Chapter 14 Havoc
Havoc
The call comes in just after noon.
Aspen.
Her voice is tight.
“You might want to come out here.”
That’s never a sentence that ends well.
I grab my truck keys.
Wolf climbs in beside me without asking questions.
“What happened?”
“Don’t know yet.”
But my gut already says otherwise.
We reach the farm in a few minutes.
Aspen is standing outside the barn.
Arms folded.
Looking worried.
Dylan is bouncing beside her like he’s just discovered buried treasure.
Buddy sits proudly at his feet.
Aspen walks over.
“We found something.”
She leads us into the barn.
The lockbox sits on a workbench.
Old.
Military grade.
My stomach drops.
I recognize the model immediately.
“Where did this come from?” Wolf asks.
“Under the floor,” Aspen says.
Dylan beams.
“Buddy found it!”
The dog thumps his tail.
I crouch beside the box.
The lock is rusted.
But the engraving on the lid stops my breathing.
A name.
Carved deep into the metal.
J. Gray
Tank’s real name.
Joseph Gray.
Wolf exhales slowly.
“Looks like Tank left something behind.”
Aspen frowns.
“Joseph never mentioned a lockbox.”
My instincts scream.
If Tank hid this…
There was a reason.
And buried secrets rarely stay buried forever.
My mind is racing.
Too many questions.
Too many unknowns.
But even as Havoc opens the box—
my eyes drift back to Dylan.
Standing there.
Watching everything.
Too young for this.
Way too young.
I move closer to him without thinking, resting my hand on his back.
Grounding him.
Grounding myself.
Whatever this is…
I have to protect him from it.