Chapter 10 - The Decoy
The argument that followed was explosive. Maya refused to be left behind like a fragile porcelain doll.
“I know the Sapphire Grand Hotel!” Maya yelled, pacing Victor’s study. “I worked there for two years! I know the service corridors, the blind spots in the security cameras, the basement exits! If you go in through the front door, Julian’s snipers will turn you into Swiss cheese!”
Victor slammed his hands down on the mahogany desk, leaning forward. “I am not bringing a civilian into a cartel warzone, Maya! I will not risk you!”
“I am already at risk!” she fired back, stepping right up to his desk, refusing to back down. “Julian knows I’m the one who leaked the audio. As long as he is breathing, I am a target. I want my life back, Victor. And I am going to help you finish this.”
Victor stared at her. The fierce, unyielding fire in her eyes was mesmerizing. She was entirely out of her depth, yet she possessed more courage than half of his hardened enforcers.
“Fine,” Victor gritted out. “But you stay glued to Marcus. You guide the infiltration team through the service tunnels, and then you wait in the armored extraction vehicle. You do not engage. Do you understand me?”
Maya nodded, a rush of adrenaline flooding her veins.
The next evening, the plan was set into motion. The Sapphire Grand Hotel was an architectural masterpiece of glass and steel in the heart of Boston. While Julian hosted his illicit summit in the penthouse ballroom, Victor’s elite strike team moved in silence below the city streets.
Maya, dressed in tactical black, led Marcus and a squad of ten men through the damp, abandoned subway tunnels that connected to the hotel’s subterranean laundry facility. Her memory was flawless. She guided them past the laser grids and the reinforced service doors, bringing them directly into the belly of the beast.
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“Clear,” Marcus whispered, securing the laundry room. He looked at Maya, tossing her a set of keys to the armored van idling in the alley. “Your job is done, Maya. Get in the van and lock the doors. We’ll bring Victor down when it’s over.”
Maya took the keys, nodding. But as she watched Marcus and the team ascend the service stairs, a terrible, sinking feeling twisted in her gut. Julian was too smart to leave the basement entirely unguarded. Something was wrong.
