Chapter 80 Raine
Raine
The flashing red lights at the hospital felt like salvation. After hours of chaos, gunfire, and cold storage nightmares, the convoy of battered SUVs rolled under the glow of floodlights. Nurses and doctors poured out to meet us, gurneys already waiting.
I climbed out with the girl still clinging weakly to my hand. Her lips were cracked, her skin gray, but when the nurse touched her shoulder she whispered one word—“Mama.”
The sound split me open.
The nurse nodded quickly. “We’ve been calling families since you radioed ahead. She’ll see her mother tonight.”
Tears stung my eyes. For a moment I couldn’t breathe.
Behind me, Hawk and Logan hauled another man onto a stretcher, Russ guiding them with calm efficiency. Blade, expression unreadable, carried a boy who couldn’t have been more than twelve, his small arm dangling over Blade’s broad shoulder. Even he softened when the boy stirred against his chest.
The hospital staff worked fast, triaging IV lines, checking vitals, wheeling the survivors into the ER. One by one, they were swallowed by the bright doors. Safe.
Safe.
I leaned against the SUV, shaking, watching families rush forward as names were called. Mothers clutched children. Fathers wept into their hands. The air filled with sobs, laughter, disbelief.
Beside me, Adam stood tall and silent, eyes scanning everything, never resting. To anyone else, he looked like stone. But I felt the tension in him, sharp as glass. This victory wasn’t enough.
I whispered a prayer under my breath, my chest aching. The girl had a chance. They all did.
Adam’s arm slid around my waist, pulling me close for just a breath. His voice was low, almost too quiet to hear over the chaos.
“You did good, Raine.”
I looked up at him, tears blurring my vision. “We did good.”
But his eyes were already somewhere else—hard, dark, hunting.
This rescue wasn’t an ending.
It was fuel.
And I knew the second the families were safe, Adam Stoker was going after the people who thought they could turn lives into inventory.
And God help whoever he found first.