Chapter 53 Carter
Carter
Her name. At the top of the damn list.
The words burned through me like acid, searing hotter than the gunfire in that stairwell, hotter than any battlefield I’d ever crawled through.
River laid out the intel across the table, his voice steady. “The orders came from one source. Codename Luthor. He’s pulling the strings, financing the contracts. We cut him out, the network collapses.”
“Where do we find him?” I growled, already leaning forward.
“Encrypted routes point to an old shipping yard outside the city,” Gideon said, tapping the screen. “Remote. Secure. He’ll think it’s untouchable.”
Perfect. Let him think that.
I forced my shoulders to ease, but it was like holding back a storm with bare hands. Because all I could see was Harper’s face when she heard those words. Contracts. Your name is on the top. She hadn’t crumbled. She’d looked me in the eye and asked what we were going to do.
Damn woman was braver than she knew.
“She’s not going anywhere near that yard,” I said flatly. “River, you and Gideon run point. Cyclone covers exfil. I’ll take the lead on the breach.”
River studied me, calm and sharp. “And Harper?”
“She stays here.” My jaw locked. “She’s not stepping into the line of fire.”
The scrape of a chair made me glance back. She stood in the doorway again, my flannel wrapped around her like a shield, her eyes steady even as fear flickered underneath.
“You can’t make that choice for me, Carter,” she said softly.
My gut twisted. Part of me wanted to roar, to shut her down, to bar the door and never let her leave my sight. But another part—the part that loved her—knew she wasn’t wrong.
I turned back to the table, my voice low, dark. “We end this. Fast. Before anyone else gets close to her.”
Because one thing was certain: Graves thought he was hunting her.
But he hadn’t met me yet.