Page 44 of Grim’s Angel

“Get the complete certificate.”

“Ghost and I are already working on it.”

I look at the man in the chair. “We better find what we need.”

“The boss knows enough to collect the rest of his fee,” he answers quickly. “He keeps the records on an encrypted drive in the motel safe. The hardware key stays with it.”

That gives us a target.

I leave Striker to finish the questioning and find McKenna in my office.

She sits behind my desk with Torch’s case notes open in front of her. A medical textbook rests beside them, and a cup of coffee has gone cold near her elbow.

She looks up. “Did he talk?”

“Rivers keeps the buyer’s identity on an encrypted drive inside the motel safe.”

Her gaze sharpens. “When do we move?”

“Tonight.”

“Good.”

She closes the file, but her attention remains on me.

“You said the buyer requested you specifically.”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve never told me anything about who you were before the military.”

The observation finds the locked door inside me.

“There isn’t anything worth telling.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have.”

Hurt moves across her face. I would rather take another bullet than see it, but the name I buried has no place in this club or in her life. The past I left behind cannot touch what we are becoming.

“You know things about me I have never told anyone,” I say. “That doesn’t mean every grave inside me is ready to be opened.”

Her expression softens. “Then tell me the grave is there. Don’t pretend the ground is empty.”

The line lands with more force than anger.

I move around the desk and stop in front of her.

“The grave is there.”

She closes the textbook. “Thank you.”

“That’s enough?”