more than twice—but, Scipio help me, I wanted to move. To get in there and grab Salvatore.

Just relax for a minute, Quess groused in my ear. I’m waiting on final confirmation that Lacey’s and Strum’s people are in position, and then I will give the go ahead. I do have an update on the prisoners we collected in Water Treatment. Out of the fifty-five we collected, only thirteen had nets, and only two of those were legacy nets. They’re all resting comfortably in the cells above the expulsion chambers, with Zoe and Eric keeping an eye on them. Grey is on his way back to your quarters to start downloading the evidence.

‘Evidence’ was code for ‘Jasper and Rose’—the real evidence would be transmitted to the council’s server after the session began. Thanks for the update, Quess.

No problem. Now will you stay off the line and let me do my work?

I suppressed another sigh, attempting to turn it into a fortifying exhalation, and once again tried to summon up a great calm. Hours of preparation would mean nothing once he gave the order to breach the door. No plan ever survived first contact. With everything hinging on us getting the job done in a matter of seconds—before Salvatore and his wife could wake up, or, if they were awake, before they could call anyone still around for help—one slight misstep from any of us could give our enemies the opportunity they needed to slip through our fingers.

If they got a message out before we could stop them, we were sunk. If they somehow managed to escape us and warn the others, then the rest of them would disappear before we could grab them. But I couldn’t do anything about any of the other spies being picked up at the moment. I could only focus on my target.

I flexed my hands into fists and then relaxed them, trying to find a way to get rid of this pent-up anxiety. Beside me, Dylan sighed.

“You know,” she said conversationally, keeping her voice low enough that it wouldn’t carry through the door. “You aren’t making it easy to remain calm over here.”

“Sorry,” I said, relaxing my hands enough to wipe them on my uniform and trying to force myself into something resembling calm.

“It’s okay. I don’t like this either. I never thought in a million years I would have to arrest Salvatore Zale. Yet here we are, in a joint operation with the Cogs and the Divers, about to grab another thirty-three people who had subversive intentions toward the Tower. It’s… weird.”