Chapter 78 Aaron
Aaron
Location: Briefing Room
Time: Minutes Later
The board fractures into purpose.
Three cities.
Three live crises.
Three simultaneous fronts.
Frankfurt.
Milan.
Istanbul.
Each one ticking toward disaster.
Each one exactly where he wants them.
We don’t stop them.
We step into them.
“Three teams,” I say, voice cutting clean through the room. “One per city.”
No hesitation.
No questions.
They’re already moving.
Gear shifts. Weapons checked. Routes calculated.
Delta Five doesn’t need instructions.
They need direction.
“And the target?” Cal asks, though we both already know the answer.
I look at the screen.
At the ghost behind all of it.
“Kade.”
The name lands like a promise.
Cal’s expression doesn’t change—but something in his posture tightens.
“They’ll protect him,” he says.
Not concern.
Reality.
I hold his gaze.
“They won’t protect him from us.”
That’s the truth.
And everyone in the room knows it.
Movement continues around us—fast, efficient, lethal.
But for a second—
everything narrows.
Lark’s hand finds mine.
Warm.
Steady.
Real.
I look down at it, then back at her.
“You’re not dying tonight,” she says.
Not fear.
Not pleading.
A line drawn.
I step closer.
Close enough that the noise of the room fades.
“Neither are you.”
Her eyes search mine.
Not for doubt.
For truth.
“Promise.”
There it is.
The thing I don’t give lightly.
The thing I don’t break.
“I don’t break those,” I tell her.
And I mean it.
Even if I have to tear the world apart to keep it.