Because this…
This is only the beginning.
“She’s started,” I say quietly.
Trigger is already moving before I finish the sentence.
“Saint.”
Saint looks up instantly, every protective instinct in his body snapping to attention.
The room shifts from quiet planning to full combat readiness in less than a heartbeat.
I don’t soften the truth.
“She just lit the first match.”
18
Saint
The first explosion doesn’t sound like a bomb.
It sounds like the sky tearing open.
The windows ofThe Last Standshudder so violently the glass screams in its frames. The entire building jolts like something enormous just slammed into it.
“What the hell—” someone starts.
Then the alarms kick in.
Then the radios explode with noise.
“Fire on Main!”
“Possible secondary device!”
“Civilians in the street!”
The room shifts from shock to action in less than a heartbeat.
I’m already moving.
Wolf and Havoc fall in beside me without a word. Trigger is shouting into his comm unit while Marco stands frozen for half a second, his face pale but his eyes sharp with recognition.
He knows this pattern.
He knows what his mother does when she starts a war.
“Laney and the baby are moving. Now,” Wolf says in my ear.
“Good,” I snap. “Get them gone.”
I reach behind the bar and grab my rifle, the familiar weight grounding me as adrenaline floods my system.
“Saint,” Trigger says sharply. “This is what she wants. You out in the open.”
“Yeah,” I growl.
