Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 1008

Warren nodded, looking thoroughly satisfied as he walked away.

The moment Mira was back in her room, she pulled out her testing kit.

She set up Master Ellis's chemical analyzer and a sterilized tray. After slipping on gloves and a mask, she hit everything with a burst of disinfectant spray before extracting small samples of the food from the plastic bag.

She ran several tests, systematically eliminating possibilities based on the chemical reactions.

"No viral or bacterial agents."

"No heroin, no meth...

Oh, this is bad. It's Oblivion Drops."

Honestly, Oblivion Drops weren't the worst-case scenario. Biological agents were far more terrifying—one tiny slip-up, and you were infected.

Once contracted, some of those diseases were incurable.

But most people didn't dare mess with biological weapons. Handle them wrong, and you'd infect yourself or wipe out the entire inn.

With the results confirmed, Mira saturated the contaminated food in bleach, sealed it tightly, and hid it away to dispose of once they slipped out that night.

"They slipped us the Oblivion Drops. Are they hoping we'll just obediently walk into their trap today, completely at their mercy?"

Owen asked, a dangerous edge to his voice.

"That's probably the plan. Then Mishka sweeps in, captures us, and tortures us to death,"

Mira said casually as she packed up her gear.

"Should we return the favor?"

"Hold off for now. This isn't the time to start a war.

We need to wait until Dominic launches the official rescue operation to extract the captive citizens. Until then, we need to stay entirely off the radar."

Mira nodded firmly.

Just as the two of them crawled back into bed to catch up on sleep, a message came through from Master Ellis's informant:

Martha just reported in. Mishka hasn't been staying at the villa recently; she's been bunking inside the compound. Last night, Mara Mercer was the only one sleeping at the house.

Mira rested her head against Owen's arm. "Even on her own home turf, Mishka is terrified we're going to assassinate her?"

After hanging up, Mira immediately relayed the news of Natalie's disappearance to Owen so he could inform Dominic.

Then, she dialed Harvey back.

"Send me photos and a list of identifying features for your sister."

Once the files were sent, Mira finally told Harvey the hard truth. "You remember Mishka, right? From our last trip to the Javenaire Federation.

She's the one who hired the Ghost-Needle assassins to take me out both times...

We came out here to eradicate her and the syndicate backing her. While we were scoping out her villa last night, we spotted Mara Mercer on the balcony."

"Mara? I thought she was already..."

"Mishka bailed her out just to use her against me. According to our intel, Mara is completely riddled with diseases now.

I'd bet everything I have that she's the one behind Natalie's disappearance."

After all, Natalie hadn't just stolen Wesley Scott from her; she had beaten Mara so brutally that she miscarried and nearly died on the operating table...