Nora Vance had been taken in by her father’s comrade, Arthur Verrill, ever since she was six. Her father had died during an operation targeting a transnational organ-trafficking ring. Two months after that, her mother was murdered in retaliation by one of the criminals who’d slipped through the net.
She still remembered that after her mother died, when Arthur was talking to Uncle Blake about adopting her, he had said, "Blake, you and I were both Elliot Vance’s close friends. You know my family situation. I’ve only got one daughter, and my wife was also best friends with Xia An. Back then, it was my wife who introduced them and got them together. Two months ago, Elliot died saving me, and my wife’s been torn up with guilt ever since. Now Xia An is gone too. My wife cries every single day. You know how much she already adored Wuwu. If I adopt her, my wife will definitely cherish her with all her heart. And I’ll treat her like my own daughter, no question. My girl used to keep yelling that she wanted to bring Wuwu home and raise her herself. So don’t fight me on this. I know you care about Wuwu too, but your family situation is more complicated. Wuwu’s in no state to handle any more chaos right now."
"Captain, what are you thinking about? Why aren’t you writing?"
Declan Shaw’s voice snapped Nora back to the present. She blinked, then looked up. "You guys finished already?"
Rhys Carver shrugged, casual as ever. "We practically know this stuff by heart. What’s up with you today? Zoning out like that. Missing home?"
Yeah. They were writing their wills, the standard pre-mission routine. Nora nodded lightly. "Mm. A little."
As soon as she said it, she lowered her head and started writing fast. Just like Rhys said, she could recite it from memory. In under two minutes, she was done.
Nolan Prescott leaned against the table and said, "Captain, we’ve known you for over four years now, right? You’ve never taken a break. If you miss home, then after this mission, take some leave and go back. Political Commissar Xia would definitely be happy. He’s always nagging you to rest and loosen up a little."
Nora lowered her eyes. Four years? It was way more than that. She hadn’t gone home since she was fifteen, when she got into military academy early because of her grades. It had been more than seven years now.
She folded the will neatly and handed it to the designated keeper, then gave a small nod. "Yeah. I should go back. After this mission, I’ll take leave and go home."
Maybe it was because this mission also involved taking down organ traffickers. Maybe that was why old wounds had suddenly been stirred up again, dragging her back to memories of her parents. She pressed all that mess down, shoved it to the back of her mind, and her expression cooled.
"Move."
"Yes."
According to the informant, tonight was the trafficking group’s annual briefing. Big bosses, small bosses, all of them would be gathering at a resort called Haojin, one of the group’s properties. Nora’s eleven-person team was responsible for taking down the three top figures staying in the private villa at the very back of the villa complex.
To make this operation happen, the higher-ups had booked two luxury villas at Haojin in advance under the excuse of an "off-site team-building event" for a security company. Quite a few special forces soldiers and several policewomen had checked in ahead of time. Luckily, it wasn’t peak travel season, and the villas here were insanely expensive, so aside from their people, only one private villa was actually occupied.
The eleven of them drove in with two vehicles and went straight into the villa garage. From there, they took the elevator up and linked up with Troy Fielding and the others.
"Captain." Troy raised his hand in salute.
Nora returned it, then turned her gaze toward the three target villas. Her tone was low and crisp. "According to the informant, they’ve split up across three villas. The closest one to us houses lower-level members, thirteen in total. That group won’t have much ammo. Troy, you take people and handle them."
Her finger shifted toward the second villa.
"The second villa has six mid-to-upper-level members. Each of them has at least four bodyguards with them. Bryce Wakeham, you take Derek Sutton, Caleb Stanton, Ethan Mercer, Rowan Kingsley, and pick another five to support you. These six are all vicious, desperate men. No soft plays."
Then she looked toward the innermost villa, her eyes sharpening.
"The last villa houses the three top bosses. Our informant is inside too. Other than our informant, there are seventeen bodyguards. This group is made up of mercenaries. Their combat ability is on par with special forces."
She glanced over the team one by one, voice steady and hard.
"Declan, Rhys, Bryce, Grant Ashby, Connor Langley, Nolan—you’re with me."
"Yes."
Nora continued, "I’ll lead the first group out now. Second team moves in three minutes. Third team in five. Sync your watches. Time now is 2:40:58 a.m."
Everyone silently flashed the OK sign.
Nora gave one word. "Go."