Wood exploded outward.
Trigger fired back instantly from the loft.
Two suppressed shots answered him from outside.
Professional.
Coordinated.
Military.
Hersh’s hand found mine behind his back for one quick second.
One squeeze.
I’m here.
Always.
Then he let go and raised his rifle again.
Rook crouched beside the lockbox near Midnight’s stall.
“Open it,” Wolf urged.
Rook shook his head once.
“Not yet.”
Another round blasted through the barn wall.
Eddie flinched hard from where he lay bleeding beside the hay bales.
“They know about the list,” he rasped painfully. “If Mercer sent the Hollow Men?—”
Rook’s head snapped toward him instantly.
“The what?”
Eddie looked terrified he’d said it out loud.
Thunder cracked overhead.
“The Hollow Men,” he whispered. “Mercer’s private cleaners. Former military. Black-site operators. Assassins.”His breathing turned ragged. “When people became problems… they disappeared them.”
A chill crawled down my spine.
Wolf muttered darkly, “That’s comforting.”
“They don’t leave witnesses,” Eddie continued weakly. “Ever.”
Another impact slammed against the barn doors from outside.
BOOM.
Dust rained from the rafters.
Whoever was out there was trying to breach the entrance now.
