I ease back. Not an attack. Just a hunter in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"False alarm." I help Reagan sit up. "Hunter got too close to the perimeter."
"Jesus Christ." Reagan's hands shake as she brushes glass from her hair. "You people are going to give me a heart attack."
"Better a false alarm than a real breach." I check the window. The glass needs replacing but the frame held. "This is what operational security looks like. We don't wait to confirm threats. We eliminate them."
"You eliminated a hunter?"
"We eliminated the threat. Hunter's fine. Just learned not to wander near private property." I pull her away from the window, move us both to the interior wall where there's no line of sight from outside. "Committee uses civilians as cover. Hunters, hikers, lost tourists. Anyone who can get close enough to map our defenses."
Reagan stares at me. "That's paranoid."
"That's survival." My phone buzzes again. This time it's Sarah.
Committee hit Ironwood Ridge twenty minutes ago. Three-man team searching Reagan's known associates. Clinic caught in crossfire. Three civilians wounded. Local PD responding. We need damage control NOW.
The message includes an address. Ironwood Ridge Family Medicine. Two hours south of our current position.
"We have a problem." I show Reagan the message.
Her face goes pale. "Ironwood Ridge. That's where Dr. Patterson works. He treated my father before he died. I visited him last month to ask about pharmaceutical supply chains."
"Did you mention your investigation?"
"I asked about chemical agents. Medical applications versus weapons research. He's an expert in toxicology." Reagan's voice tightens. "He didn't know anything about the Committee or my investigation. He was just helping me understand the science behind the chemical weapons program."
"And now he's wounded because the Committee thinks he knows where you are." I forward Sarah's message to Kane, then pull up a tactical map. "Willa needs to get to that clinic. Treat the wounded, establish a cover story, and make sure local PD doesn't connect this to federal operations."
"I should go with her."
"You should stay here where the Committee isn't actively searching." I look at her directly. "Dr. Patterson got hurt because of your investigation. The best way to honor that is to make sure his injuries weren't for nothing. Help us build a case that destroys the Committee's entire network."
Reagan nods.
Kane appears in the doorway. "Willa's already en route. Sarah's feeding local PD a cover story about gang violence spilling over from Billings. Tommy's scrubbing Reagan's digital footprint from every database he can access."
"How long until the Committee connects Ironwood Ridge to this location?"
"They won't. Reagan visited Patterson four weeks ago. No digital trail linking her current location to his clinic. As far as the Committee knows, she could be anywhere." Kane studies the broken window. "But we need to assume they're working through her entire contact list. Anyone she's talked to, met with, or emailed in the past six months is now a target."
"How many people are we talking about?"
"Sarah's pulling records now. Estimate between twenty and thirty individuals with direct contact. Another fifty to seventywith indirect connections." Kane's expression doesn't change. "We can't protect them all."
Nobody speaks for a moment.
"We protect the ones we can and use the evidence to make sure any deaths mean something." I glance at Reagan. "But first we need to make sure you don't do anything stupid like trying to warn them."
"I need to tell them they're in danger."
"You need to let us handle this professionally." Kane's voice carries command authority. "Any contact you make with your sources puts them at higher risk. The Committee's monitoring their communications. Watching their movements. One message from you and they die faster."
"So I just let them die?"
"You help us build a case strong enough to bring down everyone involved." Kane moves to the tactical display, pulls up the Committee network. "Every hour you spend working this investigation is an hour closer to justice. Every piece of evidence you find is another nail in their coffins."
Reagan's hands clench into fists. Frustration and helplessness warring across her face. She wants to do something, anything, to protect the people she's put in danger. But there's nothing she can do except what Kane's asking.
