Page 84 of Property of the Bikers

Nothing yet.

I breathe again.

At nine fifty, Jax’s voice comes through the earpiece Doc fitted during the simulation last night, small enough to pass for a hearing aid at a casual glance.

“Vehicle in the lot,” he says. “Patient Transfer Solutions. Oregon plates. Four personnel. Confirm.”

I breathe through a contraction.

“I need ice chips,” I say.

Cade stands immediately and goes to the door. I hear him ask the orderly in the corridor for ice chips, which is the signal for Ghost’s team and also genuinely something I want because my throat is dry.

Thirty seconds.

Jax’s voice comes low through the earpiece. “They’re in. I’ve got the flag. Stay put.”

My stomach drops.

This is it.

Cade is still in the chair beside me, elbows on his knees, looking at the door the way he’s been looking at it for hours. He doesn’t react to Jax’s voice. He doesn’t look at me. He just stays exactly where he is, exactly who he’s supposed to be, a husband in a hospital chair waiting for news.

Ten fourteen AM.

Ghost’s voice comes through so quietly I almost miss it. “Got them.”

I breathe.

The contraction monitor beeps its steady rhythm.

Cade is back in the chair with the ice chips and his controlled worry face and his eyes on the door, and I watch him process the update through the single tell he has, which is a fractional shift in how he’s holding his jaw.

It shifts. Then settles.

Ghost again. “Three contained. Lead operative—” A pause. “Lead operative is moving. Not toward the service exit. Toward the floor.”

I sit up.

Cade is on his feet.

“Where’s my phone?” I say.

Cade looks at me.

That’s not the all-clear phrase. That’s not the abort phrase. That’s the threat-confirmed phrase, the one that means I’ve assessed the situation, and I’m executing the trained response, and Ghost needs to be ready.

I swing my legs off the bed.

“Mira,” Cade says.

“He needs a target,” I say. “I’m the target. That’s the plan.”

“The plan had him contained in the corridor⁠—”

“This is what we planned for,” I say. “Ghost has me. Stay here.”

I don’t wait for his answer.