I bit his lip, tasting copper and fire. “Always.”
He groaned, the sound ripped from his chest, and then we were both lost. The world narrowed to heat and heartbeat, to the pounding rhythm of us breaking apart and holding together all at once.
When it ended, when the quake left us shaking and breathless, he stayed there—forehead pressed to mine, sweat and soot and salt on our lips.
No more words. No apologies. Just the raw, unshakable truth between us.
Outside, thunder rolled across the mountains again—the sound of another storm on the horizon.
And for the first time, I wasn’t sure if it was the weather or the war coming for us next.
13
Hawk
The world looked different after a night like that.
Dawn crawled over the ridges in pale streaks of gold, lighting the fog that clung to Copper Cove like a secret it didn’t want to tell. The cabin sat quiet except for the low hum of Delta Five’s equipment and the steady click of Miles’s keyboard.
Julia was asleep in my bed—curled up to my pillow, hair loose across her face. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep; she actually told me she would go to her own bed as her eyes closed, and she fell asleep. Exhaustion had finally won. I’d tried to straighten up the pillows once; she’d mumbled something about “don’t touch my evidence” and kept right on sleeping.
I watched her for a moment before walking out of the room.
Aaron stood at the table, eyes on the monitor, coffee in one hand. “We decrypted the first batch,” he said quietly. “Torres wasn’t lying. These transfers go straight to a defense-tech firm calledHalcyon Systems.”
“Never heard of it.”
“You wouldn’t,” Aaron said. “They exist to not exist. Contracts through shell corps, all funded by a committee that answers to no one. And they’re moving money through Colombian accounts linked to the same cartel you and Julia stumbled into.”
I felt the slow burn start in my chest. “So this isn’t just drugs. It’s national.”
“It’s both,” he said. “Cartel gets protection, Halcyon gets product routes and test sites. It’s a symbiotic little nightmare.”
“Does the President know?”
Aaron hesitated. “He suspects. That’s why we’re here. But the name that keeps showing up on these transfers…” He tapped the screen. “Used to work in the White House. Chief of Intelligence Coordination.”
I stared at the name—Adrian Reese.
I hadn’t seen that name in years, but it hit like a hammer. “He was my CO’s handler during the War Games Initiative.”
Aaron nodded slowly. “Looks like he got promoted from the shadows.”
The air in the cabin thickened. I wanted to punch something, or maybe throw up. “How many people’s lives did we wreck overseas for men like him?”
Aaron met my eyes. “That’s the question the President wants answered before this leaks.”
Behind us, the floorboards creaked. Julia stirred, sitting up, blinking against the light. “What leaks?”
“Morning,” I said, trying to sound calmer than I felt. “You shouldn’t be up yet.”
“I wasn’t planning to sleep through treason.” She rubbed her eyes, voice rough. “Tell me.”
Aaron looked to me, then back at her. “Halcyon Systems. D.C. shell company funding the cartel’s stateside operations. Your deputy’s files were part of their money trail.”
Julia’s jaw tightened. “So Copper Cove was just a test run.”
“Exactly,” Aaron said. “They wanted a remote area to move shipments under the radar. If it worked here, they’d expand.”
