Page 19 of Tracking Shadows

He lets out a low whistle, impressed despite himself. “This place is a fortress. But we can work with that.”

I glance at him, surprised by his confidence. “You’ve got a plan?”

“Always,” he says with that trademark grin, but there’s a seriousness behind it that tells me he’s already thinking three steps ahead. “But first, we need eyes inside. You think you can hack into their CCTV system?”

I raise an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at my lips. “You’re asking if I can hack into a state-of-the-art security system?”

“Well, can you?”

“Watch and learn, Romanov,” I say, turning back to my laptop and pulling up the necessary software.

It doesn’t take long for me to find a way into the system—these high-end places think they’re invincible, but there’s always a crack if you know where to look.

Within minutes, I’m in, and the mansion’s security feeds pop up on my screen. I quickly toggle through the cameras,taking in the layout of the rooms, the placement of the guards, the exits, and the entry points.

“Impressive,” Alexei murmurs, leaning closer to get a better look at the screens. “Didn’t know you had that in your bag of tricks.”

I can’t help the smug smile that spreads across my face. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

He’s close,tooclose. I can feel the heat from his body and smell the faint scent of his cologne. My mind flashes back to the words we threw at each other. The fight still seems to be lingering in the air between us, like a storm hovering on the horizon. Despite everything, he’s here, and so am I.

For a moment, I catch myself wondering why I’m letting him in like this. It’s dangerous to care, dangerous to trust. But with Alexei, things have always been complicated.

“Alright.” I shift my focus back to the screen, pushing those thoughts aside. “Here’s what we’re dealing with. The ballroom is on the second floor, here.” I point to the screen, where a wide room filled with glittering chandeliers and a sea of elegantly dressed guests comes into view. “There’s one main staircase leading up, with guards posted at both the top and bottom. It’s a choke point, which means if anything goes wrong, we’re going to have a hard time getting out.”

Alexei nods, his eyes narrowing as he studies the screen. “We’ll need a distraction, something to draw the guards away from the staircase long enough for us to slip out. What about the fire alarms?”

I shake my head. “Too risky. If we set those off, the entire place will go into lockdown, and we’ll be trapped inside.”

“Right,” he says, his brow furrowing in thought. “What about the service staff? We could blend in with them, get close to Sergei without raising suspicion.”

“It’s possible,” I agree, toggling to another camera feed that shows the service area. “But we’ll need uniforms and IDs to pull it off. Plus, we’ll have to be careful—Sergei knows our faces. If he spots us, it’s game over.”

“Then we stay in the shadows,” Alexei suggests. “We get in, gather the intel, and get out before anyone knows we were there.”

I nod, the plan taking shape in my mind. “We’ll need to move fast. Once we’re inside, we’ll split up—one of us keeps an eye on Sergei while the other monitors the exits and makes sure we have a clear path out.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Sergei,” Alexei says, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You’re better with the tech—you can monitor the exits and cover our tracks.”

I glance at him, reading the determination in his eyes. He’s right; it’s a logical division of labor. But something about the idea of splitting up makes me uneasy. If things go wrong, we won’t be able to cover each other.

“Irina!” He continues, “If anything feels off, we abort. No heroics, no unnecessary risks.”

“Fine,” I mumble.

“But you know, Irina, for someone who’s all about being serious, you’re not half bad at this.”

I roll my eyes. “Just try not to get shot this time, okay?”

“No promises.”

We spend the next hour refining the plan, going over every detail until we know it by heart. The more we talk, the more I realize how well we work together. How our skills complement each other, how we can anticipate each other’s moves. It’s a strange feeling, this newfound trust, but it’s also . . . comforting.

Finally, as the clock ticks closer to midnight, we reach the point where there’s nothing left to discuss. The plan is as solid as it’s going to get, and now, all we can do is wait.

He looks at me, his expression unreadable, but there’s a warmth in his eyes that wasn’t there before. “You know, you keep surprising me, Irina.”

I raise an eyebrow, my lips quirking into a half-smile. “Is that a compliment?”