Chapter 18 Havoc
Havoc
Night settles over the farm.
The stars are bright at night here.
Ace and Blaze take first watch outside.
Wolf is monitoring the road.
Saint is running background checks on the truck’s plates.
He’s also trying to open the flash drive.
The Rangers move like a machine when something threatens our own.
Aspen doesn’t belong to us.
But somehow…
She does.
I step out onto the porch.
Buddy follows.
The dog flops down beside my boot.
“You’re sticking with me, huh?”
He thumps his tail.
Inside the house, Dylan laughs at something Blaze said.
Aspen’s voice drifts through the window.
Soft.
Tired.
But safe.
For now.
My phone buzzes.
Saint.
“I got something,” he says.
“Truck is registered to a shell company out of Reno.”
Nevada.
Great.
“That mean anything to you?” I ask.
Saint pauses.
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“It’s connected to an old weapons trafficking investigation.”
The words sink like a stone.
Tank’s lockbox.
The map.
The flash drive.
Someone out there thinks Joseph Gray hid something important.
And now they’re looking for it.
I glance toward the house.
Toward Aspen.
Toward Dylan.
Toward the life Tank left behind.
My voice goes cold.
“Then we make sure they never get it.”
Buddy lifts his head.
Like he understands exactly what that means.