Buddy didn’t deny it. Couldn’t. His brain had already leapt ahead to the conclusion he’d been trying not to look at head-on:
EJ didn’t need them split. He needed them funneled.
“How far out are you?” Buddy asked.
“Ten minutes,” Dove answered. Breathless.
“Ten-ish here,” Sterling added.
Ten minutes. Fuck.
They’d already been following longer than that.
Longer than the deadline EJ had given him to decide.
You can’t save them all.
He’d known that. But hearing Sterling and Dove confirm it? Feeling the pull of the trap springing shut?
It scorched something inside him.
“Dove,” Buddy said, voice like grit. “Lose your tail.”
“What?”
“Now. Fast. Clean. Just fucking do it. And then get close to me. Close enough that you can feel me breathe but not see me. You know what I mean?”
A beat. “Copy that.”
“Sterling,” Buddy said next. “Same order. Drop them hard. Go dark.”
“Understood.” Sterling’s tone shifted—professional, razor-sharp.
Dawson shifted his grip on the wheel. “This is nuts, even for you.”
“I know,” Buddy said. He didn’t. Not fully. But he knew enough.
The SUV in front of them changed speed slightly—subtle drift, not enough to draw attention, just enough to remind him whose game they were in.
“Vehicle One,” Buddy said into comms, “peel off. Do it slowly. Natural.”
Fletcher answered, “Roger that. Breaking.”
The road stretched out ahead like a throat tightening with every mile. Darkness pressed in from all sides. No streetlights. No traffic. No witnesses. Exactly what EJ needed.
Buddy’s phone was suddenly heavy in his hand.
Dawson saw it. Saw where Buddy’s mind was going. Shook his head once. “This is insane.”
“Yeah,” Buddy murmured. “It is. But you know it’s the only way out of this mess.” He hit EJ’s number.
The line clicked instantly, like EJ had been waiting with his finger over the button.
“Well,” EJ said, “this is a pleasant surprise.”
Buddy stared through the windshield at the black SUV carting Fallon deeper into darkness. His heartbeat was a fist trying to punch his ribs open. “It’s been more than ten minutes,” Buddy said. “I thought I would’ve heard from you by now.”
“I wanted to be generous,” EJ said. “It’s a difficult decision. I thought you deserved a little extra time to contemplate?—”
