A small smile.
But a real one.
Then Luca rises and steps back.
Spike clears his throat.
“Alright,” he says, voice steady. “Foster, move everyone to the bunker. Set up shop below until we return. Check structural integrity, make sure the place can withstand a bomb. The specs for the place are down there in the kitchen. I want five prospects and all chapter leaders down there with you.”
“Yes, Prez,” Foster says, already on his phone. Most likely to call in the prospects and chapter heads.
“Tank,” Spike continues, “you and Crusher take point on defense. I want guards on every perimeter. Every rooftop. Every blind spot. Put drones in the sky. Shut down all traffic to and from the compound. No one enters, no one leaves without my approval.”
Tank’s jaw flexes. “On it.”
“Knuckles,” Spike says, leveling him with a look, “you’re down below running security. Do. Not. Argue. With me. I don’t care how fucking strong you think you are. Your lungs don’t give a shit about your strength. I’m not having you collapse on me in the middle of wartime.”
Knuckles bristles…but swallows it. “Understood.”
“Keep watch over the security feeds while Foster works on the bunker,” Spike adds.
Knuckles nods, clearly not happy with being put on the sideline.
“Bones. Tank. You’re with me. We’re heading back with Maverick to secure his property. Bones, I need you to call in Shadow reinforcements.
Bones nods.
He turns toward Maverick.
“Maverick,” Spike says, voice low, “I need everything. Every detail. Every threat. Every hole in your defenses. My people… your people… are counting on us to make the right moves. So from this moment forward, we operate as one.”
Maverick stands slowly, the mask back on his face, his expression carved from stone.
“As one,” he agrees, lifting his phone. “I already have my tech team back in L.A. tracing the man who delivered the package.”
“You have a Foster?” I ask, unable to help myself.
“I havemanyFosters,” Maverick smirks back.
“Fuck,” Spike mutters, looking at his own phone. His whole face drains of color. “We just received a package.”
No one moves.
No one breathes.
And then my survival instincts take over.
I grab Eli’s hand and rush from the room, without thinking, without giving a single solitary fuck about orders.
“Move,” I snap, dragging him out of the room and toward the basement.
Eli barely manages to keep up, breath coming fast. “Skip. What’s going on?”
Bones blows past us like a bull seeing red, Sunny clutched tight in his arms.
“OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!” he roars at the bunker guard.
The guard fumbles through codes and keys, but finally, the first reinforced door swings open with a heavy metallic clank. We sprint through the narrow hallway down several more feetof earth before reaching the second door. This one leads straight into the bunker.
