Chapter 14 The Refuge—New Mexico #2
"That's what love looks like," Henley said gently. "Not grand gestures or perfect words. Just showing up. Being there. Choosing someone every day."
Lark nodded, her throat tight with emotion. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For listening." Lark squared her shoulders, feeling something shift inside her chest—a loosening of the tight knot of fear she'd carried for so long. "And for reminding me that I'm stronger than I think."
"You always were. You just needed to believe it." Henley smiled. “Be safe, and stay in touch. I’ll always be here for you.” Henley turned and headed back toward her office.
Lark rounded her shoulders and put one foot in front of the other.
Kawan looked up as she approached, his face breaking into that easy smile that had been breaching her defenses for years. He held out one of the mugs, and she accepted it, their fingers brushing in the exchange.
"How'd it go?" he asked, settling beside her on the porch steps.
"Good," she said, actually meaning it. "Really good."
He studied her face, those perceptive eyes cataloging every detail. "You look... different."
"Different how?"
"Lighter, maybe? Like you've been carrying something heavy and finally set it down."
The observation hit her hard. That was precisely how she felt—like she'd been holding her breath for years and could finally exhale.
"Something like that," she murmured, leaning into his solid warmth.
She wanted to tell him everything—about the session with Henley, about the realization that had been building in her chest like the sunrise.
About how much she loved him, how sorry she was for all the time she'd wasted being afraid.
But she wasn’t sure she could do it right now. Even though she’d heard every word Henely said, she still wanted to wait until this mission was behind them and they were both safe. She owed him that much—the chance to hear those words when the possibility of goodbye wasn’t shadowing them.
"The team's gathering in twenty," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Final briefing before we head out."
"I know." She turned in his arms, studying his face with the same intensity he'd shown her. Memorizing his warm brown of his eyes, the strong line of his jaw, and the small scar above his left eyebrow from a training accident years ago. "Kawan?"
"Yeah?"
"When this is over..." She paused, searching for the right words. "When we come back, we need to talk."
Something flickered in his expression—hope, maybe, or recognition. "About what?”
“Us," she said. "About what we are and what we could be."
His smile was soft and devastating. "I'd like that."
"Good." She stood, pulling him up with her. "Now, let's go finish this thing so we can figure out what comes next."
As they walked toward the briefing, the last of her walls crumbled a little more with each step. She was still scared—terrified, actually—but for the first time in her life, she was more afraid of missing out on love than she was of losing it.
And that, she realized, made all the difference.
The conference room buzzed with controlled energy as Kawan strolled through the threshold, Lark at his side.
The team had expanded overnight—Thor and the rest of Kawan’s team were there, of course, but now they were joined by three men who brought a different kind of gravitas to the space.
Brick sat at the head of the table like he'd been born to command, his massive frame relaxed but alert. Beside him, Tonka cracked his knuckles methodically, the sound sharp in the quiet room. Pipe leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, those calculating British eyes missing nothing.
Colonel Dustin Amber stood near a wall-mounted monitor, pointing at what looked like satellite imagery of Fort Liberty. His uniform was crisp, his bearing sharp, but Kawan could see the tension in the set of his jaw. This mission was personal for him, too.
"Ah, there they are," Dustin said as they entered. "Just getting started."
Kawan guided Lark to two empty chairs, noting the way she moved—more settled than he'd seen her in days.
Whatever had happened during her session with Henley had worked some kind of magic.
When she'd told him they needed to talk after the mission, about what they were and what they could be, something in his chest had loosened for the first time in years.
Now, he just had to make sure they both survived long enough to have that conversation.
"We were just going over base layout," Thor said, gesturing to the screen. “Since most of us have never set foot at Fort Bragg.”
“Technically, it’s Fort Liberty these days.” Dustin used a laser pointer to highlight key areas. "Liberty's got three main entry points for vehicles, but only one that won't require significant ID verification for contractors. That's our way in."
"Contractors?" Sloan asked.
"Brick's new security company will have legitimate contracts with half the bases on the East Coast," Dustin explained.
"Including Liberty. I've already made some calls—there's a 'routine security assessment' scheduled for today. Paperwork's been filed, clearances verified. You won’t have a problem getting in.”
Kawan had to admire the elegance of it. Hide in plain sight, use the system against itself. "What about weapons?"
"That's trickier," Brick said, his voice a low rumble. "We can get basic sidearms through in containers that look like 'testing equipment,' but anything heavier or bigger, we’re gonna have to get creative with.”
“I’m working on options,” Pipe said.
"And when Lorre makes his move?" Jupiter asked.
"That's when the security assessment becomes a security response," Tonka said with a grin that was all predator. "Amazing how quickly situations can escalate."
Specs looked up from her laptop. "I've been monitoring Lorre's digital footprint since last night. He's been busy. A lot of encrypted traffic, several calls to numbers I can't trace. He's definitely coordinating with someone."
"Mina?" Lark asked, her voice steady but cold.
"Possibly. We also need to consider that Wes is alive. And then there’s the AI and whoever’s paying for it." Specs pulled up a new screen.
“I’ve got some intel on that,” Dustin said. “Bradford believes that the buyer is a group from South America. One that Mina’s relatives have connections to. And the chatter is, that group, intends to replicate the AI and sell it worldwide to our enemies.”
“Fucking wonderful,” Kawan muttered.
“I’ve got something else that’s interesting,” Specs said. “That message from Alvarez? It came with a hidden subroutine. A tracking protocol that's been pinging location data to a secure server."
Kawan leaned forward. "Location data on what?"
"On us. Every device that accessed that flash drive is now broadcasting position data to a ghost server. Someone's been tracking our movements since we opened that file."
"Son of a bitch," Lark said. “How’d that happen?”
“My only guess is that Mina, or whoever shot at you, already had eyes on us, or Alverez, or both, and they did something to it after Alverez dropped it off at the diner,” Specs said.
“I’ve already sent an encrypted message to Alverez—warning him that someone is probably tailing them. I haven’t heard anything back.”
“So, they’ve been watching our movements since yesterday?” Kawan asked.
“The data's being mirrored to multiple endpoints. Whoever set this up wanted redundancy." Specs smiled grimly. "The good news is, I can trace it back. And I can use it."
"How?" Dustin asked.
"If they're tracking us, we can feed them false data. Make them think we're somewhere we're not. As in, we’re still here when we leave for Fort Liberty. And more importantly..." Specs' fingers flew over the keyboard. "I can use their own system to track them."
The room went quiet as the implications sank in.
"You're talking about turning their surveillance network against them," Pipe said appreciatively. "Bloody brilliant."
Kawan felt a surge of pride watching Specs work. This was the woman Lark had recruited—brilliant, determined, ready to fight back instead of just surviving. The trauma was still there, but she was compartmentalizing it into something useful.
"I'll need access to Liberty's communication array to make it work," Specs continued. "But once I'm in their system, I can not only locate Mina and whoever else is involved, I can shut down their entire operation."
"That's our primary objective then," Lark said. "Get Specs access to their comms. Everything else is secondary."
"Not everything," Kawan said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him. "Bringing Bradford and Alvarez home isn't secondary. They risked everything to get us that intel."
"Agreed," Thor said. "We extract our people."
"And Lorre?" Tonka asked.
"Goes down hard," Lark said, steel in her voice. "He betrayed his country, got good people killed, and nearly started a war. Prison's too good for him, but it's what he gets."
Dustin nodded approvingly. "That's the mission. Questions?"
Leif raised a hand. "What about Wes? Alvarez said he had doubts."
The room fell silent. Kawan watched Lark's face carefully, saw the moment she made her decision. Her jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, but her voice remained steady.
"If Wes turned, he already made his choice," she said finally. "We'll deal with him accordingly."
The words were calm, professional, but Kawan could see what they cost her. Another piece of her heart being carved away by betrayal.
"Timeline?" Thor asked.
"Lorre wants you in his office at fourteen hundred hours," Dustin said to Lark. "That gives us time to get positioned, identify potential exit routes, and make contact with Bradford and Alverez. I know Bradford will want to be there. I’ll make sure transport for them is made available.”
“Alverez looked pretty banged up,” Sloan said.
“I’m not going to tell him he can’t participate in this rodeo.
He nearly died making sure the AI didn’t get into the wrong hands.
” Dustin clicked to the next slide. "Brick's team handles perimeter security.
Thor's team provides close support for Lark and Specs.
I'll be coordinating from the vehicle bay—close enough to respond, far enough out to maintain communications if everything goes sideways. "
"When everything goes sideways," Kawan corrected. "Lorre didn't call Lark to chat about mission reports. He's got something planned. Bullets will be flying.”
"Which is why we'll be ready for him," Brick said simply. His calm confidence anchored the room. The veteran had earned that certainty the hard way.
"Alright," Dustin said. "We roll in ninety minutes. Everyone knows their role, everyone knows the stakes. This isn't just about recovering stolen technology—it's about justice. For the people we lost, for the country we serve, and for the truth."
The team began to disperse, checking equipment and making final preparations.
Kawan lingered, watching as Lark spoke quietly with Specs, their heads bent together over the laptop screen.
The dynamic between them had shifted—Lark was still protective, but she wasn't treating Specs like broken glass anymore.
"She's different today," Thor said, coming to stand beside him.
"Yeah."
"Good different. Like she finally stopped fighting herself."
Kawan nodded, not trusting his voice. Thor was right—something had fundamentally changed about Lark.
The way she'd looked at him when she talked about their future, the certainty in her voice when she said she was done running.
It gave him hope they might actually survive this thing with something worth keeping.
"You ready for this?" Thor asked.
"To walk into Lorre's trap with minimal backup and hope our tech genius can outmaneuver whatever surveillance network they've built?" Kawan shrugged. "Just another Tuesday."
Thor chuckled. "When you put it like that, it sounds almost easy."
"Nothing about this is going to be simple," Kawan said, watching as Specs closed the laptop and stood. "But we'll get it done."
"We always do." Thor clapped him on the shoulder. "But this time, we're not just fighting for the mission."
"No," Kawan agreed, his eyes finding Lark across the room. "This time we're fighting for what comes after."
As the team filed out to make their final preparations, the weight of the coming mission settled over him. In less than six hours, they'd be walking into enemy territory with incomplete intel and far too many variables. People were going to get hurt. Some might not make it home.
But for the first time in his career, Kawan had something beyond the mission to fight for. He had a future with the woman he loved, if they were both strong enough and lucky enough to claim it.
That was worth any risk.
That was worth everything.