Rev rolls his shoulders once and exhales slowly.
“You good?” he asks.
For a second I don’t answer.
Because the truth is I’ve been good since the moment Rae walked into that bar with blood on her lip and tried to act like it didn’t matter.
The memory flashes across my mind now without warning. Her standing there with that stubborn look in her eyes, chin tilted like she was daring anyone to make a big deal about it. Purplebruising already blooming across her cheekbone. Blood at the corner of her mouth.
Trying to brush it off like it was nothing.
My jaw tightens.
“They held her down,” I say quietly.
Rev doesn’t ask who.
He already knows.
“Yeah,” he mutters, eyes drifting back toward the warehouse. “They did.”
Silence settles between us for a few seconds, thick and heavy.
Then Rev taps my shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
We move fast.
Gravel crunches under our boots as we cross the lot, the night air cool against the back of my neck. One of the security lights flickers above us as we pass underneath it, casting jagged shadows across the metal siding. The loading dock door stands half closed, a rusted handle hanging loose like no one inside ever expected trouble to come knocking.
Which tells me everything I need to know about how comfortable Voss has been feeling lately.
Rev grips the handle and glances at me once.
I nod.
He pulls the door open.
The first man inside barely has time to turn his head.
My knife slides across his throat before he can reach the gun at his waist.
He drops silently against the concrete floor.
Rev steps past him immediately, scanning the warehouse floor while the other two Reapers slip in behind us. The building smells like machine grease and stale cigarettes, the air thick with dust that hasn’t been disturbed in days.
Footsteps echo from deeper inside.
“Someone’s here,” a voice calls out.
I move forward slowly.
The second man rounds the corner of a stack of crates, hand halfway to his gun when Rev’s shot cracks through the room. The man collapses before he even finishes drawing.
Two down.
The third one bolts toward the back hallway.
