Novels by Ivy Quinn

The black van held its position three vehicles back like it had all day to finish the job. Jace kept the SUV at a steady speed, never giving the follower a reason to force the issue early. Around us the ring road traffic moved in ordinary patterns that did nothing to make the situation feel safer.Noah sat angled toward me in the back. The worry on his face had settled into something more stubborn than fear. Every time the SUV took a curve his shoulder brushed mine. Jace watched it happen in the rearview mirror and the line of his mouth hardened.“We cannot outrun them forever on an open road,” my father said from the front passenger seat. “Sooner or later they will call in more vehicles and close the lanes.”Marco kept his eyes on the side mirror. “They are already doing it. Second vehicle just joined at the last entry ramp. Different car. Same patience.”Two followers now. The net was starting to thicken.The woman who wore my mother’s face spoke without turning. “There is a service

The second step in the lobby was softer than the first. Careful. Professional. Whoever had entered through the fire exit was not rushing.Jace raised a hand and the group went still on the stairwell. Emma’s breathing stayed controlled against my shoulder. Noah stood close enough that I could feel the tension in him. He had stopped asking questions for the moment. The reality of armed people on roofs and inside buildings had finally burned the last of the ordinary world out of him.Jace leaned close to my ear. “We go up one level and cross to the rear stair. Do not wait for me if this breaks open.”I nodded once.We moved.The stairs were concrete and dusty. Every footstep felt too loud in the enclosed space. Marco took the rear with my father. The woman who wore my mother’s face stayed near Ruth, both of them quiet and focused. Noah kept to my side whether Jace liked it or not. The jealousy in Jace’s posture had become a constant heat under the larger threat.We reached the first land

The lane left us almost no room to breathe. The third man held the front. Two more blocked the arcade exit behind us. Tobias’s vehicle was already turning into the residential street that fed the far end. In less than a minute the bottle would finish closing.Jace’s voice stayed low and precise. “When I break left, you take the garden wall. Do not wait for a better option. There is not one.”Noah’s shoulder brushed mine again as he shifted closer. The movement was protective and completely unhelpful. Jace saw it and the jealousy in his face turned sharp enough to cut.“You stay on her back and you do not play hero,” Jace told him without looking away from the third man. “That is the only useful thing you can do.”Noah did not answer. His attention stayed on the men closing us in, the reality of the situation finally stripping the last of the ordinary world from his expression.The third man watched the exchange with mild interest. “You should have left the civilian somewhere safer. He

The light on the device kept blinking in the same steady rhythm. No one spoke for several seconds. The sound of the truck engine filled the silence and made it heavier.Jace’s hands stayed tight on the wheel. “Find it. Now.”We started searching while the truck was still moving. Jackets came off. Pockets emptied. The case was checked and then checked again. Marco ran his hands along the seams of the seats. My father examined the bags we still carried. Emma turned out everything she had on her without being asked.Noah did the same, movements stiff with the understanding that the danger had followed us into the vehicle itself. When his shoulder brushed mine during the search, Jace’s eyes found us in the rearview mirror and stayed there a second too long.Nothing turned up.The woman who wore my mother’s face kept her attention on the device. “It is close. The signal strength says it is inside this truck with us. If we cannot find it while moving, we have to stop and do this properly.”

The freight yards turned every sound into a lie. Footsteps bounced off metal and came back from the wrong direction. Engines idled somewhere out of sight. Voices carried and broke apart between the stacked rows.Jace kept us moving in short controlled bursts. Stop. Listen. Cross an open gap. Disappear into the next corridor of containers. The case stayed hard against my ribs under the jacket. Emma stayed close enough that I could feel her breathing. Noah matched my pace without being told, his presence a constant heat on my other side. Jace hated it. The fact lived in every glance he threw across the space between us.Tobias’s voice came again from somewhere to the left.“You are only delaying the same ending. The case does not become less valuable because you run it through a maze.”Hale’s voice answered from a different angle, colder and more precise.“She is not the only one who understands the value. If you want to compete for it, compete. Stop performing.”The third man’s voice s

Tobias stood at the far end of the alley like he had all the time in the world. Three men waited behind him, spread just wide enough to cut the cleanest exits. The walls on either side of us were too high to climb without equipment. The direction we had come from still carried the distant sound of the car park search.We were in a bottle.Jace stopped the group at once. His body shifted in front of mine without making a show of it. Noah stayed close on my other side, close enough that I could feel the tension coming off him. He finally understood that the people in front of us were not the kind you reasoned with.Tobias’s eyes moved across the group and settled on me.“You have been expensive,” he said. “Adriana is done allowing the cost to rise.”Jace’s voice stayed flat. “Then she can come tell us herself.”“She prefers results over conversation.” Tobias took one slow step forward. “The case. Now. The rest of you can still walk away from this alley. That offer expires the moment one