DEVIL:
"Steal from my own house? What's that supposed to mean?" My Estrellita asked, her confusion evident. She didn't fully grasp the reality of the situation yet—but she would soon. "Why on earth would I steal from my own house?"
I shrugged, circling around her casually. "It's the only way to save your friend," I said, my tone cool. "Unless, of course, you're not that invested in saving her?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" she snapped. "Of course I want to save her, but—"
"Perfect," I cut her off. "Then we go now. This is the ideal time."
I saw her eyes cloud with questions, but she knew as well as I did that we didn't have the luxury to waste a single moment. She followed, quiet and determined.
"You do realize the house is crawling with guards? At any moment, if we're seen, they could charge at us."
I chuckled, leaning in. "If we're seen," I whispered, reassuringly.
With light steps, we made our way to the master bedroom, navigating the darkness while the lights were out. Once we had the device, I'd make sure Ana was back in her room safe and sound. She stopped just outside the door, her breathing shallow as she recognized the familiar space.
"Leo?" she whispered to herself, almost disbelieving.
"Sometimes the truth can be hard to swallow."
We didn't waste another second. Together, we slipped inside, moving with the silence of shadows. Leo was in the bathroom—it was now or never.
"I don't even know what we're looking for, and missing details won't help us right now," she muttered, frustration evident in her voice.
With a furrowed brow, I scanned the room. "We're looking for a tablet. A gray one with a giant ruby embedded on it."
"You mean Leo's tablet?" Ana asked, confused.
"Well, it wasn't exactly his to begin with... but yeah, that one."
She let out a sigh, clearly struggling to make sense of it all. I knew her head was spinning with questions, but answers would have to wait—we needed to keep searching.
"And why exactly do we need to steal it?" she asked, casting a wary glance my way.
Without pausing, I rifled through a drawer, looking up just once. "Because that's how we're going to track Lara."
She went back to searching, now in silence. After a tense five minutes, she whispered, "I think I found it."
I hurried over to her. In the darkness, the ruby on the tablet glinted ominously. She held it up, her face tense. "But there's a problem..." Her voice faltered. "It's password-protected—and I think it's a custom one-time password linked to his fingerprint."
"Trump? Is that you?" Leo's voice boomed from the bathroom. "Why the hell are the lights still out? I can't see a thing! Get it fixed, now!"
Time was slipping away. I quickly took the tablet from Ana, plugged in the flash drive, and watched as my team accessed it remotely, bypassing the initial security layers. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a thin silicone fingerprint replica—a nearly flawless copy of Leo's fingerprint.
"Wait, why do you have a—"
"Shh... I'll explain everything later. For now, can you check if the guards are still outside?"
Holding my breath, I pressed the replica to the scanner, waiting for the biometric to clear. After a tense second, a green checkmark flashed on the screen—approval. The upload had begun.
"You're sure this is going to work?" Ana asked, her voice tight with impatience. "Because if we get caught—"
"Trump? Max?" Leo called out again, louder.
The device showed 99% just as we heard the bathroom door click open.
"What are you doing? Hurry!" Ana whispered sharply, eyes darting between me and the door.
The screen blinked—download complete—just as the lights flickered back on.
"Ana?" Leo's voice was laced with surprise, stepping out in nothing but a towel slung low around his waist.
"L-Leo..." Ana stammered, still clutching the tablet. Leo's gaze narrowed, shifting from the device in her hands to her pale face as his expression darkened. Without a word, he snatched the tablet from her grasp, eyes blazing. "What did you do with it?"
Frozen, Ana stumbled, "N-Nothing... I was just..."
"Sorry, my Estrellita," I murmured as I slipped out the window, "I have to leave you to face him, but there's no other way."
She would be in trouble, no doubt, but she'd be safe. Meanwhile, we'd finally pinpointed Lara and Amara's location. It was time for the next phase.
Mark was already on his way, speeding toward the Flynn Cruise Port.