Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Five

Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Five
Evelyn's POV
The Restoration facility looked different at dawn. Less intimidating. More vulnerable. Their damaged sections from our first raid were still being repaired.
"Security's lighter than expected," Beck observed through binoculars. "Shift change happened ten minutes ago. New guards are still getting oriented."
"Perfect timing." Dante checked his weapon. "Victoria, how long do you need on their servers?"
"Fifteen minutes minimum. Twenty to be sure."
"You'll have it. Beck, Grey, secure the server room. Evelyn and I will run interference. Marcus, monitor their communications. Warn us if reinforcements mobilize."
We moved in three vehicles. Ordinary contractor vans. Nothing to draw attention. We'd learned from last time.
The service entrance was less guarded now. They'd focused their security on the main entrances, expecting another frontal assault.
We weren't that predictable.
Beck disabled two guards with quick, quiet efficiency. Dart guns loaded with sedatives. They'd wake up hours from now with nothing but headaches.
Inside, we split up. Beck and Grey heading for the server room. Dante, Victoria, and I taking a parallel route to intercept any response.
"This is too easy," I whispered to Dante.
"Don't jinx it."
But I was right. The alarms started wailing before we reached the second floor.
"They knew we were coming," Victoria said. "This is a trap."
"Then we spring it fast and get out." Dante was already moving. "Beck, status?"
"Server room's ahead. Heavy security. Eight guards."
"Handle them. We're coming to you."
We ran through corridors that suddenly filled with armed operatives. They'd been waiting in side rooms, ready to deploy the moment we entered.
I fired as we ran. Dropped two. Dante got three more. Victoria shielded us from return fire with bursts of her power.
"I can't maintain this!" she gasped. "Too many targets!"
"Don't have to. Just get us to Beck."
We burst through a door into a pitched firefight. Beck and Grey were pinned down, unable to advance to the server room.
"Grenades!" Dante threw three simultaneously. The explosions gave us the opening we needed.
Beck and Grey pushed forward. Dante and I covered them. Victoria stumbled to the server room door.
"Get it open!" I shouted.
She placed her hands on the lock. Her power flared, fighting the electronic security. It was taking too long.
"Evelyn, behind you!" Dante's warning came too late.
Pain exploded in my shoulder. I'd been shot. The bullet punched through flesh and muscle, spinning me around.
I hit the ground hard.
"Evelyn!" Dante was beside me instantly, returning fire. "How bad?"
"Through and through. I'm okay." I wasn't. It hurt like hell. But I could still function.
Victoria got the door open. "I'm in! Cover me!"
Beck and Grey formed a wall between her and the advancing operatives. Dante pulled me behind cover, checking my wound.
"You're not okay."
"I'm functional. That's what matters." I forced myself up. "How many more?"
"Too many." He was reloading. "We need Victoria to work faster."
In the server room, Victoria's hands flew over keyboards. Downloading. Copying. Stealing every piece of evidence the Restoration had hidden.
"Thirty seconds!" she called.
An explosion rocked the hallway. Someone had brought bigger weapons.
"We're not going to have thirty seconds!" Beck shouted.
Grey was bleeding from a head wound. Beck had taken a hit to the leg. We were getting cut down.
"Dante," I said quietly. "You need to get Victoria out."
"Not without you."
"I'll hold them off. Buy time."
"Absolutely not."
"It's not up for debate." I grabbed his face. Made him look at me. "Victoria has the evidence. She's the priority. Get her out."
"Evelyn—"
"Trust me. I'll be right behind you."
It was a lie. We both knew it. But he let me believe he believed it.
"Victoria!" he shouted. "We're leaving! Now!"
"Not done!"
"You're done enough! Move!"
She grabbed a hard drive and ran. Dante pulled her toward an emergency exit. Beck and Grey followed, covering their retreat.
I stayed behind. Weapon up. Ready.
The Restoration came in force. Thirty operatives. Maybe more. They expected easy pickings.
I made them work for every inch.
Fired until my magazine emptied. Reloaded. Fired again. Used my injured shoulder as motivation instead of weakness.
When I ran out of ammunition, I used their weapons. Grabbed a rifle from a fallen operative. Kept fighting.
"Evelyn Stryker." A woman's voice. Calm. Professional. The same officer from before. "You're surrounded. There's no escape."
"Don't need escape. Just need time."
"Time for what?"
I smiled through the pain. "For them to get away. For Victoria to reach safety. For this evidence to destroy you."
She stepped into view. "You think dying here makes you a hero?"
"I think protecting people I love makes me human. Something your organization forgot how to be."
She studied me. "We could have been allies. Timeline manipulators and the Restoration. Working together to protect reality."
"By kidnapping and experimenting on innocent people? That's not protection. That's tyranny."
"It's necessity."
"No. It's choice. And you chose wrong."
She raised her weapon.
I closed my eyes. Thought of Dante. Of our children. Of the life I'd fought so hard to build and protect.
At least I'd bought them time. At least Victoria had the evidence.
At least I'd mattered.
The shot never came.
Instead, I heard an explosion. Then screaming. Then Dante's voice, furious and terrified.
"I said we do this together!"
I opened my eyes. Dante was there, weapon smoking, the Restoration officer on the ground. Beck and Grey behind him, holding off the operatives.
"You came back."
"Of course I came back. Did you really think I'd leave you?" He pulled me up. "Victoria's safe. In the van. Ready to leave. Now we all leave. Together."
"Always together," I whispered.
He half-carried me through the chaos. Beck and Grey covering our escape with everything they had.
We burst out into daylight. The vans were running. Marcus at the wheel of one, a stranger driving the other.
"Go!" Dante shoved me in. "Go now!"
The vans peeled out as bullets shattered the back windows. Someone was screaming. Maybe me.
"How bad is she?" Victoria asked, moving to my side.
"Shoulder wound. Through and through." Dante was applying pressure. "She'll live."
"You sound disappointed," I tried to joke.
"I'm furious with you. Staying behind like that. Making me choose between saving you and completing the mission."
"You completed the mission. And saved me. Win-win."
"Don't ever do that again."
"Can't promise that."
He kissed me. Hard. Desperate. Claiming.
"I love you," he said against my lips. "And I hate you for making me so scared."
"I love you too."
We made it to the safe house. Medical team waiting. They got me stabilized, patched up, pumped full of painkillers.
Victoria had the hard drive. Terabytes of data. Every crime the Restoration had committed. Every victim. Every experiment.
"It's enough," Marcus said, reviewing the files. "More than enough. This destroys them completely."
"Then release it," I said through the haze of pain medication. "End this."
"Already compiling," Marcus assured me. "By tonight, every news outlet in the world will have this evidence. The Restoration's finished."
I let myself relax. We'd done it. Actually done it.
Dante never left my side. Even when I was unconscious from medication, he was there. Holding my hand. Keeping watch.
Protecting me like he always did.
Like he always would.