Russ swore under his breath. “She studies people like Sentinel.”
“Which means Sentinel knows her,” I said.
The pieces locked together with brutal clarity.
Raine had been the misdirection.
The marriage. The name. The obvious target.
Scout Fallon was the real prize.
“She was staying at Raine’s place,” Boone said, catching on. “Low profile. Protected. Off the grid.”
“And traveling under Raine’s clearance,” I finished. “So if someone intercepted the route, they’d assume—”
“—they had your sister,” Russ said grimly.
Sentinel hadn’t made a mistake.
He’d made a statement.
I leaned forward, palms braced on the table, eyes burning into Scout’s frozen image on the screen.
“She’s important,” Boone said quietly. “And now she’s gone.”
“No,” I said, something cold and focused settling into my bones.
“She’s been taken.”
There was a difference.
And Sentinel had just crossed a line he wouldn’t be allowed to walk back from.
I straightened and turned to the team.
“Scout Fallon isn’t collateral,” I said. “She’s leverage. And she’s the reason this just became a war.”
I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.
“Lock everything down,” I ordered. “Every Sentinel echo. Every black-site whisper. Every pattern he’s ever used.”
Boone nodded. Russ was already moving.
Behind me, the screen still glowed with Scout Fallon’s image—calm, composed, unbroken.
Hold on, Scout, I thought grimly.
You weren’t meant to be invisible.
And I’m coming for you.
4
Scout
They wanted me disoriented.
That was the first thing I noticed.
