Colin realized he was breathing easier just seeing Maren relaxed and happy.
Watch yourself, soldier.
Yeah.
He looked away first, back to Juni, who was already tugging his hand toward the flower beds to show him the…what did she call them? Fuzzy sleeping bags? He stood and followed Juni and Star down the patio steps. Behind him, he heard Ellie say something quietly to Maren. He didn’t catch the words but he heard Maren’s small, flustered sound in response. And when he glanced back a second later, Ellie was looking at him like she had just confirmed a theory.
I don’t want to know what that theory is.
Oh hell, yes I do.
Mac caught his eye from the doorway and raised an eyebrow.
“Here they are!” Juni stopped at the edge of the flower bed and pointed.
Ah. Cocoons. Of course.
“Shh,” Colin said, raising his finger to his lips. “Fairies get cranky when you wake them up, and then they play the worst pranks.”
He’d beenat Watchdog all morning before that, in Kyle’s office, not the conference room. Flint was already set up at the side table with his laptop, coffee going cold at his elbow. Lachlan satin the chair by the window, pen casing already between his teeth. Gina stood against the wall with Fleur at her feet, doing what she always did in small rooms where she couldn’t pace—looking like she wanted to bolt through the nearest exit.
Elissa was on speaker, her voice coming through clear from LA.
“Morning,” Colin said.
Kyle looked up from the file he’d been reading. “Colin. Thanks for coming in. Mac’s got the safehouse?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Kyle gestured to the empty chair beside Lachlan. “We’ve moved past background checks. This is an update briefing. I want to know what’s changed since the first pass.”
Colin sat. Lachlan gave him a small nod—steady, grounding, the kind of acknowledgment that saidyou’re doing fine, keep going. Colin had seen him give Kyle that same look a hundred times.
Flint pulled up his notes. “First change. We already knew Mira worked contracts at LRH. What we didn’t know was exactly where she landed after that promotion.”
Kyle’s expression sharpened. “And?”
“She wasn’t just moved up. She was moved into naval weapons systems procurement.” Flint glanced around the room. “Contracts side, not engineering or operations, but she would have seen vendor lists, change orders, exceptions, delivery problems, payments, subcontractors. The kind of paper trail nobody thinks is dangerous until someone knows how to read it.”
Colin’s jaw tightened.
Sean had been Navy. SWCC. Boat crew. The kind of operator who lived and died by the gear they ran.
Mira Walsh had been working contracts connected to naval weapons systems.
Sean wasn’t dirty. Colin knew that now as surely as Kyle did. Whatever else was going on, Sean Volker had died as the man they all believed him to be—a hero trying to get his team off a riverbank.
But Mira’s world had touched his somehow.
“When?” Kyle asked.
“Roughly a year before Juni would have been conceived,” Flint said. “So the danger predates Sean. Mira didn’t meet him and then stumble into something. Whatever she found at LRH was already in motion.”
Kyle’s shoulders lowered half an inch. “Go on.”
“That move is where her digital behavior changes.” Flint turned his laptop slightly so Kyle could see the screen. “Her personal email goes quiet. Not abandoned exactly, but scrubbed down. No casual conversations, no receipts, no personal chatter that matters. Then she opens a second account through a private encrypted provider.”
“Activity?” Gina asked.
