A flicker of a smile crossed his mouth—the kind thatmade my pulse kick—and then the plane leveled out. The rear hatch clicked. Wind roared in.
Time to go.
But the storm that waited for us outside?
It had nothing on the one he stirred inside me.
30
Hawk
The cargo ramp slammed down with a metallic thud, and cold Midwestern air knifed through the cabin. The scent hit first—wet soil, cut grass, and something faintly chemical beneath it.
Trouble had a smell.
This place reeked of it.
Aaron was already off the ramp, rifle up, scanning the tree line that bordered the compound. Miles followed, equipment clutched to his chest. Boone and Logan flanked out, covering angles like the veterans they were.
Julia stepped up beside me, goggles down, stance steady. Always steady.
“Eyes open,” Aaron said. “We don’t know what Reese built in there.”
Or how many layers of hell he wired into this place.
I swept the perimeter. The facility sat low to the ground—steel, concrete, and a perimeter fence topped with smart razor coils. But the real wrongness wasn’t the structure.
It was the silence.
No guards.
No patrol drones.
No movement.
A facility this important shouldn’t have been quiet. It should’ve been a hornet’s nest.
“This isn’t right,” Boone muttered, tipping his cowboy hat back so he could see better. “Where’s the welcoming committee?”
“Either gone,” Logan said, “or watching us.”
Julia’s voice was low. “Reese wants us to come in.”
He did. He wanted us inside his maze. Wanted me inside it most of all.
“Miles,” Aaron called, “give me eyes.”
Miles set up a portable antenna and tapped his tablet. After a beat he frowned. “No external feeds. The cameras are dead—or were never meant to record what’s inside.”
“Meaning we walk in blind.” Logan clicked his safety off. “Great.”
“Entry point?” Aaron asked.
“North side,” Julia answered before Miles could. She pointed. “That access door. Internal power conduit runs behind it. Short hallway. Chokepoint, but manageable.”
I almost smiled. That’s what happened when you put a detective in a war zone—she saw structure in chaos.
“Julia’s right,” Miles confirmed. “That’s our cleanest entry.”
