Chapter 16 Embers
EMBERS
The safe house was a farmhouse thirty miles outside the city.
Maria had arranged it—some connection through her family, a place off the grid where Phoenix could regroup without worrying about cops or cameras.
The survivors from Viper's compound were there too, settled into the barn that had been converted into emergency housing.
Doctors Tyler trusted were treating their wounds—physical and otherwise.
I hadn't slept in thirty-six hours. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw cages. Hollow eyes. A twelve-year-old boy who wouldn't look up. And underneath it all, the weight of what Chen had said.
Thirty-seven more.
"You need to rest." Axel's voice came from the doorway of the small bedroom we'd claimed. He looked as wrecked as I felt—showered but still carrying shadows under his eyes, tension in every line of his body.
"Can't." I was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing. "Every time I try, I hear her voice."
He crossed to me, knelt on the floor, took my hands in his. His knuckles were scraped raw—from the fight, from Viper, from everything. "We'll find them," he said. "The other victims. We'll find them and we'll end this."
"And if we can't? If she's telling the truth and we have to choose between the evidence and their lives?"
"Then we find another way." His grey eyes held mine, fierce and certain. "We don't let her win, Kai. Not like this."
I wanted to believe him. Wanted to have that same certainty.
But I'd held a dying girl's hand through metal bars.
I'd watched Tyler stitch his own arm with hands that wouldn't stop shaking.
I'd killed a man and felt nothing but satisfaction.
The world wasn't certain anymore. Maybe it never had been.
"Come here." Axel pulled me down onto the bed, wrapped himself around me. I let him—let his warmth seep into the cold places, let his heartbeat steady my own. "Just for a few hours. Let me hold you."
"Okay." The word came out broken. "Okay."
I fell asleep with his arms around me and his breath warm against my neck.
For once, I didn't dream.
Morning brought coffee, exhaustion, and a plan.
Tyler had been up all night, working his contacts—other agents he still trusted, sources from his undercover days, anyone who might know about Viper's secondary operations. By the time I stumbled into the farmhouse kitchen, he had maps spread across the table and a look on his face I couldn't read.
"Tell me you found something." I dropped into a chair, accepted the mug Axel pressed into my hands.
"Maybe." Tyler pointed to a cluster of red marks on the map.
"Viper had three properties we knew about—the compound, a warehouse in the port district, and a house in the suburbs he used for meetings.
But there were always rumors of a fourth location.
Somewhere he kept his most valuable... merchandise. "
The word made my stomach turn. "Where?"
"That's the problem. No one knows for sure.
Viper was paranoid—kept it completely off the books, different crews running it, no overlap with his main operation.
" Tyler ran a hand through his hair. "But I've got a lead.
One of his lieutenants—a guy named Marco—handled logistics for the transport side. He might know."
"Where's Marco now?"
"County lockup. Got picked up on an unrelated charge yesterday. Driving under the influence, of all things." A grim smile crossed Tyler's face. "I can get access. Flash my badge, claim I need to question him about an ongoing investigation. But I'll need backup in case Chen's people are watching."
"I'll go." Axel's voice was flat. "Tank's still recovering, but Irish and Blade can hold things here."
"I want to come too."
Both of them turned to look at me.
"Kai—" Axel started.
"Marco doesn't know you. He doesn't know Tyler, not really—Tyler was undercover in a different part of the operation." I met their eyes, one after the other. "But he might have seen me. At the warehouse, when we were freeing the victims. My face was everywhere in that chaos."
"That's an argument for you staying away."
"No, it's leverage. If he recognizes me, he knows Phoenix took down his boss. He knows we're serious." I set down my mug. "I'm done sitting on the sidelines. You both know I can handle myself."
Tyler and Axel exchanged a look—the silent communication of men who'd learned to read each other through violence and necessity.
"He's right," Tyler finally said. "And honestly? Having a nurse along might be useful. And he might need... motivation."
"You mean intimidation."
"I mean whatever works." Tyler's expression hardened. "Thirty-seven lives, Kai. I'll do whatever it takes."
So would I. That was the part that scared me.
The county lockup was a grey concrete box on the outskirts of the city.
Tyler flashed his badge at the front desk, spun a story about following up on leads from a federal investigation. The desk sergeant barely looked up—just waved us through to the interview rooms with the bored efficiency of someone who'd seen too many suits to care.
Marco was brought in fifteen minutes later. He was smaller than I expected—wiry, nervous, with darting eyes that took in Tyler's badge, Axel's bulk, and my purple-streaked hair in quick succession. When his gaze landed on me, something flickered. Recognition.
"You," he breathed. "You were at the warehouse. You're the one who—"
"Freed twenty-three people from cages? Yeah." I sat down across from him, kept my voice calm. "That was me."
Marco's eyes went to the door, calculating escape routes. Axel shifted his weight, blocking the exit. The message was clear.
"What do you want?" Marco's voice had lost its bravado.
"Information." Tyler leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Viper's secondary location. The one he kept off the books."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." I pulled out my phone, showed him a photo—one of the victims we'd rescued, a girl no older than fifteen. "This is Ana. She was in one of those cages for three weeks. Three weeks, Marco. Do you know what they did to her?"
He flinched. Good.
"There are thirty-seven more. Somewhere in this city, right now, waiting to be sold. And you're going to tell us where."
"I can't—" He swallowed. "If Chen finds out I talked—"
"Chen's going down." Tyler's voice was ice. "Her files are in federal custody. Her operation is burning. The only question is whether you go down with her or cut a deal while you still can."
"You're FBI. You could protect me?"
"That depends entirely on what you give us in the next five minutes."
Marco looked between us—the fed with the badge, the biker with the murder in his eyes, the nurse with blood still under his fingernails. Whatever he saw convinced him.
"There's a farm," he said. "About forty miles north. Used to be a dairy operation before it went under. Viper bought it through a shell company three years ago. That's where he keeps..." He couldn't finish the sentence.
"Address."
He gave it. Tyler wrote it down, then nodded to Axel.
"We're done here." Tyler pocketed his notebook. "For the record, Marco—you never saw us. You never talked to us. And if I find out you warned anyone about this conversation, I'll make sure you end up in general population with a jacket that says 'child trafficker' on it."
Marco went pale. He didn't say another word as the guard led him away.
The drive back in Tyler’s car to the safe house was silent.
I sat in the back seat, watching the city give way to farmland, trying to process what we'd learned.
I caught my reflection in the car window—hair faded, the purple now too dull for my liking.
I'd stopped dyeing it at the same time I'd killed the violet underlights on my Kawasaki.
Making myself smaller. Harder to identify. Harder to find.
I hated it. Hated that they'd taken even this from me—this small, stupid piece of who I was.
When this is over, I promised myself. When Chen is gone. I'm bringing it all back.
Forty miles north. A farm. Thirty-seven people, waiting for rescue—or death, if Chen made good on her threat. "We hit it tonight." Axel's voice broke the silence. "Don't give her time to move them."
"Agreed." Tyler nodded, eyes fixed on the road. "But we need to be smart. Chen might be expecting us. She'll have people there."
"Then we bring everyone. Full assault, like the compound."
"With half our guys wounded and Tank still limping?" Tyler shook his head. "We need a different approach."
"What are you thinking?"
Tyler was quiet for a moment. Then: "Let me make some calls. I might be able to get backup—real backup. Agents I trust, ones Chen hasn't gotten to."
"You trust anyone in the Bureau after all this?"
"A few." His jaw tightened. "My old partner, for one. She's been suspicious of Chen for years but could never prove anything. If I bring her the evidence we have..."
"You'd be exposing yourself. Admitting you went undercover without authorization."
"I know." Tyler glanced at me in the rearview mirror. "But some things are worth the risk."
I thought about the girl in the cage. About Ana's bird-bone fingers. About thirty-seven people whose lives depended on what we did next.
"Make the calls," I said. "Whatever it takes."
Evening fell soft and golden over the farmhouse.
The survivors were settled in the barn, watched over by Maria and a rotating guard of Phoenix members. Doctors had treated the worst of the injuries. Tomorrow, they'd start figuring out how to get everyone home—the ones who still had homes to go to.
I found Axel on the porch, staring at the sunset. "Hey." I settled beside him on the worn wooden steps. "Tyler's inside, coordinating with his partner. They're putting together a team for tonight."
"I know." He didn't look at me. "Hawk's briefing the men now."
"You should be in there."
"Probably." A pause. "But I needed a minute. To breathe."