I didn’t care about blind. I cared about blood. I cared about Scout’s laugh. I cared about Amanda’s shaking hands in my room and the way she’d said his name like it mattered.
I swallowed it down.
“Fine,” I said. “Give me something.”
Ghost’s fingers moved again. “We have something. Maybe.”
He clicked a key.
A map appeared on the main screen. Rural grid. Back roads. Patches of woods. A few highlighted points.
“This is our ten-mile radius from the van sighting,” Ghost said. “We cleared one warehouse. There are four remaining sites that fit the same profile. Empty on paper. Minimal foot traffic. Utility draw that spikes at night.”
Brutus’ expression sharpened. “That’s not nothing.”
“No,” Ghost said. “It’s not.”
Cap stepped closer, pointing at a cluster. “This one.”
Ghost nodded. “Old feed store. Supposed to be condemned. But it has consistent power draw and intermittent signal noise. Like someone’s running jammers in short bursts.”
Ranger’s mouth tightened. “That’s a hold.”
“And this one,” Cap said, pointing to another. “Storage unit row.”
Ghost shook his head. “Less likely. Too open. Too visible.”
“And this one,” Cap said, finger landing on a third point.
Ghost’s eyes narrowed. “That’s the one that bothers me.”
“What is it,” Brutus asked.
“Small warehouse shell,” Ghost said. “No sign. No listings. Sits behind a scrapyard. The scrapyard’s legit. The building behind it isn’t.”
Cap’s gaze stayed on it. “If I was moving people, I’d hide behind a legal operation.”
Ranger nodded. “Scrapyard gives cover. Trucks in and out don’t look suspicious.”
Ariel’s voice was small but steady. “Is that where Scout is?”
Ghost didn’t answer right away. He didn’t lie either.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s a good place to start.”
I watched the map until it blurred. My hands were still clenched. I forced them open.
Cap’s phone buzzed. He looked at the screen, then at Ghost.
“Talk to me,” Cap said.
Ghost growled. “What?”
Cap held up the phone. “Another contact just confirmed something. They intercepted chatter. Not enough to trace, but enough to narrow.”
Ghost leaned in, reading the message. His posture changed. Sharp.
“That’s new,” he said.
