Parker scrolled, lips pursed. “Hard to tell. But by my count, at least three containers a month, minimum seven heads per.”
I did the math. “Thirty a week. That’s over 20 a month.”
Wrecker nodded. “Now extrapolate that over a year. Between humans and wolves, they are devastating families and packs.”
I sat back, Rocket’s head in my lap, and tried to process it. I thought about Harper, about the girls at Eyrie, and wondered how many of them knew what waited at the end of that line. Probably none. Maybe all.
I forced my voice to calm. “What about the witches?”
Wrecker shrugged. “They handle logistics. Blackmail. Find a way to wipe the memories if needed. Remember, we have our own witch, and she is the most powerful of them all. She can make damn sure nobody talks.”
I thought back to the way Aspen had disintegrated the Wyrdmother of the Verdant Hollow Coven when she tried to hurt Big Papa. That girl has witch and angel power. I wouldn’t cross her.
Parker chimed in, “I’d bet most of the witches in that club aren’t high-power. But the ones running security, they are likely carrying some kind of dark magic. I know my girl Aspen can wipe them all out, but you know her heart is as tender as canbe. I hope it won’t come to that. But she’d hate the idea of those women being taken. We’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Wrecker smiled, sharp as a blade. “We don’t need the manifest. We need the list of drivers. Every one of them is either human or wolf, and nobody swaps runs without approval.”
He gestured to the board. “We start at the port, work backward. Find the last-mile guys, squeeze them until they break. Once we have a name, we track the holding facility. That’s where they keep the girls before shipping.”
I picked up a pen and circled the warehouse address. “We hit this site first. Parker, you keep tracing the digital. Wrecker and I will do recon, see if there’s a weak link in the fence.”
Parker raised an eyebrow. “And Harper?”
I swallowed. “We extract her first. If she’s still at the club, I’ll go in. Alone.”
Wrecker’s eyes flicked up. “Not happening. You get her out, but you’re not soloing the hit.”
I met his gaze. “You want her safe? This is how it has to be. They know my face. She knows my scent. If I don’t do it, nobody will.”
The tension stretched until Rocket barked, snapping us all out of it. Wrecker laughed, dry and low. “Fine. But if you go dark for more than five minutes, I’m calling in the National Guard.”
Parker turned back to her monitors. “And I’ll have drones on standby, just in case.”
I grinned. “Good.”
I stood, gave Rocket one last pat, and walked to the board. The addresses and names blurred together, but one word kept burning: Harper.
She’d spent three years in that place, waiting for a miracle. She was going to get one.
I traced my finger along the shipping route, from the docks to San Pedro, then up the coast to some no-name town innorthern California. I remembered Maltraz’s signature: hit fast, hit hard, then move before anyone can follow. This was his hand. Maybe even his endgame.
Wrecker came up beside me and clapped me on the shoulder. “You got this, Jess.”
Parker wheeled her chair over and bumped my hip with her knee. “Go get your girl, Arsenal. We’ll cover the rest.”
I nodded, took a breath, and looked around the room. The screens flickered, the lines pulsed, the data crawled across the glass in cold logic. But under it all was the heat of the hunt. The promise of violence, of righting a wrong the world had let fester.
I checked my phone. One unread text: a photo of the vacant lot next to Wrecker’s house. A piece of land I’d always meant to buy, but never had the time or the nerve. Now, I looked at it and saw something different: a blank slate. A start.
I closed my eyes and pictured Harper there, sun on her hair, bluebonnets at her feet. I sketched a house in my mind: strong walls, wide windows, a porch that ran the length of the front. Room for our own dog, and maybe a pup or two.
But first, I had to get her out. Whole.
“Alright,” I said. “Let’s do this.”
The team moved, each to their station. Wrecker prepping surveillance, Parker hacking deep, Rocket wagging his tail like the world was already fixed.
I watched the board, the route, the future I could almost see.
