Two sheets folded into thirds. The first is dense with dates, names, and markers I know. Three of the numbers in the second column have been on Killian's wall for two years. I sit with it for half a beat. Danny had been working his own trail on Thorne, and he hadn't told me. He'd put what he had into this envelope before the mission and given it to his fourteen-year-old sister with no explanation. She carried it for eight years, and now it's in mine.
I unfold the second sheet.
Kane, brother.
If you're reading this I didn't make it back. That means you did. Don't carry that. I went in knowing this could happen. That part is on me, not on you.
The first sheet is what I've put together on Thorne. It isn't enough to take him down by itself. He covers his tracks, and Ihaven't had the time to put my hands on the piece that would. But he's caught on that I'm watching. This next operation is his answer to it. I knew what it was the moment the briefing hit my desk: a setup he wrote to make sure I don't come back. I'm going anyway, because if I refuse he'll find another route to the same end, and at least going gives you the proof. If I come back, we keep digging. If I don't, you're reading this, and the fact that he sent me into his own trap is the last piece you need.
Men in our work don't get long lives, brother. We both signed for that the day we put the uniform on. I don't get to pick the day or the room. Only what it buys. This one buys Thorne, and that's a trade I'll take with both hands.
That part is for the soldier in you. You'll know what to do.
Now, this part is for the man. My sister Callie has Grandma for now, but Grandma isn't young, and sooner or later Callie is going to be on her own. She's stronger than she looks, but also softer than she lets on, and she's going to need someone in her corner.
Go to her. Tell her about me. The good parts, the stupid parts, the parts she missed because I was overseas. Let her know me through you. Let her know you too, the real one, not the version you'll be tempted to hand her. She can take it. She's my sister, and she reads people on the same instinct I do.
Take care of her, brother. Not because you owe me, but because she's worth it. And because if I'd had a choice, I'd have picked you.
I love you both. Go live.
D.
I fold both sheets together and slide them back into the envelope. I keep my eyes on it for a beat longer than I have to.
Callie is on her side of the bed. Her arms are around her knees.
"Good news or bad," she says, quiet.
"Both."
"Tell me."
"The first sheet is what Danny had been putting together on Thorne before he died. He'd been working it alone. Combined with what Jaxson, Killian, and the rest of us have been building for years, it'll take that piece of shit down for good."
"And the second."
I set the envelope on the nightstand.
"Personal. He asked me to be there for you. Tell you about him. Let you know me."
She doesn't reach for the letter or ask to see it. She looks at the envelope on the nightstand for a long beat, then back at me.
"You didn't come. He asked you to be there, in writing, and you weren't."
"No."
"And before this letter, you had his last words yourself.Keep an eye on her.You heard him say it. Letter or no letter, you could have come."
"Yes."
"You were alive in the world and you let me be alone in it."
"Yes."
The light through the window has gone from grey to pale blue. The day is happening whether we let it or not. Her chin lifts a fraction.
"This is not enough, Kane. After everything that's been said in this bed this morning, you owe me full honesty. There's a piece you're still holding. Give it to me."
