Chapter 72 Lark
Lark
Location: Safehouse — Mountains Outside Lisbon
Time: Five Hours Later
You can feel them before you see them.
The air changes.
Subtle.
But absolute.
The first arrives by helicopter.
No markings. No chatter. Just a controlled descent that feels more like a calculation than a landing.
The second comes through the front door forty minutes later—
Tourist jacket. Passport. Civilian mask.
Eyes that miss nothing.
The third…
Doesn’t arrive.
He’s just suddenly there. The others follow him.
Inside the room.
No door opening. No warning.
Just presence.
I don’t ask how.
I already know the answer.
They move differently than anyone I’ve ever seen.
Not tense.
Not aggressive.
Certain.
Like the outcome is already decided—they’re just here to carry it out.
One of them steps closer.
Tall. Controlled. Still in a way that feels more dangerous than movement.
His gaze flicks to Aaron.
Measures him.
Respects him.
Then shifts to me.
And lingers.
Longer than it should.
“So,” he says, voice calm, almost conversational,
“you’re the reason the world’s on fire.”
Not accusation.
Assessment.
I hold his gaze.
“Yes.”
Silence stretches.
Then—
He smiles.
Sharp. Interested.
“I like her.”
Another voice cuts in from behind him.
“You would.”
A second man steps forward—broader, colder, eyes like he’s already seen the ending.
“Question is,” he adds, looking directly at me,
“are you going to save it…”
A beat.
“Or burn it down the right way?”
I don’t answer.
Because the truth is—
I don’t know yet.
And they can see that.
Which only makes them more dangerous.