“Then explain it.”
“I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt!” he blurted. “They said it was just intel—nobody was supposed to die.”
“Who’sthey?” Hawk demanded.
Torres swallowed. “The man from Washington. He said he’d make the department look good and secure new funding for us. I never knew it was cartel money until it was too late.”
Aaron’s voice crackled over the comm. “Get him secured. We’ll take the statement back at base.”
But Torres shook his head, panic rising. “You don’t get it—they’re everywhere. They’ll kill me before sunrise—”
A single shot shattered the air. Torres jerked, eyes wide, and collapsed.
Hawk was already moving, pulling me behind a concrete pillar as more gunfire ripped through the room.
“Sniper!” he hissed. “Roof line!”
Aaron’s voice exploded over the channel. “We’ve got shooters inbound—two vehicles from the south entrance!”
Hawk leaned out just long enough to fire back. “Julia, stay down!”
“Not a chance.” I grabbed Torres’s laptop, hugging it to my chest. “Whatever he was working on, it’s evidence.”
“Then hold onto it.”
Boone and Jace stormed through the side door seconds later, rifles up, clearing the space with brutal precision. By the time the last echo faded, the only sound was the rain pounding on the roof.
Aaron appeared in the doorway, scanning the scene. “Everyone alive?”
“Barely,” Hawk said.
Aaron’s gaze fell on Torres’s body, then on the laptop in my hands. “You just became our primary witness, Detective.”
I exhaled shakily. “I’ll make sure they’re all buried deep.”
“You and me both,” Hawk said, his hand brushing mine, grounding me even as adrenaline still burned through my veins.
Aaron turned to his team. “Get the drive secured. Whatever’s on it just costs a man's life—and probably leads straight to D.C.”
An hour later,back at the cabin, the room buzzed with quiet chaos. Miles had the laptop cracked open, data streaming across the screen.
“Encrypted files, multiple layers,” he said. “But I can already tell—these aren’t police reports. They’re financial transfers. Offshore accounts, dummy corps. Some of them trace back to federal contractors.”
Aaron’s mouth tightened. “Then Torres was telling the truth.”
Hawk looked at me. “You okay?”
I nodded, though my hands still trembled. “Just another day in Copper Cove, right?”
He reached out, fingers brushing mine. “You did good tonight.”
“That’s not what it feels like.”
“It never does,” he said quietly. “Until it’s over.”
I met his eyes, exhaustion giving way to something deeper. “What if it’s never over, Hawk?”
He hesitated, then took my hand fully, his thumb tracing a slow line along my palm.
