Chapter 53 Raine
Raine
The motel room still smelled faintly of antiseptic from the medics, but I couldn’t shake the stench of blood and smoke that clung to my memory. I sat cross-legged on the bed, absently fingering the bandage at my ribs, while Adam paced by the window.
He’d been pacing for twenty minutes, jaw clenched, eyes sharp as glass.
Finally, I asked, “What is it?”
He turned, shoulders taut. “Troopers reported in from the ridge.”
My stomach tightened. “And?”
“They found the vans.” His voice was low, clipped. “Still there. Still chained. The people inside were alive.”
I let out a shaky breath. Relief, at least for them. “That’s good news.”
Adam’s expression didn’t soften. “Not when there wasn’t a single masked man left. Not dead. Not wounded. Nothing. Like they were never there.”
A chill crawled down my spine. I knew about the blood on the mud, the masked bodies dropping one by one under the fire. I’d seen them. We all had.
“You’re saying—”
“I’m saying someone got there before DPS did.” He raked a hand through his hair, voice rough with anger. “Cleaned the ridge. Everybody, every shell casing. Gone.”
My throat closed. “That’s impossible. In that storm—”
“Not impossible.” His eyes met mine, dark and steady. “Organized. Efficient. Which means this wasn’t just a cartel hit or some backwoods militia. This was bigger. And whoever they are, they don’t want to be seen.”
I shivered despite the warm room. The idea of masked men vanishing into the storm was bad enough. But someone powerful enough to erase an entire battlefield? That was terrifying.
Adam came to sit beside me, his hand covering mine. His skin was warm, grounding, but the storm in his voice was real.
“They tested us last night, Raine. And now they’ve covered their tracks. Which means they’re planning something else.”
I looked into his eyes and saw the truth I didn’t want to admit.
The fight on the ridge hadn’t been the war.
It had only been the beginning.