"Find her."
My voice is completely calm. It’s the kind of calm you get when you’re just barely holding on.
"Everything else cos second," I say, looking at Luca, Thomas, Morrison, and Elliot. "Use every resource, call in every contact, and every favor owed. We find Katherine. Now."
"Tony," Morrison starts carefully, "we have eight bombs scattered across Manhattan. Hundreds of civilians are at risk. We need to-"
"FIND HER." The calm is gone. "I don’t give a fuck about the bombs right now. Find Katherine, then we’ll worry about everything else."
"Son-" Thomas begins.
"Don’t." I light another cigarette, my hand shaking slightly. "Don’t tell to be rational. Don’t tell civilians matter more because I know they do. I know. But I can’t-" My voice cracks. "I can’t lose her."
Morrison exchanges a glance with Thomas. "We’ll split resources. Half on bombs, half on finding Katherine."
"All resources on Katherine," I correct. "Bomb squad handles the explosives. We handle finding her."
"That’s not-"
"Not negotiable." I et her eyes, and whatever she sees there makes her nod slowly.
"Okay. We find her first."
Elliot’s already working, his fingers flying across multiple keyboards. "I’m tracking her last known location. The helicopter landed in Red Hook based on the flight path. It’s a warehouse district."
"Luca?" I turn to him.
"Already making calls." He’s on his phone. "My sources say Marie owns a shipping company there. It’s a legitimate business for a perfect cover."
"How many n?"
"Dozen minimum with professional security."
"Don’t care." I’m checking weapons and loading magazines. "We’re going in."
"Tony, that’s suicide-" Morrison protests.
"Then it’s suicide." I holster my weapon. "But I’m getting her back. With or without the FBI support."
She sighs. "I’ll coordinate tactical support, but Tony - this is your op. You’re leading."
Over the next thirty minutes, I beco what Katherine fears most - the ruthless mafia boss. Cold, calculating, and willing to take any risk.
We grab two of Vincent’s known associates, n who helped him coordinate tonight’s attack, and bring them to a secure location.
I don’t torture them, but I make it very clear what will happen if they don’t talk.
"Vincent took Katherine. Where?"
The first one stays silent, and I break his finger casually.
He screams but still doesn’t talk.
Thomas watches from the corner, his face unreadable. When I reach for the man’s second finger, he finally speaks.
"Warehouse! Red Hook! Sterling Shipping Company!"
"See?" I release him. "That wasn’t so hard."
Thomas follows out. "Anthony, you need to stay controlled."
"I AM controlled." I light another cigarette. "This is controlled, you should see when I’m not."
"I have seen you like this years ago." His voice is quiet. "When you first took over operations. You were exactly this cold... this ruthless, and it scared people."
"Good. It should scare people."
"It is scaring Katherine, seeing this other side of you."
That stops , and I turn to look at my father.
"Son, if you get her back-"
"When. Not if." I interrupted
"When you get her back, and you will get her back, she’s going to need you whole. Not this... not what you’re becoming."
"I’m becoming what I need to be to save her."
"You’re becoming ." Thomas’s eyes were sad. "And trust , son, that’s not what she needs, that’s not what you need."
I want to argue, but there’s no ti.
Elliot’s voice through comms: "Tony! I found sothing!"
I’m back in the command center in an instant. "What?"
"Security footage in the warehouse district twenty minutes ago." He pulls up a grainy video. "Two guards dead and look-"
A figure running from the building with dark hair, which was Katherine’s build.
"She escaped." Relief hits so hard I have to grab the table for support. "She got free."
"Alive and moving," Elliot confirms. "Following her on the caras. She stole a motorcycle, she couldn’t ride it well, crashed through traffic, and later abandoned it on the bridge approach. Then-" He switches feeds. "Subway, she went underground."
Smart girl. Crowds for cover, it’s harder to track.
But if Vincent has any sense, he’s already-
"There." Elliot points at another feed. "Vincent is at the sa subway station, he’s two minutes after Katherine."
He’s hunting her.
And we’re here, miles away, watching on caras.
"Move!" I’m already running for the door. "Everyone, now! At the Union Square station!"
We pile into vehicles. Luca was driving like a maniac, weaving through Manhattan traffic, and I’m in the back,with my weapon out, every second feeling like an hour.
My phone rings, it’s Morrison.
"The bomb squad found four devices," she reports. "At the FBI headquarters, Grand Central, elentary school, and hospital. All disard."
"Four more locations," I say. "Marie said eight."
"We’re looking. But Tony, so of these are decoys. They’re fake devices ant to waste our ti."
"She’s playing gas."
"And winning." Morrison’s voice is grim. "We can’t tell which bombs are real until we examine them. It’s slowing us down."
"Keep looking, but right now, find Katherine."
I hang up and stare out the window at the city passing by. Sowhere out there, Katherine’s running. Scared, alone, and being hunted.
My guilt is crushing that I let her go and allowed Vincent to take her.
"It’s not your fault," Luca says, reading my mind. "She made the choice."
"To save hundreds of lives because I trained her to be selfless. To sacrifice herself." My laugh is bitter. "I made her into soone who’d walk away with a killer to save strangers."
"You made her strong," Thomas corrects from the front seat. "Don’t regret that."
We screech to a stop outside Union Square station. FBI vehicles were arriving simultaneously, with Morrison coordinating with the transit police.
"We’re flooding the station," she says. "In plainclothes and uniform. Checking every platform and every exit."
"Where was she last seen?"
"Platform 4. Northbound trains."
I’m moving before she finishes. Through the entrance, down the stairs. The station is packed - late-night crowd, people were everywhere.
I push through them, my weapon concealed, searching every face for the one I need to see.
Every dark-haired woman makes my heart stop at every glimpse that could be her.
But none of them were.
"Tony." Luca’s beside , equally urgent. "A witness says they saw a man with a gun. The crowd scattered, and a woman ran toward the tracks."
Toward the tracks. Jesus Christ.
I run.
Platform 4 is chaos; the transit cops were trying to calm terrified people as stories contradict each other.
"She jumped onto the tracks!"
"No, she went into the tunnel!"
"The man chased her!"
"He got on the train!"
I grab the nearest cop. "Which way? The woman. Where did she go?"
"I... I don’t know. It happened so fast-"
My phone rings from an unknown number.
I answer. "Katherine?"
"I’m afraid not." Marie Sterling’s cultured voice ca through. "But I know where she is."
"Where?" I’m already moving, signaling Luca to trace the call.
"Union Square station. Platform 4, right where you are." Her voice is amused. "Vincent’s with her. He’s very good at this hide and seek, you know."
"Why are you telling this?"
"Because I want you to watch." Her voice turns cold. "I want you to arrive just in ti to see him kill her, just like I arrived too late to save my daughter."
"I’ll kill you both."
"Perhaps." She sounds unconcerned. "But you’ll be too late to save her. Just like I was too late to protect Victoria, too late to stop what happened on that dock."
"Victoria tried to murder us-"
"She loved you and you killed her!" Marie’s composure cracks. "Now you’ll know what it feels like - watching soone you love die and being powerless to stop it."
The line went dead.
I look around the platform frantically. There were hundreds of people, and any of them could be Katherine. Or Vincent. Or-
Then I see her.
Not on the platform but through the crowd. She was against the far wall, near the platform edge.
Katherine.
She was dirty, bloody, exhausted, but alive.
Our eyes et across the distance. She was fifty feet across, might as well be fifty miles with all these people between us.
Then I see him.
Vincent- moving through the crowd toward her. His weapon is concealed, but I can see it from my angle. Professional, predatory was already closing in.
Fifteen feet.
I’m pushing through people, trying to reach her. "Move! MOVE!"
But it’s too crowded with too many bodies. I can’t draw my weapon without causing panic, stampede, or getting people killed.
Ten feet.
"Katherine!" I shout. "RUN!"
She hears and sees Vincent closing in.
Five feet.
In that mont, I see her make a decision, see the determination replace the fear.
She doesn’t run.
She attacks and launches herself at Vincent, and they both go down hard; his weapon skitters across the platform.
"That’s my girl," I breathe, still fighting through the crowd.
But Vincent’s trained and experienced. He recovers fast, flipping her, and getting on top, his hands wrapping around her throat.
I’m almost there. Twenty feet. Fifteen.
Katherine’s fighting - clawing at his face, kicking, everything I taught her, but he’s stronger, and she’s exhausted.
Ten feet.
Then I hear it and feel it. A train was approaching in the tunnel. The lights were growing brighter with its horn blaring.
Vincent hears it too and changes strategy. He starts dragging Katherine toward the edge of the platform.
He’s going to throw her in front of the train.
"NO!" I have my weapon out now, and I don’t care about the crowd right now. "VINCENT!"
He looks up to see and smiles.
Then he grabs Katherine by the throat and lifts her. Her feet were off the ground, gasping for air, and her hands were clawing at his grip.
I aim, but Katherine’s between us. I can’t get a clean shot without hitting her.
"Drop your gun, Tony!" Vincent shouts over the approaching train. "Or I drop her onto the tracks!"
The train’s close now... so close. Its lights are blinding, and the horn is deafening.
Katherine’s eyes find mine. She’s terrified and pleading but also trusting. She trusts to save her.
"Three!" Vincent counts down.
I lower my weapon slightly. Not surrendering, just buying ti.
"Two!"
Katherine’s struggling weakly, her face going red.
"ONE!"
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