“I’m not playing anything.”
He moved a step closer.
“Tell me—did you ever stop to think,” he murmured, “that maybe I didn’t take over Black Ledger to get rich or to settle a score? Maybe I did it because someone had to burn the system down before it killed us all.”
“You took it because power tastes better when it’s stolen,” she said, voice steady.
Gunner smiled—cold, nostalgic. “You think you’re so different from me. But you’ve got blood on your hands, Savvy. You’ve made decisions that cost people their lives.”
“I own every one of them.”
“Do you?” he asked, taking another step. “Do you own Hale? You think you’re still the good guy because you carry guilt around like a weapon?”
“Better than wielding silence like a shield.”
He stopped now, just at the edge of her reach. His body loose, relaxed—like he wasn’t two seconds from catching a bullet if he made the wrong move.
Savvy's fingers tightened around the flare. One flick. One spark.
“You’re not walking out of here,” she told him quietly.
“You’re not lighting that flare,” he replied, just as calm.
They stood like that—locked in a silent standoff. The whole swamp felt like it might crack in half from the tension.
Then Gunner’s voice dropped lower.
“Because if you do… he dies.”
Her blood turned to ice.
He didn’t say Patch’s name. He didn’t have to.
Her hand stilled.
And Gunner smiled again.
“You really thought I wouldn’t have contingencies?” he whispered. “That I wouldn’t be watching every back door you and your ghosts might try to slip through?”
Savvy’s jaw tightened. “If you hurt him?—”
“You’ll what?” Gunner leaned in. “Shoot me in front of your team? Lose your shot at justice just for revenge?”
“You don’t know me at all.”
“I know you better than you think,” he said. “But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you are ready to do whatever it takes.”
The flare was warm in her hand now. Her pulse ticked through her wrist like a timer.
One move.
One lie.
One signal—and the whole swamp would erupt.
But if Gunner had someone else in play…
She needed a beat. One more moment to decide whether this was a bluff—or a checkmate.
