"You didn't know. At the start I didn’t know what Mateo really was."
"But I knew I loved you, and I walked away anyway." His voice goes rough. "I convinced myself leaving was protecting you. That an operator like me would only bring danger into your life. Turns out I was dead wrong."
"Why did you leave?" The question I've been carrying for years finally finds voice. "Really leave. Not the bullshit excuse in your note."
Colton leans his head back against the wall. "I was a coward. Thought I was doing you a favor by walking away before I dragged you into my mess. Turns out I just left you vulnerable to a different kind of monster."
"I made my own choices."
"Yeah. And I should have been there to help you make better ones." He looks at me. "I can't fix the past. But I'm here now."
"For how long?"
"As long as you'll let me be."
I study his face, looking for the lie. Finding only exhaustion and something that might be hope. "Lucas asks about you constantly. Wants to know if you're staying."
"What do you tell him?"
"That I don't know." I stand, needing distance. "Because I don't. Dylan has Reagan. Kane has someone. Mercer too. They make it work. But you?" I shake my head. "You left once because it got hard. What's different now?"
"Everything." He stands but doesn't move closer. "I'm different. You're different. And that kid in there deserves better than a man who runs when things get complicated."
"So don't run."
"I won't."
The certainty in his voice does something to my resolve. Makes me want to believe him despite every warning screaming not to.
My phone pulses. Tommy's message cuts through the moment.
Kessler just activated a Phoenix-based asset network. They're sweeping the metro area systematically. Kane needs you both in the war room. Now. - Tommy
Colton reads the message over my shoulder. Every muscle in his body shifts into tactical mode.
"Let's go," he says.
I follow him through the corridors toward the war room, watching him transform into the operator Kane needs. This is what loving him means. Missions that pull him into danger. Threats that demand everything he has.
But he's also the man who just talked me through a panic attack and promised not to run.
Time to find out if actions match words.
11
STRYKER
The war room feels smaller with everyone packed inside.
Kane stands at the head of the tactical table, tablet in hand, projecting satellite imagery across the wall screen. Mercer leans against the far wall with arms crossed, reading the room with that quiet intensity he brings to everything. Sarah sits at the console running communications intercepts through Tommy's monitoring systems. Dylan's not here yet, still in transit after placing Rachel's sister's family with Cross's vetted contractors.
Rachel sits beside me, close enough that our shoulders brush. Lucas stayed behind in their quarters with Khalid and Odin standing guard, the kid is comfortable enough to let his mother out of his sight. Progress, however small.
Tommy's fingers fly across his keyboard, pulling up new data streams faster than most people can read. Cross's intel packets scroll across his secondary monitor, each one marked with her distinctive encrypted signature.
"Kessler's not just looking for Lucas anymore," Kane says without preamble. His voice carries the weight of bad news delivered efficiently. "He's systematically eliminating anyonewho might help Rachel hide him. Extended family, old colleagues from her humanitarian work, friends from before Mateo. Anyone with resources or connections that could facilitate hiding."
The satellite imagery shifts to show a map of the Southwest with red markers scattered across Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California. Too many markers. Too many potential targets.
