“They knew the potential rewards too.” Ethan glanced toward Sophia and lowered his voice further. “Getting her back was the right call. The political fallout is just the price we pay.”
On the bed, Sophia stirred, her face scrunching in distress. Evelyn’s arm tightened around her instinctively, pulling her closer even in sleep. The sight made my chest constrict. This was what mattered. Not careers or records or official sanction. Just that little girl, safe with her mother.
“We need to brief the team,” Ethan said. “All of them. There are decisions to make.”
I turned, reading something unexpected in his expression. Not defeat. Something else. Something that looked almost like... purpose.
“What kind of decisions?” I asked.
“The kind that determines what happens next.” He glanced toward Evelyn and Sophia, then back to me. “The kind that might give us a way forward, if everyone’s on board.”
I studied him, trying to read the meaning behind his words. “I’ll wake them for the briefing.”
“Not yet.” Ethan’s gaze softened slightly as it rested on the sleeping pair. “Let them rest a while longer. We’ve got a long road ahead.”
He walked away, leaving me with the weight of his unspoken message. Something was coming. Something beyond the consequences we’d all accepted. I looked back at Sophia and Evelyn, peaceful for the first time in days, and made a silent promise.
Whatever came next, I’d be there. Whatever it took to keep them safe, I’d do it. My old life was gone, burned in the fire of ourchoices. But looking at them, I couldn’t bring myself to regret a single moment.
The farmhouse kitchensmelled of burnt coffee and gun oil, the team gathered around a wooden table that had seen better decades. Ethan stood at the head, hands planted on the scarred surface, the overhead light casting shadows beneath his eyes.
Everyone looked rough: Flynn with his torn tactical pants, Leo nursing the bruises beneath his vest, Rafe with a makeshift bandage on his shoulder. Alistair’s complexion rivaled candle wax for colorlessness. Even Decker, which was the tell. He was the kind of guy who kept his hair in place during firefights, but now his collar was crooked and a smear of grime sat under one eye. He hadn’t even tried to wipe it off. Nolan, beside him, looked half-asleep and had a fresh tear in his shirt from the run out of Helsinki.
Kate joined by video link, her face small on the tablet propped against a coffee can. Evelyn sat beside me, Sophia asleep in her lap, the little girl’s face pressed into her mother’s neck.
Gage sat apart from the group, slumped in a chair against the wall. His skin had taken on a grayish cast, sweat beading on his forehead despite the room’s chill. His hands trembled where they gripped the chair arms. Alistair hovered nearby, medical bag within reach, his expression professionally blank but his eyes worried.
“By now, you all know we’ve been terminated,” Ethan began without preamble. “The US government has officially disavowed any knowledge of our operation. Our clearances are revoked,our military records flagged. For all intents and purposes, our careers are over.”
No one reacted. We’d all known the score before boarding that flight to Helsinki.
“Finnish authorities have issued international warrants for armed assault. Europol is coordinating the manhunt. Innovixus is making noise about corporate espionage and kidnapping.” He paused, his gaze touching each of us. “Under normal circumstances, this would be the end. We’d scatter, use our emergency protocols, and spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders.”
“But these aren’t normal circumstances,” Flynn guessed, leaning forward.
Ethan’s mouth quirked in what might have been the ghost of a smile. “No. They’re not.” He straightened, shoulders squaring. “I’ve been authorized to offer you something else. A new Edge Ops unit. Completely off-books. No official connection to any government agency.”
The room went still. This wasn’t what any of us had expected.
“Funded by who?” Leo asked, voice rough from the bruising across his chest.
“Tucker Quentin.”
The name fell like a stone in still water. Everyone knew Quentin: billionaire, former Army Ranger, founder of several private military companies. The man had resources that rivaled most countries.
“He’s been watching our work,” Ethan continued. “Approached me six months ago about potentially funding an autonomous unit that could operate without the constraints of government oversight. Helsinki convinced him we’re the right team.”
“What exactly would we be doing?” Rafe asked, fingers absently testing the edge of his bandage.
“The same work. Tracking emerging technologies, preventing their misuse, protecting people who need protecting.” Ethan’s eyes flicked to Sophia. “But without red tape. Without bureaucracy telling us which threats are politically convenient to address.”
“And the catch?” I asked, because there’s always a catch.
Ethan didn’t sugarcoat it. “We live in the shadows. No recognition, no backup if things go wrong. If you’re captured on foreign soil, there’s no diplomatic intervention. No extraction team. You’d face whatever punishment that country’s laws dictate.”
“So basically what just happened in Helsinki,” Flynn said, “but as a permanent career choice.”
“There’s more,” Kate spoke up from the tablet. “Once we take this step, there’s no going back to legitimate operations. No returning to government work. This becomes who we are.”
