I nodded once slowly.
Yeah.
It was.
Rook walked around the table toward me.
“Mercer’s operation reaches farther than Eagle River. Shadow Division has to move on the bigger structure.”
His eyes flicked briefly toward Flick.
“But Blaze…”
The room got very quiet.
“You kill Shepherd before he gets to her again.”
Not a suggestion.
Not an order.
Permission.
Something cold settled into place inside me.
Across the room, Flick looked at me sharply.
Like she heard the finality in that statement too.
Wolf pushed away from the wall.
“Well then.” He cracked his neck once. “Guess the Rangers are back on point.”
Trigger smirked faintly.
“About damn time.”
For the first time all night, the tension in the room shifted slightly.
Not gone.
Never gone.
But clearer now.
This wasn’t a military operation anymore.
This was a hunt.
Rook reached into his jacket and tossed a set of keys onto the table in front of me.
“Cabin outside Blackstone Ridge,” he said. “Off-grid. Nobody knows it belongs to us.”
Flick immediately shook her head.
“No.”
Every eye turned toward her.
