I followed her gaze.
One loose floor plank hidden beneath old straw.
Wolf dropped beside us and ripped the board upward with a gloved hand.
Underneath—
sat a blackmetal lockbox.
Small.
Heavy.
Old.
Every person in the barn went still.
Rain pounded outside.
Gunfire echoed closer.
But for one second?—
all of us stared at that box.
Eddie’s voice shook from the shadows.
“Mercer will kill everyone to get that back.”
Rook took the brass key from Flick carefully.
Then froze.
His eyes locked onto the engraving beneath the key’s handle.
A raven.
Exactly like the one carved into the beam.
Very slowly?—
Rook looked up.
And for the first time since arriving at the ranch…
he looked genuinely shocked.
“Impossible,” he muttered.
Trigger frowned from above. “What?”
Rook stared at the key another second.
Then looked directly at Flick.
“Your father knew Shadow Division.”
Thunder exploded overhead.
