I turn my back on him. Something I never thought I’d be able to do. And when I do, I look at Naomi, and the world narrows to just her face. The helicopters, the soldiers, Spencer, and Logan all fade into the background as I wrap my arms around her beautiful body and draw her against my chest.
"I'm never letting you go again," I murmur into her hair, breathing in her scent, feeling her heartbeat against mine.
She presses closer, her arms encircling my waist, holding me just as tightly. "I know," she whispers.
I pull back. And say something I should have said the moment I knew it was true. When I couldn’t breathe while looking at her. “I love you too.”
Her eyes well with tears.
I kiss her. And at that moment, I become something else, standing in the ruins of the place that forged me into a weapon.
I become human again, a man worthy of loving and being loved by a woman as good, as pure, and beautiful as Naomi.
Epilogue One
I’m taping and marking boxes in Naomi’s bedroom. It’s taking a fair bit of my discipline not to pull out everything she packed—photos, writing, objects. The physical touchstones of the woman I love are almost too irresistible to ignore.
But I told her I’d have these packed and ready to go by the time Naomi got back from lunch with her mother.
After the dust had settled from my fight with Logan, Spencer debriefed us.
"We've recovered extensive documentation of Director Graves operations. El Centinela, the trafficking, the black sites, all of it," Spencer explained. My arm was wrapped in a field dressing, blood seeping through despite my advanced healing abilities. Naomi sat beside me, her fingers intertwined with mine, gripping tightly.
We weren’t letting each other go again.
“The higher-ups are scrambling, but there's no containing this." He looked directly at Naomi, a hint of relief softening hisfeatures. "But because there isn't any containing it, your name has been cleared. All charges dropped."
"What about Walker?" she asked, her hand tightening around mine.
Spencer sighed, running a hand over his short hair. "That's... more complicated. There are a lot of bodies, Walker."
"I did what I had to do," I said simply. The words hung in the air, neither apology nor regret.
"I know." Spencer met my gaze evenly. "And I suppose what El Centinela was benefits you. It was you up against government agents, but it was also an American in mutual combat on foreign soil."
“I doubt Mexico wants to make an issue of this," Naomi interjected.
Spencer shook his head. “And frankly, most of those 'bodies' were either people we've been trying to take down for years or people who don't technically exist. The government isn't exactly eager to broadcast what happened. Too many uncomfortable questions about black ops programs and genetic modifications."
"So what does all that mean?" Naomi pressed, her analyst's mind cutting straight to the implications.
"It means," Spencer said carefully, "that as far as official records are concerned, Walker Cole doesn't exist. Never has and still doesn't have to."
I fold another box, creasing the edges with my thumbs. Spencer's words echo in my mind—I still don't exist. Not officially. I'm still a ghost with no past, no records, no identity beyond what I claim in the moment.
My fingers brush against something tucked in the back of her closet—a small wooden box, worn at the edges from years of handling. Curiosity gets the better of me, and I carefullyopen it to find a photograph. A much younger Naomi sits atop what must be her father's shoulders at what looks like a state fair, cotton candy clutched in one small fist, her smile wide and uninhibited. Even then, those eyes held the same determined spark I've come to love.
I stare at the image, tracing the outline of her face with my fingertip. My past is a cipher. Hers is a past bursting—filled with normal, human, loving moments like this one.
But I can’t be a ghost anymore. Naomi. Living, vivacious, beautiful Naomi has breathed life back into me. I’ve plunged into the stream of her life, and she’s carrying me along with the force with which she lives every moment.
During the debrief, Spencer had also told Naomi that the agency would take her back. That she would be promoted.
She didn’t respond then. After we discussed it, she decided she wanted to move on. With me. She backed up what she said to me at Camp Titan. She didn’t trust the agency or the law. She trusts me. And she wants to create something together.
So we’re moving to Montana, and I’m going to build her that cabin. We’re going to start a private security and search-and-rescue operation.
From now on, we choose what battles to fight. Together.
