“Scout… she’s not here.”
The words hit harder than anything in the room.
Scout stared at the empty space beside the bed where Tessa should have been.
This wasn’t rescue.
It was exchange.
Burke’s radio crackled. “Dispatch, this is Burke. Agent Quinn is unaccounted for. Initiate missing-person protocol.”
Tessa was gone.
34
Cloud Gap Cabin — Seconds After the Discovery
Scout didn’t move.
Couldn’t.
Sara Parker lay in Tessa’s bed. Alive.
Kyle stepped back, white-faced. McHan called out vitals. Scout barely heard any of it—only the thin, shallow rise of Sara’s chest.
The EMTs moved fast. One slid an oxygen mask over her face while the other checked her pulse again, voice calm, practiced.
“Let’s go.”
They lifted her onto the stretcher.
Scout stepped in front of them without thinking. Not blocking—just… there. A wall made of instinct.
“Hold up.” His voice came out rough.
The EMT hesitated. “Deputy?—”
“Just—” Scout swallowed hard. “Just a second.”
He leaned down.
Sara’s skin was pale, cold at the edges, but warm where itmattered. His thumb brushed her cheekbone, gentle like he was afraid she’d vanish if he blinked.
Her lashes fluttered. Not awake. Not aware. But alive.
Scout’s throat tightened until it hurt.
“Thank God,” he whispered.
The words weren’t relief. They were a release.
Then his eyes lifted.
The room hit him again like a punch: Tessa’s bag on the floor. Her laptop open.
Sara was back.
Tessa was gone.
