48. Blaze
BLAZE
Nobody breathed.
The video continued playing across the laptop screen while thunder shook the farmhouse walls.
Mercer stood in the middle of the warehouse smiling like the devil himself.
Children huddled behind him.
Crying.
Terrified.
Armed men surrounding them.
And that symbol?—
the raven.
Shadow Division’s raven.
Every muscle in Rook’s body locked instantly.
Not fear.
Not shock.
Recognition.
Dangerous recognition.
Wolf noticed it too. “You know that symbol.”
Rook didn’t answer right away.
His steel-gray eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
Cold enough to freeze blood.
Trigger looked between them nervously. “Okay, somebody say something because the silent death stare thing is freaking me out.”
The video crackled.
Mercer’s voice filled the kitchen.
“If you’re watching this… then it means someone betrayed me.”
My jaw clenched instantly.
Mercer looked directly into the camera.
Calm.
Controlled.
Like a man completely certain nobody could touch him.
“You think you’re hunting monsters,” he continued smoothly. “But monsters don’t hide in shadows…”
His smile widened slightly.
“They build them.”
Rook went completely still beside the table.
Then Mercer said the one thing that changed the air in the room.
“Tell Callahan I remember Black Hollow.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Rook’s expression didn’t change.
But the temperature in the farmhouse dropped twenty degrees.
Ava frowned slowly. “What the hell is Black Hollow?”
Rook reached forward calmly?—
and closed the laptop.
Hard.
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then Wolf said quietly, “You want to explain that?”
Rook stared at the dark laptop for one long second.
And for the first time since he arrived?—
he looked angry.
Not irritated.
Not controlled.
Furious.
The kind of fury buried so deep it became terrifyingly calm.
“One of our operations,” he said quietly.
Trigger folded his arms. “That sounds like a massive understatement.”
Rook ignored him.
“It was a Shadow Division site overseas.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Years ago.”
I watched him carefully now.
The same way he’d watched us.
Because suddenly something bigger sat underneath all of this.
Something old.
Something personal.
Flick slowly stood from the couch, careful not to wake Mia.
“You knew Mercer before my father died.”
Rook’s eyes lifted to her.
“Yes.”
That one word landed heavy.
“How?” she whispered.
Rook exhaled once slowly.
Then finally gave us the truth.
“Before Mercer became a senator… he funded covert operations.”
Wolf frowned. “Government black sites?”
“Yes.”
Ava looked sick already.
Rook continued anyway.
“Black Hollow was supposed to be a rescue and intelligence holding facility.”
“Supposed to be?” Trigger repeated carefully.
Rook’s eyes darkened.
“It became a slaughterhouse.”
Silence crashed through the room.
Flick’s fingers tightened against the back of the couch.
“What do you mean?”
Rook looked directly at her.
“Children disappeared there.”
Jesus Christ.
I saw Flick pale instantly beside me.
My body reacted before thought did.
I moved closer.
Close enough she could lean into me if she needed.
Rook noticed.
But kept talking.
“Mercer financed trafficking routes disguised as intelligence extraction pipelines.”
Wolf swore quietly.
“He sold kids through government operations?”
“Yes.”
The word hit like a bullet.
Ava covered her mouth.
Trigger looked ready to throw up.
And suddenly I understood why Rook had that look in his eyes whenever Mercer’s name came up.
Hatred.
Pure hatred.
Rook stepped away from the table slowly.
“Shadow Division discovered what Black Hollow really was after an extraction went wrong.”
His voice lowered slightly.
“We found graves.”
No one spoke.
Rain battered the windows harder.
The storm outside sounding almost violent enough to match the room.
“How many?” Wolf finally asked quietly.
Rook’s stare went distant for half a second.
“Too many.”
Something in Flick broke beside me then.
I heard it in the way her breathing caught.
The way tears filled her eyes instantly.
“My father found this,” she whispered shakily.
Rook nodded once.
“Yes.”
“And Mercer killed him for it.”
Another nod.
My hands curled into fists.
Because suddenly her father’s fear made horrifying sense.
He hadn’t uncovered corruption.
He’d uncovered evil.
Real evil.
The kind buried under money, power, and bodies.
Trigger rubbed both hands over his face. “Okay. Cool. Awesome. So we’re fighting a senator, a cartel, corrupt federal agents, and apparently a government-funded child trafficking operation.”
Wolf muttered, “When you say it out loud it sounds worse.”
“It IS worse.”
Then—
one of Shadow Division’s operators near the window suddenly stiffened.
Hand lifting to his earpiece.
Rook noticed instantly. “Report.”
The operator’s face hardened.
“We’ve got movement.”
Every weapon in the room came up immediately.
My pulse slammed hard.
“How many?”
The operator looked toward the dark tree line outside.
“Multiple vehicles approaching fast.”
Thunder exploded overhead.
Then headlights appeared through the rain.
Coming straight toward the farmhouse.
And beside me?—
Flick whispered the words that turned my blood cold.
“That’s my father’s security convoy.”