Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

Twenty-Two

Second-floor hallway, Shadow Lawn Mansion, New Jersey. February 6, 2021, 8:31 p.m.

The hallway was quiet when we entered it, though distantly one floor below us I could make out the indistinct chatter of the gala's guests. I didn't have time to process that side of our mission, not now when things had truly been thrown into chaos.

Cedric bleeding out, possibly dying in the room behind me.

Tasha trying to kill me.

Lia the ally I had so desperately needed.

Even if there were still some things I didn't know about what happened there. All that mattered now was that she was with me, standing tall and ready for whatever we were about to face.

My mind was whirling, trying to figure out our course of action. Tasha had completely disappeared out of sight. The minutes aiding Cedric had given her the time to make a getaway. No doubt informing her security guys what was about to go down.

Things were about to go down very quickly. I just hoped we came out on the winning side of it.

"Any idea where she would have gone?" I asked Lia.

"To find Izzy," Lia said immediately. She didn't look at me, instead peering over the railing to the floor below. "Clear."

"That seem odd to you? Don't you think she would have raised the alarm by now?"

Lia's eyes flicked to mine. There were traces of guilt there but it was overshadowed by fierce determination and rage. "Not if they have an ulterior motive.

"What do you mean?"

"Tasha didn't invite me into many of her conversations with Izzy but this past week she wanted to make sure that we were on the same page about it everything," Lia hissed, quiet and quick. The words flew from her lips. We didn't have time to waste and understanding what Tasha's next step could be was critical.

"Their plan was to grab you when you were infiltrating alone to Max. They knew it was their best chance since you would be isolated and I knew that they were hoping to use Max to coerce you into cooperating with them, even though they were promising me that nothing bad would come to him.

"Tasha was confident that you weren't onto her and didn't account for the extra players you brought to the field. Smart work on that, by the way," she added. "No one expected you to go dead air while you were getting Max out. She thought you would be sending regular updates about your position and when you needed the extraction team."

"Cedric and I decided to take care of that one for ourselves with a little help from Carmichael," I said. "He's the one who took Max to the hospital."

"I wondered what you had him doing. Where was he hiding out? We didn't see him while working the perimeter."

"The roof."

Lia cracked a quick smile but it faded as she said, "The one thing I thought was interesting about the conversations I took part in with Tasha and Lia were that they never talked about stopping this op from occurring."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They only cared about getting to you. Neither of them seemed interested in preventing the rest of their Scorpion pals from getting arrested and brought to justice. You were the only target."

The wheels in my brain started spinning, piecing together what I knew of Tasha and Izzy – separately and together.

What I knew about Izzy was that she liked to feel powerful – as if she were ahead in the game. It was why she'd never let anyone take me out on her behalf, even when she had the opportunity. She wanted to be the one to pull the trigger, to feel that rush of power.