“Will only told me you had a run-in, not the details of what actually happened.”
Dave felt Stone shoot him a hard look, and he held it without flinching. He hadn’t deliberately withheld what he’d learned about Viper and Titus, but he’d chosen silence all the same.
Viper’s gaze stayed on the map, but his voice dropped into something lower, almost gravel ground against steel.
“Five years back. San Pedro, like you said. Genesis was just a thought. I was on a joint operation with DHS, which was supposed to be a routine interdiction alongside my military unit. The tip said trafficked kids were being moved through shipping containers.”
Viper drew a slow breath, eyes narrowing like he was seeing it unfold again.
“No op stays routine for long. The dock was quiet, too quiet. Smell of diesel thick in the air, cargo cranes frozen like skeletons against the skyline. We cracked the first container.” His jaw shifted. “Half a dozen kids, alive but barely. Malnourished. Eyes so wide they couldn’t even cry.”
Winter sat stunned, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Rip leaned forward, gazing at the floor, forearms braced on his knees.
“The next one,” Viper went on, “no one alive. You never forget the silence. Not screams. Not chaos. Just silence.”
He leaned back in his chair, but his eyes were locked somewhere far off.
“That’s when he stepped out of the dark. Clean, sharp, like he belonged there.” Viper rubbed at his face.
“We fought. He got the upper hand.”
The silence in the room swam thick. Dave’s fingers clenched on the desk, then stilled.
“He said…It’s Titus…don’t forget my name… just before he shoved a knife in my ribs.” Viper’s mouth twisted.
Stone’s storm-colored eyes narrowed, unreadable.
“I told him I’d put him down the next time we met.” Viper’s tone hardened. “And he laughed.”
He let the silence stretch, the team absorbing it.
“We did a full sweep, but there were no cameras, no prints, nothing to prove that he’d ever been there. Just him, saying his name, like it was a goddamned prayer.”
He’d had nightmares about that encounter, and he swallowed hard before continuing. “Two years later, I ran into him at an event in Chicago, of all places. He acted like he didn’t know me.”
“What did he say?” Law frowned.
“He said…things aren’t what they appear to be.” Viper rubbed at his upper lip.
Stone fists clenched. “Why didn’t you arrest his fucking ass?”
“I tried, but he had the ear of the Attorney General. The charges didn’t stick because everything was circumstantial. No concrete evidence to be found. I couldn’t place him at the San Pedro crime scene.”
Viper finally looked at Stone and then Dave. “That’s it.”
Stone’s hands uncurled. “And you kept this from us because…?”
“Because it’s not something I’m proud of.” Viper’s eyes flicked up, hard.
“Hey…” Law’s voice cut in. “You didn’t plan on getting stabbed.”
The room stayed quiet for a moment, only the tick of the grandfather clock filling the air.
“Then we end it,” Dave said finally. “We use Genesis to cut Titus off at the knees, and we get evidence that sticks.”
Winter whistled low. “Why not just send in Erebus?”
Dave gave a pained sigh. He understood where Winter was coming from. Erebus should have been able to make Titus disappear from the face of the earth.
