Luke
The ops room in the stables is something most people would never expect to find on a working ranch. Hell, most people don't even know it exists.
The room is maybe fifteen by twenty feet—not huge but efficiently designed.
Three workstations line the far wall, each with dual monitors and encrypted communication systems. A large central screen dominates the space above them, currently dark.
The walls are lined with a server rack humming quietly, indicator lights blinking in steady rhythm.
It's professional and sophisticated—the kind of setup you'd find in a private military contractor's headquarters, not a Montana cattle ranch.
But that's exactly what Blackthorn is becoming—a base of operations for something bigger than any of us planned when we bought this place. Despite Mason wanting to raise horses.
Jake drops into one of the chairs and starts booting up the systems. Mason looks over the intel Harper brought us.
I lean against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching them work. This is what we do, what we've always done: assess, plan, and execute. Except this time, it's not a mission overseas. It's here—at home—and the stakes include people we love.
Harper's face flashes through my mind—the way she looked on the porch when Turner smiled at her. The barely controlled fury. The protective instinct that nearly sent her launching off the steps at him.
I've never seen her that close to losing it. And I've never wanted to kill someone more than I did watching Turner assess her like she was a piece on his chessboard.
"Luke." Jake's voice pulls me back. "You with us?"
"Yeah." I push off the doorframe and move to the center workstation. "Let's do this."
Mason's fingers fly across the keyboard, pulling up the encrypted video call interface. A moment later, the central screen flickers to life.
Hendricks appears, his face filling the frame. He's in a hotel room somewhere—generic beige walls, cheap art, the kind of place you stay when you're working and don't want to be remembered. His laptop is propped on a desk, and I can see the edge of a tactical vest hanging on a chair behind him.
"Gentlemen," Hendricks says, his voice clear through the speakers. "Thanks for making time."
"You said it was urgent." Jake shifts his chair to get more in the frame. "What've you got?"
"Clearwater Holdings," Hendricks says.
I straighten. That's the shell company Harper discovered, the one buying up all the properties Turner's been acquiring.
"What about it?" Mason asks.
"It's not Turner's." Hendricks taps something off-screen, and a document appears on our monitors—corporate filings, ownership records, financial transactions.
"Clearwater Holdings is registered to a holding company in Delaware.
That company is owned by another company in the Caymans.
And that company"—he pauses for effect—"is controlled by the Reyes family. "
The room goes silent.
"The cartel," Jake says quietly.
“Eh." Hendricks wiggles his hand back and forth. “They’re more like the mafia than the cartel, if you want to label them. Technically, they’re a multigenerational business empire that dabbles in a wide range of things, some illegal.”
I snort. “To-may-to, to-mah-to.”
“The Reyes family runs drugs and weapons through the Southwest,” Hendricks continues. “Big operation. Very professional. They've been expanding north for the past five years, and Montana's become a key corridor for moving product into Canada."
"So Turner's working for them," I say, my mind already connecting the dots. "He's acquiring the land to create a trafficking route—"
"Not just human trafficking," Hendricks interrupts. "They move everything. Cattle and feed, lumber, freight, drugs, weapons, you name it. Turner's building infrastructure for a multi-state operation, and the Reyes family is bankrolling it through Clearwater."
Mason swears under his breath.
I glance at Jake, thinking about Emma and the Circle H sitting right in the middle of Turner's acquisition map. Jake's pregnant wife is the final obstacle between Turner and complete territorial control.
"Is Reyes behind the push to force Emma to sell?" Jake asks.
Shrugging, Hendricks leans back in his chair. "Hard to say. Turner's the one making the moves on the ground. Whether he's acting on orders or taking initiative, I don't know yet. But the Reyes family owns the company buying the land, so they're definitely invested in the outcome."
Jake's jaw tightens. "Then we're not just dealing with Turner."
"Yeah." Hendricks doesn't sugarcoat it. "The Reyes family makes this a hell of a lot more complicated."
I lean forward, resting my hands on the desk. "What else?"
"Turner's looking for someone," Hendricks says. "A woman. He's had men searching Texas for the past two months. San Antonio, Austin, Houston. They grabbed Jenna Morales by mistake, thinking she was the target."
"Who's the target?" Mason asks.
"Don't know yet." Hendricks pulls up another file—surveillance photos, grainy and distant.
A woman in a baseball cap, face obscured.
"Whoever she is, she's good. She's been systematically eliminating Turner's buyers.
Three dead in the past two months. All of them looked like accidents or random violence, but the pattern's there if you know what to look for. "
I study the photos. The woman's posture is controlled and tactical, like she has training. "You think she's hunting them?”
"Yeah." Hendricks nods. "And she's damn good at it. I've been trying to track her down, but she's a ghost. No digital footprint. No credit cards. No phone records. She's operating completely off-grid."
“Careful, Hendricks.” I can't help the grin that tugs at my mouth. "You keep talking about her like that and we’ll think you have a crush.”
He gives me a flat look. "You done?"
“Never,” I say, balancing on the back two legs of my chair.
Mason snorts. Jake shakes his head.
"I'm working on pinning her down," Hendricks continues, ignoring my chuckle. "But she's careful. Professional. Whoever trained her knew what they were doing."
"Is the Reyes family hunting her too?" Jake asks. "If she's taking out Turner's buyers, she's costing them money."
Hendricks shakes his head. "That's the weird part. As far as I can tell, no one in the Reyes organization is looking for her."
I exchange a glance with Mason. "That doesn't make sense."
"No," Hendricks agrees. "It doesn't. If she's disrupting Turner's operation, Reyes should want her eliminated. But there's no chatter, no bounty, and no resources being deployed to find her."
"Maybe they don't know about her yet," Mason suggests.
"Maybe." Hendricks doesn't sound convinced. "Or maybe they don't care. The Reyes family runs drugs and weapons. That's their bread and butter. Trafficking is new for them. It's possible they're letting Turner handle the problems on that front."
"Or," I say slowly, "they're letting her do their work for them."
Jake looks at me. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it." I gesture to the screen. "She's taking out Turner's buyers. That weakens his operation without them having to lift a finger. If Turner's becoming a liability, maybe they're happy to let someone else clean up the mess."
Hendricks considers that. "It's possible. Mateo Reyes, the heir apparent, is smart. They don't make moves unless they have to. If this woman is solving a problem for them, they might just sit back and watch."
"Which means Turner's on his own," Mason concludes.
"Yeah." I prop my legs on the table, processing. "And that makes him dangerous. He's operating without backup, trying to hold together an operation that's falling apart. Men like that get desperate."
"Or they escalate," Jake says grimly.
I think about Turner standing on our porch this morning, smiling like he owned the place. Offering campaign pins. Making veiled threats wrapped in civility. He's not desperate yet, but he's close.
Jake faces Hendricks. "We need a plan. Turner's loose, and he has institutional backing even if the Reyes family isn't actively supporting him. He walked onto Blackthorn like he had nothing to fear. That means he thinks he's untouchable."
I drop my chair to the ground. "He's not.”
"No." Jake meets my gaze. "But we need to be smart about this. If we move against Turner directly, we're not just dealing with him. We're dealing with the Reyes family, the sheriff's department, and Turner’s political connections. All of it."
"So what do you suggest?" Mason asks.
"We find the woman," Jake says. "If she's hunting Turner's operation, she's an asset. If the Reyes family isn't looking for her, that means she's operating in a blind spot. We can use that."
Hendricks nods slowly. "I'll keep working on locating her, but it's going to take time."
Jake shakes his head. "We don't have time. Turner's moving. He came here today to assess us, to see how we'd react. He's planning something."
"Then we plan faster." I stand, my hands braced on the desk. "Hendricks, keep tracking the woman. Find out everything you can about the Reyes and their relationship with Turner. We need to know if they're backing him or if he's operating independently."
"Copy that."
"Mason, pull everything we have on Turner's properties and movements. I want to know where he goes, who he talks to, what his routine looks like."
Mason nods.
I turn to Jake. "We need to bring Harper into this. She knows those case files she brought us, as well as Cole Turner, better than we do. If there's a pattern we're missing, she'll find it."
Jake's expression darkens. "Her father—"
"Is compromised," I finish. "Harper knows it, and she's dealing with it. But she's still a cop, and she's on our side. We use that."
For a moment, no one speaks.
Then Hendricks clears his throat. "One more thing."
We all look at the screen.
"Turner's not just building a trafficking route," Hendricks says quietly. "If Turner wins his gubernatorial run, he'll have state-level power. That means control over law enforcement, regulatory agencies, everything. It legitimizes everything, and he'll be untouchable."
I think about Harper and her father. About the way Turner smiled at Emma this morning. He's not just a trafficker. He's a predator with ambition, and if we don't stop him, he's going to destroy everything we're building here.
I rub my hands together. “Then we take Turner down before he gets anywhere near the governor's mansion."
Jake stands. "Agreed."
Mason nods.
Hendricks leans forward, his face filling the screen. "I'll be in touch. Watch your backs, gentlemen. Turner's dangerous, but the Reyes family is worse. If they decide you're a problem, this gets a lot more complicated. You don’t want them to send their enforcer after you. Gabriel Reyes is lethal."
"Understood," Jake says.
The screen goes dark.
For a moment, the three of us just stand there, processing.
Then Mason breaks the silence. "This is bad."
"Yeah." I run a hand through my hair. "But we've handled worse."
"Have we?" Mason looks at me. "We're talking about a mob family, Riot, not some mid-level trafficker. If Reyes decides we're a threat—"
"Then we deal with it," I interrupt. "Same way we always do."
Jake pulls out Harper’s map, studying the marked locations. "Luke's right. We've been in worse situations. We just need to be smart."
I think about Harper, about the way she looked at me this morning when Turner left. The trust in her eyes. The certainty that I'd protect her.
I will—no matter what it costs.