46. Blaze
BLAZE
The room stayed dead silent after Rook’s words.
Targets for elimination.
Flick’s breathing turned shallow beside me.
I could feel it.
Every tremor.
Every ounce of fear she was trying not to show.
And something savage inside me snapped.
Not loud.
Not explosive.
Worse.
Cold.
Controlled.
The kind of anger that didn’t fade.
I looked straight at Rook. “How long before Mercer makes a move?”
“Soon.”
Not the answer I wanted.
“How soon?”
Rook’s steel-gray eyes held mine evenly.
“He already knows Shadow Division entered the board.”
Wolf frowned. “How?”
Rook gave him a look that somehow managed to say because this thing goes deeper than you realize without speaking.
“Mercer has eyes everywhere.”
Trigger cursed quietly.
Ava crossed her arms. “Then this farmhouse is compromised.”
“Yes,” Rook answered immediately.
Flick stiffened beside me. “What?”
“We move tonight,” Rook said.
“No.”
Every head turned toward me.
I stepped closer instinctively, putting myself between Flick and the room again.
“She’s exhausted.”
“She’s alive,” Rook corrected calmly. “That’s the priority.”
I hated that he was right.
Flick’s fingers wrapped around my arm suddenly.
“Hersh…”
I looked down immediately.
Fear sat in her eyes now.
Not panic.
Not weakness.
Just exhaustion from carrying too much terror for too long.
And Christ?—
that nearly destroyed me.
“We’re not separating,” she whispered.
“Never,” I said instantly.
No hesitation.
None.
Rook watched us both quietly.
Then nodded once.
“You stay together.”
Wolf pushed away from the counter. “Where are we moving them?”
Rook looked toward one of his operators near the door.
The man handed him a tablet.
Satellite images flashed across the screen.
Mountains.
Forests.
A lake.
Remote cabins.
“No digital footprint,” Rook said. “No nearby roads. Shadow Division safe site.”
Trigger blinked. “You people seriously have secret mountain hideouts?”
Rook looked at him flatly.
“You don’t?”
Trigger looked offended. “Now I feel underprepared.”
Even Flick let out the faintest breath of laughter beside me.
Tiny.
Fragile.
But hearing it after tonight hit me right in the chest.
Rook noticed too.
Something unreadable moved across his expression before he looked back at me.
“Mercer won’t stop now.”
“I know.”
“He’ll escalate.”
“I know.”
“He’ll come at her through you.”
That one landed.
Because he was right.
Mercer understood exactly where to cut.
Rook stepped closer then.
Not threatening.
But close enough I understood this wasn’t casual anymore.
“He’s going to force you into making a mistake.”
I held his gaze evenly. “Then I’ll kill him before he gets the chance.”
The room went still again.
Not because of what I said.
Because everybody believed me.
Rook studied me for one long second.
Then—
unexpectedly—
he gave a slight nod.
Approval.
Warrior to warrior.
“Good,” he said quietly. “Because that’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”
A sharp knock suddenly hit the back door.
Every weapon in the room came up instantly.
Flick gasped softly beside me.
Trigger moved first, sliding toward the kitchen wall.
Wolf killed the lights.
Darkness swallowed the farmhouse immediately.
Rain hammered the roof.
Thunder cracked overhead.
Another knock.
Three short taps.
One long.
Rook relaxed first.
“Stand down.”
Nobody did.
Rook sighed slightly. “Friendly.”
Wolf opened the door cautiously.
A woman stepped inside wearing black tactical gear soaked from the storm.
Dark braid.
Sharp eyes.
A pistol strapped to her thigh.
She moved with the same controlled danger as the rest of Shadow Division.
But it was the little girl beside her that froze the room.
Maybe six years old.
Blonde curls soaked from the rain.
Tiny hand clutching the woman’s jacket.
Flick immediately stepped forward before she could stop herself.
“Oh my Goodness…”
The child looked terrified.
The woman shut the door behind them. “We intercepted Mercer’s cleanup crew two counties over.”
Rook’s expression hardened instantly. “Survivors?”
“Only her.”
The little girl stared at all of us with huge frightened eyes.
Then whispered something so softly I almost didn’t hear it.
“They killed my mommy.”
Flick made a broken sound beside me.
And suddenly I understood exactly why Rook had come here personally.
This wasn’t just corruption anymore.
This wasn’t politics.
Mercer was erasing witnesses.
Families.
Children.
Anyone who could expose him.
The woman handed Rook a bloodstained flash drive.
“We pulled this off one of Mercer’s men before he died.”
Rook looked down at it once.
Then his steel-gray eyes lifted slowly toward me.
“This,” he said quietly, “is what Mercer’s willing to kill thousands to protect.”