Below them, the house collapsed in on itself, fire punching skyward as the structure folded and died.
Kol sprawled on the deck, chest heaving, vision tunneling.He forced his breathing to slow, counting the inhales the way Elias had drilled into them years ago.Four in.Four hold.Four out.It cut through the ringing in his ears, anchored him back in his body.
Rafael slumped against the opposite bench, one hand pressed hard to his side now that adrenaline was bleeding out of him.Blood soaked through his fingers, dark and slick.
“You’re leaking,” Kol observed, voice rough.
Rafael glanced down, then shrugged with a crooked grin.“I noticed.”
Kol reached for the med kit without ceremony, snapping gloves on as the helicopter bucked through turbulent air.He packed the wound efficiently, ignoring Rafael’s muttered curses.
“Hold still,” Kol said.
“I am holding still.”
“You’re bleeding on my boots.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”A shape dropped beside him.
Sofía.
She was still furious, still bleeding, eyes bright and alive despite the wreckage of her body.She crouched beside Rafael, gripping his sleeve.
“You okay?”she demanded.
Rafael laughed, breathless and real.“You should see the other guy.”
She snorted, sharp and unbroken, then caught herself—and laughed again, softer this time.
“I like her,” Eliza said over comms.
Kol tilted his head slightly, pressing the earpiece more firmly into place.Hearing her now—calm, present, alive—hit harder than the fire ever had.
“She’s got opinions,” Kol replied.“And a mouth.”
“I heard that,” Sofía shot back immediately, lifting her head despite Rafael’s attempt to make her sit.“And you should be grateful.I save lives with this mouth.”
Kol snorted despite himself.
Eliza laughed softly over the line, the sound warm and unmistakably relieved.“She’s going to be trouble.”
“Good,” Elias said.“We could use some.”
Kol huffed a breath that might have been a laugh.He watched Rafael watch Sofía, saw something flicker there—interest, recognition, the beginning of something neither of them was ready to name.
The helicopter banked hard, Nitro sliding in alongside them as the second bird took formation.Red and blue lights flared faintly on the horizon—too distant, too late to matter.The estate below was a blazing wound in the dark, collapsing in on itself as if the earth were swallowing it whole.
Kol watched it until it vanished beneath the cloud line.Somewhere down there, a man who had thought himself untouchable was facing the first real consequences of his life.
Not a bullet.
Something worse.
Eliza.
He closed his eyes briefly, letting that knowledge settle.She had stood in the open and ended him without ever pulling a trigger.There was a terrible, beautiful symmetry to it.Below, fire consumed what remained of the estate.Sirens sounded faintly in the distance, far too late to matter.
“Extraction complete,” Cypher said.No triumph.Just fact.
