Chapter 50
Damian
The farmhouse wasn’t the same as it was before Morgan left. The room smelled like stale takeout, the kind of smell that clung after too many nights chasing dead ends. River paced in front of the windows, muttering under his breath. Roger cleaned his weapon with sharp, efficient motions.
Cyclone hunched over his laptop, eyes rimmed red but locked on the screen. I leaned against the table, trying not to look at the empty chair across from me. The one where Morgan used to sit with her recorder in hand.
“Dammit!” Cyclone’s sudden curse snapped my head up. His fingers hammered the keys, his eyes narrowing. “It’s her again.”
River stopped pacing. “Are you sure?”
Cyclone spun the laptop so we could see the code streaming across the screen. “Same pattern. Same breadcrumb. Only this time… it’s bigger. She’s not just giving me coordinates—she’s pointing us at the whole damn pipeline.”
Roger’s head came up, sharp. “Pipeline?”
Cyclone nodded, jaw tight. “I’ve seen chatter, but it never lined up. She’s stitched it together—warehouses, shipping manifests, shell companies. Luthor’s using it all as cover. She’s mapping the chain, piece by piece.”
My stomach clenched. I could almost see her sitting at that desk, eyes tired but fierce, whispering into her recorder as she uncovered the trail.
“She’s doing this alone,” I said, voice low. “With Ruby in the house. No backup. No one to watch her six.”
River let out a low whistle. “Ballsy.”
“Reckless,” I snapped. The word came out sharp, but beneath the anger was fear. A kind that cut deep. Because every breadcrumb she sent us meant she was deeper in this than I ever wanted her to be.
Cyclone pointed at the screen again. “The newest coordinates land outside the city. Old farmland. If she’s right—and I’m betting she is—that’s where Luthor’s stashing his shipments.”
Roger’s eyes met mine. “We move tonight.”
I nodded, jaw tight. But my mind was already back at the cottage, on Morgan, her promise, the way she’d whispered please. She was pulling us closer to Luthor, yes. But she was also pulling herself further into danger.
And I wasn’t sure I could keep that promise to her if she kept fighting like one of us.