Remi didn’t hesitate. “Whatever it takes.”
Jack's voice cracked, "Rem... seriously, what do you actually think you can do in this situation?"
Remi reached behind her and then hauled back my go bag, only stopping to glare at Jack for a moment. "When I say whatever it takes, that is exactly what I mean. Ava is in trouble; she is being hunted... So, I will not stop until she is safe and all those fuckers are put down."
She snapped the bag open and started pulling weapons like she knew exactly what she was looking for.
Kane chuckled, "I look forward to the day we meet Thelma."
Remi made a confused face and scrunched up her nose. "I don't know if the sentiment is shared, big guy."
Kane laughed harder.
Jack swore again, softer now. Like maybe he finally understood the storm we were driving into.
Then every phone in the car started buzzing at once.
Not calls.
Alerts.
Notifications. Explosions of messages. Ping after ping after ping.
Media tags, social shares...
Jack looked at his screen first and went pale.
Remi’s eyes widened.
I grabbed mine and nearly swerved off the road.
Ava sent it.
Every file. Every encrypted folder. Every backup Gray had prepped. It was already live.
To the FBI. To IA. To the press. To every inbox that mattered.
My name was on half of them. So was Jack’s.
“Holy shit,” Jack whispered. “She did it.”
“She wasn’t waiting,” Remi said. Her voice cracked. “Oh god, that means she felt like she had no other choice." and then on a whisper, "She doesn't think she's making it out of this.”
We crested the ridge, and that’s when we saw it.
The smoke.
Thick, black, rising in a twisted column from behind the trees. It stained the sky like ink in water. The ridge dipped just enough to reveal the clearing, and the nightmare we were too late to stop
The cabin.
Burning.
And we had no idea where Ava or Gray was.
The brakes squealed as I veered off the main path. My fingers clenched tighter around the wheel. I needed to park out of sight and approach behind Erin's crew.
“Kane...” I snapped, my voice hoarse. “We need eyes on the escape routes. If she ran, where would she go?”
