"Who the hell are these guys?" Esther asked, her voice cracking with frustration as she threw the dead phone onto the sofa. "They completely shut down every single communication device in a five-mile radius! How is that even possible?" "Because they are pros according to Clara. They are the most dangerous assassins in the world.""Please!" Esther shouted back angrily toward the door. "I don't want to hear a single word from her! Henry, don't let her get into your head. They are all lying criminals. Our police colleagues will find us soon enough. But in the meantime, let's move this furniture and barricade the glass. There are way too many windows in this house."Back inside the cramped storage room, the three women were sitting on the hard floor, staring across the dark space at each other, their wrists tightly chained to the separate corners of the room.Maya looked over at the older woman, a mocking, twisted grin forming on her scarred face. "Valthera... look at you now," Maya purr

The lead woman stepped into the frame of the broken front door, looking at Clara. A dark, amused chuckle rattled in her throat. "Clara, Clara, Clara," the lady mocked, shaking her head. "The little nobody who suddenly gained traction in our world. But you're still just a nobody, dear. You are completely outmatched, and I couldn't care less about sacrificing him.""Do you have any idea how much of a bonus the Council will pay me if I bring back your head and Valthera’s head?"Without a single shred of hesitation, the leader raised her sidearm and fired a single bullet straight into the forehead of the mercenary Clara was holding hostage. The man went completely limp, dropping heavily to the floor."You're dead, Clara," the leader sneered, turning her eyes to the rest of her strike force. "First one to bring me her head gets a massive raise."The assassins took a step forward into the house. But before they could cross the threshold, the air in the room suddenly turned freezing cold. T

Valthera forced her weak, aching body up from beneath the heavy debris. Her limbs were shaking from the lingering effects of the seizure, but her mind was still sharp. Realizing they were all sitting ducks in the open room, she knew she had to take out the attackers. She slipped out through a gap in the shattered back wall and disappeared into the woods under the cover of darkness l.Using her combat skills, Valthera began to hunt the Syndicate archers in the dark. She blended into the shadows of the thick trees, moving behind the first shooter without making a single sound. With a swift, lethal snap of her hands, she took him down. She picked up his dropped blade, sliding through the bushes to find the next target, taking the assassins out one by one in the deep silence of the forest.Upstairs in the ruined house, the wide front entrance was completely gone, leaving nothing but a jagged hole opening into the night.Crunch. Crunch.Heavy footsteps broke the silence, stepping over t

Henry and Clara rushed down the stairs into the basement storage room.It was completely silent. Henry sprinted forward, his boots skidding violently in a dark, widening puddle of fresh red blood. He dropped heavily to his knees right beside Esther’s motionless body.Henry lifted Esther’s head, his large hands trembling wildly as he tried to stanch the deep, horrific wound in her throat with the clean cloths he had gathered earlier. Her eyes were wide open, staring blankly up at the concrete ceiling, she was dead. Henry let out a cry of agony, pressing his forehead against her cold shoulder as tears spilled down his face.Clara stood right behind him, her eyes darting across the room. She looked down at the empty, dusty floorboard in the corner where she had hidden the drive. The dirt was completely disturbed. The key to the Mine was gone. Maya had taken it.Clara was totally shocked. "Shit! Shit, shit!" she muttered under her breath, a cold wave of dread washing over her. "She must

The thick paper of the painting tore open, trapping the guard's arms and wrapping around his upper body. Blinded and tangled, the assassin stumbled. Clara didn't waste a second; she wound up and delivered a brutal punch straight to his jaw. The punch knocked him out cold, and he dropped to the floor.Across the room, Valthera was moving like a whirlwind. She had picked up a broken piece of a ceramic blade from the floor. She used the sharp edge to rapidly dispatch the remaining guards, dodging their strikes effortlessly. In the middle of the violence, several priceless historical paintings were torn to shreds and stained with blood. Breathing heavily, Valthera and Clara kicked open the heavy door to the third car. They braced themselves, lifting their weapons and expecting to face another massive army of men.Instead, they were met with absolute silence.The two women stepped inside, looking around in confusion. The cargo hold was empty. There were no gold bricks, no paintings, an