And everything changes.
The cold fractures.
He’s beside me in a second.
“You hurt?” he asks.
“No.”
He checks anyway. Hands gentle. Eyes scanning every inch of me like he’s cataloging damage.
“I knew you’d come,” I say.
His jaw tightens.
“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight.”
“You didn’t let me,” I say softly. “I chose to stand there.”
His hands still.
Behind him, Viper hauls the badge man upright.
“You know how we found this place?” Viper asks.
The badge man glares.
“You ran a clean decoy,” Ghost says. “Van peeled out. We chased it.”
A faint, smug twitch at the corner of the badge man’s mouth.
Saint steps in. “Empty.”
Viper nods once. “You moved her through the back while we were burning miles.”
The badge man says nothing.
Doesn’t have to.
Doc’s voice cuts in, quiet and lethal.
“Tessa told us about this building.”
That lands.
The smugness fractures.
“All of them,” Ghost adds. “Every stash spot. Every transfer point.”
Saint tilts his head. “You built a smart maze.”
Viper’s grip tightens in the badge man’s collar.
“She handed us the map.”
Silence.
The badge man’s composure finally cracks.
