Chapter 75 NADIA

Chapter 75 NADIA
Going into the building was my idea. I knew it before I said it out loud, and I knew exactly how Zane was going to react before I opened my mouth.

I laid it out clearly anyway. I knew the entry points. I knew the security patterns Marcus used. I knew the timing he always worked with because I'd been trained using the same manual he wrote. Nobody in that room had that knowledge except me.

Zane said no.

I gave him more details. He said no again, this time with specific reasons—the risk was too high, we didn't know how many people were inside, and if something went wrong I'd be in a building two blocks from the arena with no backup within reach.

"I can be in and out in under five minutes," I said. "I've done faster in worse conditions."

"I'm not questioning your ability," he said. "I'm questioning the risk."

"The risk of not going is worse. We don't know what's in there. If we don’t, we’ll just be making decisions without the full picture."

He said no a third time.

Then Dex said, "She's right, and you know she is. The only reason you keep saying no is because you don't want her walking into danger, which I get. But we need intel and she's the best option we've got."

Zane looked at Dex for a long moment. Then he looked at me. His expression didn't change, but something behind it shifted.

Then we compromised. I'd go in. Dex would cover the outside. Zane would wait two blocks away in a car where I could reach him in sixty seconds if things went wrong.

I went in at 2 AM.

The basement entrance was exactly where I'd told them it would be. Marcus had been using the same access habits since before I was old enough to train with him. Knowing that was an advantage. I was inside in under four minutes.

What I found in the basement stopped me for a full ten seconds. And when it came to me, ten seconds was a long time.

It wasn't a temporary setup. It was a real operations center—organized, equipped, and clearly in active use. Equipment tables lined one wall. There were communication setups, and printed maps of the city spread out, with pack-owned locations marked in red ink. I also saw a whiteboard had schedules written on it in black marker.

But the thing that stopped me was the section of wall to the left.

There were seven pictures in a row. Each one had a name printed below it and a location. Each face was someone like me. One of the eight people.

As I stood there looking at those pictures, I felt very cold and very focused at the same time.

I got my phone out and started taking pictures. I worked fast, staying quiet and not letting myself think about anything except documenting everything in the room before I ran out of time, including the maps, schedules, the communication setup, and the wall of names.

I was nearly done when I heard voices from the floor above me. Two men, but neither of them was Marcus. I knew his voice well enough to be certain of that. I moved to the exit and was back out of the building in three minutes and forty seconds.

When I got to the car, Zane was out of the driver's seat before I'd completely stopped walking. He looked at my face and read it like he always did.

"What did you find?" he asked.

I handed him my phone. He slowly went through the pictures one by one. When he got to the wall of names and faces he stopped.

"Those are the other seven," I said. "Marcus has them deployed. Every single one of them is in a werewolf pack right now. Each one of them are at different stages of their respective missions." I reached over and zoomed in on two of the pictures. "And these two are in packs that are allied with yours."

Zane's jaw tightened.

"He's not just coming after the Fangs," I said. "He's planned a coordinated collapse involving multiple packs and multiple targets, hitting them all at the same time." I looked at him. "If we only stop what's happening here, it means nothing. The rest of it will still go through."

He didn't say anything for a moment. Dex had come around to stand beside him, and neither of them spoke.

Then Zane said, "Call Carter."

I already had my phone in my hand, so I pulled up the number and dialed.

It was disconnected.

A notification appeared on Dex's phone at the same moment. He looked down at the screen and his expression changed instantly.

"Elena's secure account just went dark," he said.

Nobody moved for a moment.