Chapter 19

GOLDEN TOWERS ROOF, ABU DHABI, UAE

Head down, bent over, Hollyn rushed out behind Nora before the door could close. The scent of saffron and cistus wafted up from the street below as they shimmied up behind a transformer even as shots peppered the air. Heart in her throat, she could only pray that Davis wasn't hurt or killed.

She knelt next to Nora, who inched closer to the end and peered around the large gray steel box.

"What's happening?" she whispered. The gusty wind and droning machines swallowed her words.

And then Glace was gone, striding forward, shooting.

What?

Hollyn scooted forward. Saw a dozen more men coming from a secondary fire well on the other side of the roof. Oh no . . .

Leila stood near the edge of the roof, holding Archie hostage. More like a shield, because they all knew the woman would kill him if—no, when it suited her. A snarl yanked her attention to Fury, who fought with Davis against two men. Guns clattered to the roof.

The chaos of the conflict was mind-numbing. Hollyn prided herself on her ability to multitask, but this situation nearly shut her down. Who was she supposed to help? Nora Glace was clearly a skilled operator, moving with determination and precision, taking down one target, then going hand-to-hand with another.

And Hollyn was sitting here cowering.

Archie somehow broke free from Leila. Lunged toward one of the weapons that had clattered across the rooftop.

Oh no you don't.

Hollyn raced toward it and kicked the weapon, her boot connecting first with Archie's hand, then—inadvertently—his head. She should feel bad, but after all he'd done to her . . . all the grief he'd caused . . .

He whipped back and his head struck something. He collapsed with a strange wheeze that somehow carried over the din. His body went still.

Hollyn's heart did a double beat. Had she just?—

Ping! Ding-ding!

With a yelp, she realized she was standing in the middle of a gunfight. She ducked—and even as she did, she saw Leila crouched along the safety wall at the edge of the building, tapping furiously on her device.

Oh no. No no no.

Hollyn peered out. Could Davis or Bennion intervene? "Stop her," she called out.

Bullets pinged the metal transformer, forcing her back.

Blinking around the dust and debris kicked up, she looked over at Leila. Still crouched. Still tapping. Absolutely unfazed by how many men had fallen in her defense in the past few minutes. They were only numbers to her. "C'mon . . . c'mon . . . " She willed Davis or Benn—someone—to see her. But they were all engaged in fights. The last time she'd leapt without looking—to pursue Archie—hadn't ended up well. In fact, she'd been a hostage. Nearly killed.

She had to do something. Couldn't let more people get killed. With one more check to Davis and Fury, fighting a vicious battle with two different guys now, Hollyn thrust herself up. Sprinted across the distance. Dived into a distracted Leila, who looked up too late to stop her. Knocked her back. Took her to ground.

Momentum carried Hollyn into the concrete wall. Crack! Pain skidded down her neck and shoulders. Her vision blurred.

She groaned but struggled back up. Knew Leila?—

"You stupid?—"

A missile made of fur and teeth careened into Leila. Clamped onto her arm. Her scream ricocheted as the two tumbled. Leila bent backward—and the two went over the wall.

"No!" Hollyn screamed, shoving herself forward.

Davis manifested out of nowhere, his face a mural of rage and panic. He careened toward the edge, and Hollyn's stomach climbed into her throat.

He collided with the edge of the roof.

"Fury!" Davis barked.

She half expected him to go over the side as well, but he wedged himself in. Straining. That's when she realized he had hold of the shepherd.

A strange, foreboding silence dropped over the roof sans any other attackers. Light seared their vision as a chopper whirled overhead with a spotlight.

Bennion darted forward and grabbed hold of Davis's belt as the two struggled to pull the dog back up.

A sickening compulsion pushed Hollyn to peer over the edge. That's how she saw a panicked Leila holding on to the dog, who was yelping and whining as Davis struggled to keep the two from dropping. Without warning, Fury shook his spine and snapped at the clinging Leila. A chunk of fur came loose . . . and freed Fury of the weight of the woman, who fell away . . .

Hollyn gasped. Couldn't watch. She jerked back and dropped with her back to the wall, squeezing her eyes tight, willing that last image of shock and terror on Leila's visage to go away. She didn't need that image seared into her brain. The sound of fading screams was enough. Please, God . . .

"Hollyn!" Hands gripped her.

She looked up at Davis, who shoved something into her hands. When she glanced down at what landed in her lap, she felt sick. The program . . . "She launched it."

"Stop it!" Davis barked.

"I . . . " Her fingers obeyed his command, even if her mouth and brain weren't there yet. "I don't know if I can . . . "

"Base, this is Actual. Missiles launched," Davis spat. He leaned in to examine the tablet. "Two mikes to impact."

"Can you stop it?" Glace crouched next to her.

It took a hot second for her to simply bypass the security protocols without an error. Her shaking hands had been defying her efforts. "Now to redirect the navigation . . . " She worked through it and breathed in relief.

Correcting navigation.

She gaped at the message on the screen. "No." She redirected again.

Correcting navigation.

"No no . . . " What was going on?

"You can stop it, right?" Bennion's voice was gruff, urgent. "Hurry up, Hollyn. We aren't made to withstand a detonation."

"Hollyn?" Davis leaned in slightly.

"If everyone would shut up!" Regret tugged at her, but gratefully, silence ensued. "Sorry." She typed as fast as she could, brain straining to figure out why . . . "The AI is fighting me. . . " Her heart leapt. "No, it's thinking . . . protecting its purpose." Which was good in a lot of situations . . . but really bad right now.

"Not that I'm rushing you, but we're negative one minute." Bennion's voice was low. Tight with irritation.

"And you'll be negative a body part if you don't stop talking," Glace hissed at him.

It was terrifying enough with the clock countdown that hovered in the upper right-hand corner. To have him telling herto. . . Just focus. Get it stopped. But . . . why wasn't it working? She'd entered the right . . . "The code . . . it's not working."

"What code?"

"The AI's kill code. I have to kill the AI because it's correcting the misdirection I sent it so it'd detonate in the ocean." She growled as she tried again. "Why isn't it working?" It was the right code. Why? What was she doing wrong? "The AI . . . "

45 seconds.

Dad had changed it . . . preventative measure . . .

"Thirty . . . "

Which meant . . . "I've got it. Hang on." She found the program where her algorithm was nestled. Accessed it.

The system prompted: Password

Hollyn stared blankly at it. Password? What password?

Wait . . . my algorithm . . . Mine!!

"Hollyn," Davis said with more than a little warning, the sound of the incoming missile terrifyingly distinct.

She typed in the only password she could figure Dad would use for her: Sparrow.

Incorrect password. Two chances left.

"Hollyn!"

Panic thrummed. What was?—

Leetspeak. She and Daddy had made more than one joke of her affinity for that internet hacking language. Hurriedly, she typed in 5P4rr0w.

The screen blipped. Characters on the page seemed to fall to the bottom as a bird fluttered from one side to the other, its wake spelling I knew you'd do it, Sparrow.

She clapped her hands over her mouth and fought the tears. Daddy . . . But how . . . how had he known?

A shriek overhead drew their gazes skyward. The moon caressed the hull of a missile that rocketed past the buildings.

Davis lowered his gaze to her. "What . . . just happened?"

"I redirected the missile into the ocean. My dad anticipated someone would try to use the program for something military and created a counter-code to neutralize the code." She fought the tears again. "It was me. My dad knew I'd find a way to intervene."

"And save thousands of lives."