“None out front,” I said. “I clocked it on the ride in. Just one fake dome above the entrance.”
“They’re hiding something,” Ranger said. “But they’re good at covering their tracks.”
Brutus moved silently toward the back wall, then pointed. A single scuff on the paint near a sealed door. It wasn’t big, but it was fresh.
“Whoever used this place didn’t expect company,” Ghost said, already snapping photos.
We didn’t linger. There was nothing else to find. But the cold pit in my stomach didn’t ease as we rode out.
That made two locations with evidence of activity, but nothing solid. Just more games.
By the time we reached the old storage units on the outskirts of the county, I was itching for something real. Something that didn’t feel like another breadcrumb in someone else’s twisted scavenger hunt.
Ghost stayed back in the truck, looping around the outer fence line while we rolled our bikes straight up the gravel path. Ranger dismounted first, Smoke padding quietly at his side. The dog froze near one of the units. His head cocked and nose working overtime. Then suddenly he just sat and looked at Ranger.
“He’s got something,” Ranger said.
We slowed our approach, fanning out as Ghost’s voice crackled through the comms.
“Far right corner, the chain bolt is loose. Proceed with caution.”
I drew my Glock, eyes sweeping the shadows. Brutus moved in first, yanked the door open. The unit was mostly empty, except for two folding chairs and a tiny table.
A coffee cup sat in the center.
Steam still rose from it.
“Goddamn,” I muttered. “They were just here.”
That’s when Ghost appeared beside us, holding something small between his fingers.
A burner phone. Again.
But this time… it was intact.
He held it out to me. “Scout’s model. Same encryption.”
“Shit.” My throat tightened. “Then this was his. Or someone wants us to think it was.”
Ranger’s eyes narrowed. “Still doesn’t explain why they’d leave it behindunbrokenthis time.”
I turned the phone over, checking for bugs. “Because they wanted us to take it.”
“They’re watching us,” Ghost said flatly. “Somewhere nearby.”
Brutus scanned the trees. “Eyes in the dark.”
We backed out fast, regrouped at the bikes, all of us tense.
The signs were clear now. This wasn’t just recon.
It was bait.
And we’d taken it.
The ride back was silent.
Not in the engines, those still rumbled beneath us like the pulse of something alive. But in everything else. No banter. No side-eyes. No jabs about being rusty or slow.
