Brooke exhales slowly. “Shit.”
“Yeah,” Travis says. “He is close. Tacoma. That is where the login cluster keeps landing.”
Brooke looks at me. “The kids have to go.”
I nod. “Now.”
Travis nods once. “Naomi and I can take them to the bunker in Oregon.”
Brooke meets his eyes. “Okay, be ready to leave in thirty minutes.”
Everything after that shifts into motion.
Brooke wakes Elise and Ryan and tells them we are leaving. Elise starts to argue, then takes one look at our faces and stops. Ryan says nothing, but the way he moves makes it clear he understands enough to be afraid. Bags are packed, the van is loaded, and Travis sends something to my phone.
“I scrubbed the rest of the signal,” he says. “But this one stayed.”
A blinking dot appears on the map.
Grant is already moving.
I watch the dot track across the screen. This is how he moves through the world, convinced that nothing can touch him.
My father was the same. Inside that house, he believed he owned everything under that roof. He broke Luke and me down and called it discipline. He thought he was building soulless killers.
I killed him because men like that don't stop.
Grant is no different. He hides behind authority and money while he destroys people who can't fight back. He killed my mother. He dragged Brooke into that manor and thought he would walk away from it. Now he thinks sending hired killers here will fix it.
Grant is still breathing.
I'm about to end that
I tighten my grip around the phone as the tracker keeps moving.
Naomi stops pacing while Travis keeps working and Beau is already moving through the room. I check my weapon and grab the rest of my gear, running through everything in sequence.
Brooke moves past me to grab her jacket, and I stop her before she can get too far. My hand comes up to her jaw and forces her to look at me, and I kiss her once before letting her go.
We go back to getting ready.
Bags are thrown together, shoes are pulled on, and the van is ready in minutes.
Brooke pulls Travis into a quick hug, then Naomi. She wraps her arms around Elise and Ryan, holding them tighter than she probably means to before letting them go.
They climb into the van, the doors shut, and the engine turns over.
We step back.
I watch the van roll down the hill until the red glow of the taillights disappears behind the trees. Brooke stands in the doorway.
“You okay?” I ask.
She nods once.
I step closer and tilt her chin upward so I can see her face.
“I’m scared,” her voice hardens. “But I’m ready to end this shit.”
