60. Blaze
BLAZE
The second Shepherd lifted that photograph?—
I fired.
Gunshots exploded through the storm.
The ridge erupted instantly.
Shadow Division opened fire hard from both flanks as Shepherd dove backward behind the trees.
“MOVE!” Wolf roared.
I grabbed Flick around the waist and slammed her behind the rock just as bullets ripped through branches above us.
Wood exploded.
Mud sprayed.
Thunder crashed so loud it nearly drowned out the screaming gunfire.
Flick clutched my vest hard enough to hurt.
“Hersh—”
“Stay down.”
Another round cracked past my head.
Too close.
Way too damn close.
Trigger’s voice thundered through comms.
“Two shooters north ridge!”
Rook answered instantly.
“Take them.”
Automatic fire erupted deeper in the woods.
One scream cut off abruptly.
Then silence.
Not good silence.
The kind right before more killing started.
I risked a glance over the rock?—
and caught movement.
Shepherd.
Running downhill through the trees.
Fast.
Calculated.
Not retreating.
Positioning.
My blood went cold.
“He’s circling,” I growled.
Wolf saw it too.
“That bastard’s trying to separate us.”
Exactly.
Because Shepherd didn’t want a firefight.
He wanted Flick.
A branch snapped somewhere behind us.
I spun instantly?—
weapon up?—
but Rook stepped from the darkness first, soaked in rain and carrying enough weapons to invade a country.
His gray eyes landed on Flick.
Then on me.
“Status.”
“Shepherd’s moving east.”
Rook nodded once.
“On purpose.”
Flick slowly stood behind me, pale beneath the rain.
“That picture…” Her voice shook. “Why does he have that picture?”
Nobody answered immediately.
Because we all already knew.
Surveillance.
Stalking.
Planning.
He acted like he was a man obsessed.
This wasn’t random.
It had never been.
Rook’s expression darkened slightly.
“He’s been watching you for years.”
Flick looked physically sick.
“No…”
“Hollow Men don’t improvise,” Rook said coldly. “They study. They wait. Then they eliminate threats.”
Wolf muttered a curse beneath his breath.
I kept my body between Flick and the trees.
Every instinct inside me screamed the same thing?—
move her.
Now.
But before I could speak?—
Shepherd’s voice drifted through the woods again.
Calm.
Close.
Too close.
“You still don’t understand, Blaze.”
Every weapon snapped toward the darkness.
Nothing there.
Just rain.
Trees.
Shadows.
Then—
“She was never collateral.”
Flick’s fingers curled hard into the back of my shirt.
I could feel her shaking now.
Rook lifted his rifle slightly.
“Keep talking, Shepherd.”
A soft laugh echoed through the storm.
“You think Mercer built this alone?”
My jaw tightened.
There it was.
The real game.
Politics.
Money.
Power.
The kind of evil that wore suits instead of masks.
Shepherd continued calmly.
“Her father stole something he was never supposed to find.”
Flick made a tiny broken sound behind me.
“What did he take?” Rook demanded.
Lightning split the sky.
And for half a second?—
I saw Shepherd standing farther up the ridge between the trees.
Watching us.
Watching Flick.
“Proof,” he said softly.
Then he smiled.
And disappeared into the storm.
“MOVE!” Rook barked instantly.
Gunfire exploded again.
This time from three directions.
Not Hollow Men.
Snipers.
The first round hit one of Shadow Division’s operators square in the vest hard enough to throw him backward.
The second shattered the rock beside Wolf’s head.
The third?—
was aimed directly at Flick.
I saw it coming.
Didn’t think.
Didn’t hesitate.
I grabbed her and twisted?—
Pain detonated through my side like fire.
Flick screamed my name as we crashed hard into the mud together.