Chapter 27 Salem
The ride to HQ feels like we are outrunning a storm that already knows our name.
Streetlights smear into pale streaks across the windshield as Arrow drives, hands steady, jaw locked.
Juno sits up front with him, one hand braced on the dash every time we take a turn too fast. Knight, Lark, River, and Gage are in the other vehicle behind us, and I can see their headlights in the rearview mirror like a tether we cannot afford to lose.
Ozzy sits beside me in the back seat, his body angled toward mine as if he can physically block danger from reaching me. His hand never leaves my thigh. Warm. Solid. The pressure is a reminder that I am still here.
My wrists ache. My cheek throbs. My mind is loud.
A mole.
Systems down.
Internal access used.
My father’s warning.
The fact that the one person who should have been safest in a hospital bed is now the one person I cannot stop thinking about.
I swallow and turn my head toward Ozzy. “Where’s your SUV?”
He looks at me, eyes sharp. “I left it at the gas station. I rode to the warehouse with Poe.”
“Poe? He was at the warehouse?” I ask. “There was so many people there. I must have missed him.”
Ozzy swallows. “Yeah he was there, I think,” he appears confused, “right? Arrow, where did Poe go?”
Arrow shrugs. “Dunno.”
I keep my voice calm, but my chest is tight. “Should you call him?”
Ozzy’s gaze flicks to the window, then back to me. “Yeah.” He grabs his phone and scrolls through it quickly. He presses the phone to his ear, waiting. And waiting. He presses the phone off. “No answer.” He shakes his head. “Where did he go?”
My stomach turns.
“Do you think maybe he went back to Maddox headquarters?” I whisper.
“Maybe.” Ozzy’s fingers tighten slightly on my thigh. “For right now we get you behind Maddox walls and we get answers.”
I nod even though my body wants to crawl out of itself. The city slips behind us, and the familiar industrial stretch leading to Maddox Security comes into view. My pulse kicks up hard as the gates appear, tall and secure with cameras that normally feel like comfort.
Tonight, they feel like a question.
Arrow pulls in, the gate opening fast after a code. The lot is lit and busy. Vehicles are scattered like the whole building has shifted into emergency mode. Men I don’t know move in tight groups, purposeful and armed. It feels like a nest that has been kicked.
We park. Everyone piles out at once.
Ozzy stays close, his hand at my lower back as we move. River reaches for my arm and squeezes gently, her eyes soft with empathy that makes me want to cry.
“You’re okay,” she whispers like she’s saying it to herself too.
“I’m okay,” I manage, even though I’m not sure what okay means anymore.
We enter the building, the air inside warmer but heavy with tension. The hum of servers that I expected to hear is different tonight, uneven, like someone cut power and patched it back together with tape.
Rae stands at a workstation with two other techs, her fingers flying, face pale and fierce. Sawyer is nearby, speaking to someone on comms that keeps cutting in and out. Dean is not in sight yet, which makes the whole place feel wrong.
Ozzy’s head turns, scanning. “Where’s Poe?”
Gage’s gaze sharpens. Arrow’s face tightens. Knight goes still. Lark’s hand curls around her bat strap even though we are indoors.
Nobody answers immediately.
Rae looks up from the screens, her eyes haunted. “He hasn’t checked in.”
Ozzy takes a step toward her. “That’s not like him.”
“No,” Rae agrees quietly. “It isn’t.”
Arrow moves first, leading us toward the glass-walled conference room I have heard about. The Aquarium.
When I step inside, the room feels like a stage. Clear walls. Bright lights. A long table that has hosted too many hard conversations, I’m sure. Tonight it holds laptops, printouts, and half-drunk coffee.
The team gathers around the table like we’re about to choose who gets sacrificed.
Ozzy stands at my side. His posture’s rigid, protective. His face looks carved from anger and fear.
Gage leans his hands on the table. River presses close to him. Juno stays tucked against Arrow, her expression tight. Lark’s eyes dart constantly, reading faces. Knight watches her with a quiet protectiveness that looks new, like he is still learning how to wear it.
The door opens. Dean Maddox steps in. The room shifts instantly, like everyone’s spine straightens.
Dean’s face is controlled, but I can see the strain in the set of his mouth.
He looks like a man who has been punched and refuses to show it.
Sawyer follows him, phone in hand. Dean’s gaze sweeps the room, landing on me for half a second, then Ozzy.
He nods once, acknowledging. “We have the signature from the hack,” Dean says.
My stomach drops.
Ozzy’s jaw tightens. “And?”
Dean’s eyes flick to Rae. Rae’s fingers stop moving. She turns her laptop slightly so everyone can see. Lines of code. Logs. A trail I do not understand, but the way Rae’s hands shake tells me enough.
Dean says, “It matches a signature we’ve seen before.”
Ozzy leans forward, eyes narrowing. “Whose?”
Dean pauses for half a beat, and in that tiny space my body goes cold. I think I already know. Chills skate up and down my spine.
Then he says it. “Poe.”
The word hits the room like a gunshot. River gasps softly. Lark’s eyes widen. Knight’s jaw clenches. Gage’s face hardens. Juno stares at Dean like he must be wrong. Ozzy doesn’t move at first. He just stares at Dean, eyes sharp and disbelieving.
“That’s not possible,” Ozzy says, voice low and dangerous.
Rae swallows. “It’s his.”
Ozzy shakes his head once. “No. Poe doesn’t betray us.”
Dean’s voice stays calm. “I don’t want to believe it either. But the signature is consistent with previous work tied to his accounts.”
Ozzy’s hands curl into fists. “Accounts can be copied.”
“They can,” Rae agrees, but her eyes look miserable. “Not easily. Not without access. Not without knowing his style.” She sighs. “And… where is he?”
My heart pounds so hard it hurts. I look at Ozzy, watching his face fracture in real time. Rage and denial and fear all fighting to be the one in control.
Sawyer speaks then, voice clipped. “I just called the hospital.”
The room goes still again.
“What?” Arrow asks.
Sawyer’s expression hardens. “Salem’s father is missing.”
My breath leaves my body in a sharp rush. “No,” I whisper, the word thin.
Sawyer’s gaze flicks to me. “During the commotion, during shift change, he was moved.”
“Moved where,” I ask, my voice rising.
“They don’t know,” Sawyer replies. “He is not in the room. They have no record of where he went.”
My stomach twists hard. My father was fragile. Injured. Guarded. Someone took him anyway. Someone who knew he mattered. Someone who knew we would come back for answers.
“Camera footage shows a man in a hoodie. Might be Poe. Might not,” Sawyer says.
Ozzy’s face turns savage. “Poe?”
Dean’s eyes narrow. “We tried calling him.” He pulls his phone out, thumb moving quickly. “It went to voicemail. Then this came in.” Dean sets the phone on the table and slides it toward Ozzy.
Ozzy grabs it.
I lean closer, my breath catching.
A single text message. Just words that make my blood freeze.
Stop digging. You already have the girl. Be grateful.
Underneath it is a photo.
A blurry image taken from somewhere above. A hallway. A hospital corridor. A gurney being pushed. My father’s face visible for half a second, bruised and pale. A hand in the corner of the frame. Wearing a ring. The kind of ring you would only notice if you were looking for it.
Ozzy’s face goes white-hot with fury. “That’s him,” he whispers.
My throat closes. “Poe took my father?”
Dean’s voice is quiet and heavy. “It appears that way.”
Juno’s hand flies to her mouth. Arrow’s eyes turn hard. Gage looks like he wants to flip the table. River’s face crumples with horror.
And Ozzy slams the phone down so hard it rattles the laptops. “No,” he says, voice shaking now with something raw. “No. That’s not Poe. Poe would never—” His words break off.
Dean speaks with the kind of calm that scares me more than yelling. “We treat Poe as compromised. We locate him. We do it fast.”
Ozzy’s eyes are glassy. “You’re saying he’s the mole.”
Dean holds his gaze. “I’m saying everything points to him.”
Ozzy turns his head, like he’s searching the room for someone to argue with. For someone to tell him this is a mistake.
Nobody does.
Rae’s eyes drop to her keyboard. Sawyer’s jaw tightens. Arrow looks like a man ready to go to war. Juno grips his arm. Lark’s hand curls into a fist. Knight shifts closer to her. River squeezes Gage’s hand.
My chest feels hollow. The worst part is that I barely know Poe, yet I can already feel how much Ozzy does. How much losing trust in him costs.
“How?” Ozzy whispers, voice rough. “Why?”
Dean’s gaze flicks toward me. “Salem’s father said Serafina is closer than we think. Poe being the mole would fit that warning.”
My stomach twists. Closer than we think. Closer means inside. Inside means family.
Dean looks at Sawyer. “Lock down. Rotate codes. Physical checks. Nobody moves alone.”
Sawyer nods. “Already in motion.”
Arrow’s voice comes out low and lethal. “We find him.”
Dean nods once. “We will.”
Ozzy stands so fast his chair scrapes. “I’m going.”
Dean’s eyes sharpen. “You’re not going alone.”
Ozzy’s gaze flicks to me, and something soft breaks through the fury. He reaches for my hand, squeezing hard. “I’m not leaving her.”
Dean’s face softens a fraction. “You’re not. You’re taking her somewhere safer. Then you come back and we hunt.”
My stomach tightens. “I want to help.”
Ozzy’s thumb strokes my knuckles. “Not tonight.”
I hate that my eyes burn, but I nod because I can feel how close he is to snapping. If I fight him right now, he’ll break.
The meeting fractures into motion. People moving, voices low, plans being formed in clipped sentences. I catch words like perimeter, traffic cams, burner channels, dead drops, safehouse rotation.
Poe’s name keeps repeating like a wound.
I let Ozzy guide me out of the Aquarium. He walks fast, his body vibrating with anger. We pass through corridors and doors and into the parking lot where the air’s cold and sharp.
He gets me into a vehicle without speaking much, hands steady even though I can see the tremor in his jaw. The drive to his house is a blur of streetlights and silence.
When we arrive, he walks me inside like he’s afraid I’ll evaporate if he lets go. His house smells like him. Clean soap, metal, and something faintly spicy from whatever he cooks whenever things are normal.
He locks the door. Then he locks it again.
He checks windows. He checks rooms. He checks every corner like he is fighting the urge to tear the walls down and rebuild them stronger.
Finally, he comes back to the living room where I sit on the couch with my hands tucked under my thighs to stop them from shaking.
He stands in front of me for a moment, breathing hard. Then he kneels. His hands cup my face gently, careful of my bruise. “I love you,” he says. The words are steady, but his eyes look wrecked.
I smile. “I love you too.”
Ozzy’s forehead rests against mine. “I’m moving you to a new safehouse in the morning. Somewhere nobody knows. Somewhere even I won’t say out loud unless I have to.”
I swallow. “Okay.”
His hands slide to grip my shoulders. “Listen to me. You are safe tonight. You’re with me.”
My eyes burn again. “My father—”
“I know,” he whispers, and the pain in his voice makes my chest crack. “We’ll get him back.”
I inhale shakily. “What if Poe really did it?”
Ozzy shakes his head. He sits back on his heels, eyes locked on mine like he needs me to understand his truth. “I don’t believe it,” he says.
My breath catches. “Ozzy…”
He shakes his head. “I saw the text. I saw the signature. I know what it looks like. But I know Poe. I grew up with him. I trust him with my life.”
My stomach twists. “People can change.”
“They can,” Ozzy admits, voice rough. “But Poe isn’t the kind of man who sells girls to traffickers and steals beaten men out of hospitals. That doesn’t fit.”
A chill crawls up my spine. “So you think he’s being framed?”
Ozzy’s eyes sharpen. “Or coerced. Or forced. Or set up so Serafina can split us apart from the inside.”
My heart pounds. Closer than we think. Someone’s trying to make us turn on each other.
Ozzy exhales slowly, and his hands slide to mine, gripping tight. “I need you to hold onto something right now.”
I swallow. “What?”
His eyes soften, and he looks like the man who held me when I was shaking in the safehouse, not the man who wants to burn cities down. “Hold onto us,” he says quietly. “Hold onto the fact that I love you. Hold onto the fact that whatever this is, we are not letting it win.”
My throat burns. I nod. “Okay.”
Ozzy leans forward and kisses me, slow and steady, like he is anchoring both of us to the same ground. When he pulls back, he presses his forehead to mine again. “Sleep,” he whispers. “I’ll be right here.”
I stare at him. “You won’t leave.”
“Never,” he says.
Later, when the house is dark and the only light is the faint glow from a streetlamp outside, I lie curled against Ozzy’s chest on the couch because he refused to let me sleep alone.
His arms are locked around me like a promise.
His heartbeat is steady, but I can feel the tension in him, like a storm behind his ribs.
My father’s missing. Maddox Security is compromised. Poe is gone. Somewhere out there, Serafina’s smiling.
I close my eyes and force one last thought into my head before sleep tries to take me.
Ozzy loves me.
I love him. And whoever is trying to tear this team apart is about to learn what happens when you turn predators on each other. Because we are coming.
And this time, we’re not leaving anyone behind.