Drew swallowed.“After they killed her...I lost it.I didn’t see it coming.I’d been working for them for eighteen months, thinking I was cleaning up the world.Taking out traffickers, corrupt officials.I didn’t know I was their weapon.”
Kael’s grip tightened slightly, but he said nothing.
“Iwasinjured on that mission, a week after you were evacuated.Woke up in a hospital with a man sitting beside me.Told me the world was darker than I could imagine, that I could make a difference.He said if I wanted to keep fighting, I needed to stay dead.He was very convincing and I believed him.”
His voice cracked.“I believed that they sent me after monsters—but they were the monsters.I just didn’t see it until it was too late.”
Kael’s jaw clenched.“What changed?”
Drew’s breath hitched.“They gave me a target.Said he was dirty—crimes against humanity.I started digging.Turned out he was a government official in Chile, standing up for his people, blocking one of their mining operations.His only crime was being honest.When I refused the hit, they took my sister.”
He paused, eyes glistening.“Like I said, they wanted to make an example of her.I found her too late.I killed the three men responsible with my bare hands.”
Kael’s stomach twisted.“You should’ve come to me.”
Drew’s laugh was bitter.“I couldn’t.I didn’t want that evil anywhere near you.”
Kael stepped closer, closing the last of the space between them.“You think I can’t take it?”
Drew met his gaze.“I didn’t want you to have to.”
Kael took a deep breath, the sound of the waterfall filling the silence.“Then let me tell you about us.”
Drew frowned.“Us?”
Kael nodded slowly.“Black Tide.What we really are.What we do.”
Drew frowned.“What do you mean?”
Kael held his gaze.“We kill people, Drew.People pay us to kill people.”
“Assassins,” Drew said, the word sharp on his tongue.“You say kill people, but you mean you are assassins.You say it like it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” Kael said evenly.“It’s our way of improving the world.We don’t take contracts just for money or for power.We take them to fix what’s broken.We go after the monsters—the ones who hide behind influence and bloodlines.The ones like the Directorate.”
Drew’s jaw flexed.“And who decides who deserves to die?”
Kael’s voice stayed low.“We do.Together.Every mission goes through all of us.We dig until we’re sure.If there’s doubt, we walk away.We’re not executioners—we’re precision weapons.We end the rot before it spreads.”
Drew stared at him, searching for the lie.“You kill for justice.”
“I kill so others don’t have to live the way you did,” Kael said quietly.“So some sister somewhere doesn’t die screaming while no one comes for her.”
Drew swallowed, emotion tightening his throat.“And you can live with that?”
Kael didn’t hesitate this time.“I sleep better knowing we’ve made a difference.Every contract we take, every life we end—it’s been vetted, verified, and deserved.We do the research, and when the smoke clears, I can breathe easier knowing the world’s a little cleaner for it.That’s what keeps me going.”
The tension between them softened, no longer defensive—just real.“You’ve done things you’re not proud of though,” Drew said.
Kael gave a humorless smile.“We both have.The difference is I don’t run from mine anymore.”
Drew exhaled slowly.“So, what happens now?You keep killing until the world’s clean?”
Kael shook his head.“No.We keep fighting until the people worth saving can live without needing men like us.But we’re not naive enough to think that we will end all of it.Just make a difference where we can.”
Drew was quiet for a long moment, the water roaring in the background.Then he nodded once.“Then maybe I’ve been fighting for the right side these past four years after all.”
Kael reached out again, his thumb brushing the scar along Drew’s jaw, anchoring him there in the fading light.“You were never fighting alone.You just never knew it.”
