Present

Sometimes I hated my own rules. It was a long time ago that I came up with the rule that the getaway driver had to stay with the car, to prevent injury that would stop the driver from being able to do their job. I got away with ignoring that rule while attacking the safe houses because we were in pairs and one person couldn't be expected to destroy them by themselves. But now, with my team with me plus Esmond, I had been forced to stay back with the cars.

All I was supposed to do was keep the engines running on the cars and make sure that anyone came across them came across death instead. It was a simple enough job, but I was wishing I was with my team, with Esmond.

"Update." I said, needing one immediately. My stomach was tight from anxiety, and I needed to know that they were all okay.

"Placing explosives now. Dealing with guards as we find them." Esmond replied through the earpiece. I nodded, even though none of them could see me. I paced the road we had parked on the side of, hearing the gunshots and shouts of people just on the other side of the trees that surrounded the block the warehouse was on. Even though I hadn't actually been doing anything truly productive since they left me here, I had been running over the next steps of my plan. Jacques had sent me the address of Queen's estate two hours ago, and I had used the time alone to look it up and try to see if there were any floor plans to help me. There had been from an online real estate listing, so I had investigated every inch that I could to be familiar with it before I would go there tonight.

The gunshots then came in a continuous cycle, my anxiety setting in even harder.

"Update!" I shouted, and this time, I had Jaxon respond.

"I'm getting into the locked storage now so we can blow up everything. Calm down, we're okay. We've been through worse than this." He reminded me, so I took a deep breath.

"Okay, hurry up. We have six minutes until those devices go off and I do not want to be anywhere near here when they do." I said, I heard a multitude of responses through the ear piece but nothing of note, so I went back to pacing and looking at Queen's estate.

It was a few minutes later when everyone came running back through the trees and clambered through the hole we had made in the fence.

"We have to go now!" Leigh shouted, so I jumped into my car and checked my mirrors to make sure everyone was in theirs while Esmond jumped into the passenger seat of the Venom with me. I had left the car doors open on each vehicle, as I figured it would make for a quicker escape. I was right. In a few seconds we were all tearing down the roads, going as fast as I physically could considering the conditions, the roads and the fact I had a team behind me that needed to keep up.

"Ten seconds." I heard Esmond say, looking at his stupid watch that had somehow survived everything we had gone through the last few days. I heard Jaxon counting down through the earpiece, and at the exact second it went off I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw flames reaching into the sky.

"Holy shit." The words slipped out of my mouth as I struggled to look away from the flames that were still billowing into the sky, the boom from the explosion still deafening even from the few miles we had travelled.

"That is more powerful than the safe houses." Esmond said. I nodded slowly as I forced my eyes back to the road. I was silent the rest of the ride back to our motel.

After we got out of our cars, I congratulated my team on a job well done, on getting through the plan without a hitch. When Esmond and I got to our room, I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at my hands. I couldn't celebrate, not yet. Not until I knew that the entire plan was a success.

"Sierra-" Esmond was cut off by my phone ringing, which I immediately picked up as I saw the ID.

"Jacques." I said, waiting for her to tell me what I needed to hear.

"We did it. Max, we did it. Every single warehouse in Queen's files and the ones I found that she tried to keep hidden, they're all ash." Jacques said, and I let out the breath I had been holding.

"Thank fuck." I said, looking at Esmond. "We did it. We won." I said. He smiled.

"As for the other bit, I'll tell you when I have confirmation Queen is on the move and what vehicle she's in so you can tail her." Jacques told me.

"Thank you. Thanks for everything, Jacques." I said, hanging up the phone and looking at Esmond.

"So that's Dusk foiled, right?" He asked, and I nodded as I stood up.

"Queen's plan failed. The world is safe." I said, forcing a smile to my lips.

"Thank god. Now, I would say we could celebrate by having a shower together and taking things to the bed, but I know I'm exhausted. I've barely slept the last few days."

"Neither."

"I vote we just get into our pyjamas and get straight into bed. Do you need to tell the others the mission was a success?" He asked me. I shook my head.

"Jacques will message everyone else. She knew I needed the phone call, though."

"Let's get some well deserved rest then."

I knew he was trying to get me to rest, try to convince me that sleeping was the best option for tonight. He knew me. Knew that what I had planned next would involve leaving tonight, and that I wanted to go alone. So I went along with his attempts, getting changed into my pyjamas, crawling into the bed and sidling my back up to his chest. His arms held me too tight for someone that should feel relaxed, and it was all because he didn't want me to leave. But he knew I would.

I lay there awake for nearly three hours, just waiting for Jacques to message me. Esmond had fallen asleep, even though he had tried to fight it, over an hour ago. His grip had loosened, and when my phone vibrated to show I had received a message, I could easily slip from his grasp without waking him up. I changed and grabbed the keys to the Venom, taking my phone and slipping out to the car. I knew that one of the team was no doubt watching the car park to see when I was leaving. I didn't care.

Because I was going to be following Queen to her estate, where I was going to kill her for what she's done to me and everyone she controlled.

Where I would kill her for killing Jake.