Chapter 15
Boone
The first shot cracks through the Montana night like thunder.
Then everything erupts.
I push through the church doors just as muzzle flashes light up the street.
Adam and Russ are already in position behind their trucks, rifles up, headlights cutting through the darkness.
The black SUVs outside the church are angled toward the road like the men who arrived planned a fast exit.
Professional.
Organized.
But they didn’t plan on the Brave Team.
“Contact left!” Russ shouts.
A burst of suppressed fire rips across the gravel lot.
Bullets snap past the church steps.
I drop behind the stone pillar beside the entrance and draw my weapon.
Across the lot three men in tactical gear sprint toward the SUVs.
Another two take cover behind the vehicles, returning fire toward Adam, Russ, and Miles.
They move like trained operators.
Tight formation.
Disciplined bursts.
Not amateurs.
“Boone!” Adam calls.
“You good?”
“Still breathing!”
“Good enough!”
Russ leans around the hood of his truck and fires two controlled shots.
One of the attackers dives behind a tire.
“Six total!” Russ shouts.
“Five now,” Adam replies.
A man near the back SUV drops suddenly, rifle clattering onto the pavement.
The others react instantly.
One throws a smoke grenade.
Gray cloud explodes across the parking lot.
Visibility drops to almost nothing.
“Smoke!” Russ yells.
“No kidding!”
The attackers start moving again.
Trying to break contact.
Trying to escape.
Which tells me something important.
They weren’t here for a firefight.
They were here for a snatch-and-grab.
Probably me.
Mara steps out of the church behind me.
Weapon raised.
“Those guys are not part of the network leadership,” she says.
“Figured that.”
“They’re cleaners.”
I glance at her.
“Meaning?”
“They remove problems.”
That’s encouraging.
Across the lot Adam moves forward through the smoke.
Fast.
Precise.
The man operates like the former Delta operator he is.
One attacker runs toward the driver’s side of the SUV.
Big mistake.
Adam fires once.
The man collapses halfway to the door.
Russ circles wide along the edge of the parking lot, cutting off the escape route.
“Vehicle’s not leaving!” he shouts.
One of the attackers panics.
He opens fire blindly through the smoke.
Rounds slam into the church wall behind me.
Wood splinters.
Mara swears.
“Idiots.”
I step out from behind the pillar and fire two quick shots.
The man drops his weapon and falls beside the SUV.
Silence falls suddenly.
Smoke drifting slowly across the lot.
Five bodies on the ground.
One man still standing.
He stumbles backward, raising his hands.
“Don’t shoot!”
Russ moves in immediately, rifle trained on him.
“On your knees!”
The man drops hard onto the gravel.
Adam approaches from the side, calm and steady.
The way predators move when the fight is already over.
I step down from the church steps.
Mara follows.
The captured man looks mid-thirties.
Tactical gear.
Military posture.
But fear in his eyes now.
Russ yanks the rifle from his hands and kicks it aside.
Adam crouches in front of him.
“Let’s start simple,” Adam says calmly.
“Who sent you?”
The man shakes his head.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Adam sighs.
“I always love that answer.”
Russ leans closer.
“You showed up in tactical gear and started shooting.”
“Kind of limits your options here.”
The man glances between us.
Then his eyes land on me.
And something shifts in his expression.
Recognition.
Adam notices immediately.
“You know him.”
The man hesitates.
Then mutters quietly.
“Yeah.”
I step closer.
“From where?”
He swallows.
“You’re Boone Grant.”
“Correct.”
“And?”
Another hesitation.
Then he says something that makes the entire parking lot go silent.
“We weren’t supposed to kill you.”
Adam’s eyes narrow.
“Then why were you here?”
The man looks directly at me.
“The Architect wants you alive.”
The wind pushes through the trees again.
Cold.
Restless.
Adam and Russ exchange a look.
Mara goes very still beside me.
I study the man carefully.
“Who is the Architect?”
His jaw tightens.
“I don’t know.”
Adam stands slowly.
“That’s the wrong answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
Russ grabs the man’s shoulder and shoves him toward the truck.
“Good news,” Russ says.
“You’ve got plenty of time to remember.”
The man stumbles forward.
Mara watches the captured attacker with a troubled expression.
I glance at her.
“You look like you already knew that name.”
She doesn’t answer right away.
Then she says quietly—
“Yes.”
I turn fully toward her.
“Start talking.”
Her eyes move across the dark church parking lot.
Across the fallen attackers.
Across the night that suddenly feels much bigger than a small Montana town.
Then she says the one thing I wasn’t expecting.
“The Architect isn’t just building a network.”
She looks directly at me.
“He’s preparing for a war.”