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."

She moved first, fast and quiet, heading straight for the villa where the top bosses were staying. Declan, Rhys, and the others followed immediately, shadows slipping after her.

The villa was pitch-black. Everyone inside had already gone to sleep.

Nora paused, scanning the area with sharp, careful eyes before speaking in a low voice, "Nolan, go sabotage the underground garage door. Don’t let anyone make a run for it in a car. Find a place to hide. If you see someone coming down, don’t hold back. The informant will coordinate with us depending on the situation, so keep your eyes open and don’t hit the wrong person. The informant is on duty tonight and will be staying in the top boss’s living room. Watch your timing. Don’t accidentally injure him."

"Yes."

"After Declan gets inside, go cut their power. Break the lock on the back door too, make sure they can’t open it. Once you’re done, head up and back Rhys up."

"Yes."

"Rhys, you take the second floor."

"Bryce and Grant take the third."

"Yes."

"Connor, you’re with me on the fourth. Move now."

"Yes."

Nora Vance eased the front door open and let the others slip in one by one. Both entrance doors had already been tampered with by the informant beforehand, so they opened with just a light push.

After Rhys went in, he stayed still for a few seconds, listening hard. Once he confirmed there was no movement inside, he gave a hand signal to show the area was clear.

Everyone split up exactly as Nora had arranged. She and Connor made their way to the fourth floor without a hitch. At the first room by the stairwell, Connor used the lockpicking skills he'd learned in the army and popped the door open fast. Nora slipped in right behind him, and the two of them moved clean and quick, military knives flashing as they cut the target’s throat.

Then they moved to the second room and dealt with two more people the exact same way.

By the time they reached the boss’s room, both of them had unconsciously held their breath. Their movements got even more careful, nerves pulled tight. But no matter how careful they were, they still ended up waking the mercenaries sleeping in the living room. Nora and Connor rushed them at once, closing the distance and getting into brutal hand-to-hand combat. The noise from the four of them instantly jolted the ringleader awake.

The man came out of the room with a gun in hand and pulled the trigger at Connor’s back.

"Connor, tilt right!"

Nora shouted the warning while attacking even harder, every strike landing fiercer than before. Connor heard it too—the faint hiss of a silenced round cutting through the air. His body reacted before his mind did, and he jerked his head to the right exactly like Nora said. The bullet grazed his face, then slammed straight into the mercenary in front of him.

Friendly fire. One shot, instant headshot. Total own goal.

Connor sprang forward and slammed a kick into the boss’s gun hand. The man staggered back, and the weapon flew out of his grip. Connor didn’t give him even half a second to recover—two more kicks, then a sweep that dumped him hard on the floor. He tied him up in one clean motion.

On Nora’s side, she had already taken down the other mercenary and bound him as well. The two of them quickly searched both men to make sure they weren’t carrying anything dangerous, then dragged them into the bathroom and locked them inside.

By then, the whole villa had turned noisy.

Nora stepped onto the balcony, took one look outside, and said, "Go help on the third floor. I’m going down to find Nolan."

She moved fast downstairs, following the sound of gunfire all the way over. When she got there, she saw Rhys and Declan already in position too.

Nora slipped behind a pillar and stopped beside Rhys. "What’s the situation?"

Rhys kept his voice low. "They got tipped off early. Probably one of the minor bosses from Team Two or Three saw something was off and sent word over. When we found the big boss’s room, they jumped from the second-floor balcony and ran. We chased them all the way here to the garage."