Chapter 74 Adam
Adam
The room emptied into motion the second Raine declared herself in.
Hawk and Blade checked weapons with the same calm precision as if they were tightening bootlaces.
Russ spread out maps across the bed, his neat handwriting already filling the margins.
Boone muttered into the glow of his laptop, chasing down the next breadcrumb.
Logan paced near the window, arms crossed, still bristling but not fighting anymore.
And Raine—she stood with her chin high, checking her pistol like she’d never set it down.
I let my gaze linger on her a second too long. She caught me, of course. She always did. That little spark in her eyes said she knew exactly what I was thinking: she shouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t let her be anywhere else.
I cleared my throat and turned to the team. “We’ve got four hours before that truck rolls. Rest if you can, but gear up. Boone’ll track route changes from here, feed intel to Russ. Hawk, Blade, Logan—you’re with me on the intercept. Raine’s with me, period.”
Logan’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t argue. Progress.
Hawk grinned, low and wolfish. “About damn time we stretched our legs.”
Russ just nodded. “I’ll handle the paper trail. Make sure the evidence sticks.”
“Good,” I said. “Because this op isn’t about a body count. It’s about proof. We get evidence on who’s running this machine, we use it to cut deeper. One hub leads to another. One shipment gives us a chain.”
Blade twirled his knife, silent, but I saw the hunger in his eyes. He was ready to spill blood if the chance came.
Boone looked up finally, his expression tight. “You’re not just poking the bear, Stoker. You’re jamming a knife in its throat. You sure you want to start in Dallas?”
I met his eyes. “We don’t wait for them to come back for us. We take the fight to them.”
The silence that followed wasn’t disagreement. It was acceptance.
I glanced once more at Raine. She was already lacing her boots, her movements steady, calm. The captain I remembered—the one I’d lost, the one I’d never stopped loving—was standing right there.
And for the first time in years, I didn’t feel like I was leading alone.
“We roll in four,” I said. “And when that truck leaves Dallas, it doesn’t make it past us.”