**Josie''s POV**


    We port in with the military teams and the moment we have everyone here a shield goes up to block anyone from being able to port out. The men begin to move in, approaching the Mall from all sides.


    We have been paired with Bryce and a few other men, and we run towards the front entrance of the mall. The door looks intact, it has been repaired since the pictures we saw were taken. One of the men, Ryan, approaches the door quietly, signalling for us to stay back. He gently pushes on the door before looking back at us and shaking his head, indicating it is locked.


    Mason moves forward, focusing on the door. I expect it to dissolve in a tinkling of ss, but instead, I hear a click and Mace nods. He must have managed to unlock it because the man beside him slowly pushes the door open. I focus my hearing inside the building but lear nothing


    Ryan holds out a mirror on a stick, sliding it cautiously through the gap in the doorway.


    "Clear," he announces, before pushing open the door fully and stepping inside.


    We all follow him in. The ce is much cleaner than I''d expected, and the entryway opens up to reveal arge dried-up fountain in the centre with a big, curved staircase running on either side that leads up to the second floor.


    "We are taking the upper floor," Bryce instructs.


    I move towards the staircase on the left, my guys positioned in their protective formation around me, whilst Bryce and the other men take the right staircase.


    When we reach the top, we are met with two rows of shopfronts. Some still have shutters on the windows and some have no ss in the frames, but it''s clean, too clean for a ce abandoned this long. The first shop we enter is mostly empty, apart from a waste bin and a few books and nkets. The second is much the same. Themunication device in my ear is a constant update of "clear" from multiple people as every shop, office, bathroom and storage cupboard is cleared.


    My heart sinks as it bes more and more obvious that we missed them... again..


    "I knew it. I had a feeling something wasn''t right. We should have moved in the minute he was fucking brought here," Mason curses.


    "We have blood down here, it''s fresh," someone says through thems, and my heart begins to race as a million possible exnations for how the blood got there flow through my mind.


    "How much blood are we talking about?" Bryce asks as we move into the main hall to meet back up with his team.


    "Not much, there''s something else, you better get down here and take a look, Boss," the voice responds.


    "On our way," Bryce nods, moving towards the stairs.


    We follow him and I feel as though I''m in a bit of a daze, the stress of the whole situation finally catching up to


    but I me and breaking me as I walk numbly with my guys. Someone''s hand slips into mine, and I know it''s Luke''s, don''t feel the usualfort that his touch brings


    me.


    The room we enter is an old piercing and tattoo shop. A makeshift bed is in the centre of the room and there is a small pool of blood on the floor beside it. As if whoever was on the bed had a wound that dripped down onto the floor. There is enough blood to be concerned about, but not enough that the wound is life- threatening if we


    assume that this is all the blood they lost.


    What is more concerning is the crate at the end of the bed. On top of Itys bloodied rags, a knife and next to the knife is a tiny chip.


    "Shit, that''s the tracker," Luke curses.


    "I thought it was undetecable. How did they find it?" Mason demands.


    "It is. The kid must have told them," Bryce sighs.


    "They must havepelled him. He would have had no chance of resisting it. We should have expected this. This is our fault, and now they know everything Archie does," Deacon says, his voice full of concern.


    "I thought he was trained to resistpulsion?" Axe says


    "He was, and he would have if it was someone with a low-level gift, but he had no chance against someone with a strong gift," Deacon shakes his head.


    "We need to question the two we picked up from the assessment office yesterday. They''re our only lead now, Mason says.


    "Let me see if they''re fit for questioning yet," Bryce says with a nod and walks away to make a call.


    П


    Things had gotten messy when Raff''s guys stormed the assessment office to apprehend the officer and his assistant. The second they knew they''d been discovered, they had dropped to the floor, seemingly falling into a deepa that the healers had yet to work out the cause of


    "I don''t think we are going to get anything from them. I think I know what''s wrong with them, and if I''m right, we severely underestimated the gifts some of the rogues have," Deacons says.


    "You think they werepelled to fall into a deep sleep if they were caught," Luke says, working it out.


    "Yes, it''s the only thing that makes sense. There''s no way for me to break through thepulsion if they''re unconscious. It''s a smart tactic, but a barbaric one. Without medical intervention they will die of starvation and dehydration," D nods.


    I zone out as the guys discuss whether the pair deserve to be kept alive and what the benefits would be if there is no way to wake them. All I want to do right now is go home need to hold my babies and think of a way to tell Archie''s parents that we have lost him. Then I need to go to the prison and ask my biological father to help us because we are out of options now.


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