"You awake enough for this?"
That’s not how Mako starts calls. The man leads with data. Facts first. Feelings never.
"Talk."
"I cracked the dark web link from her files. The one scrawled on the bottom of that document. It’s an auction site. Was an auction site. It’s been scrubbed, but I pulled cached pages before they disappeared."
The air changes around me. That prickling sensation at the base of my skull that’s kept me alive on four continents.
"What kind of auction?"
Mako doesn’t answer right away, but makes a rough sound. "They were auctioning people."
I close my eyes. Open them. Scan the dark tree line out of habit while my insides turn to concrete.
"Three confirmed matches to Jade’s so far," he says, his tone dark as I feel. "Two women reported missing out of Tennessee in the last eighteen months. One male, twenty-four, dropped off the radar in Texas. No body recovered on any of them."
My hand tightens on the porch railing until the wood groans.
"There’s more. The site doesn’t just list product. There’s an event section. Live events. The language is coded, but not well. They’re selling tickets to hunt people."
Cold slides through my mind, down my throat, and settles at the bottom of my stomach like a stone dropped into a frozen lake.
"How much traffic did this site get?"
"Enough to fund a small army. We’re talking seven figures per event based on the wallet addresses I traced. Crypto, but sloppy crypto. These guys are arrogant."
I pace three steps. Stop. Pace back.
"The link was on a document in her father’s files."
"Yeah." Mako lets that sit. "Which means her old man is either a customer, a supplier, or a middleman. None of those options are good for Jade."
The realization rewires everything.
"Mako, the assault wasn’t a warning to keep quiet. It was an assessment."
Silence. Then, "Explain."
"He hit her. Watched how she reacted. Whether she’d run, fight, or freeze. Then he followed us to see if she had protection or if she was alone."
"Jesus Christ." My spine locks, steel tight.
"She was being scouted. For the list."
Another pause. I hear computer keys clicking. Mako’s already running something.
"If that’s true, then whoever’s running the operation knows she’s in the wind. And they know she has the files."
"Which means they know she can connect the dots."
"Ryker, you need to move her. Assume it’s compromised within twenty-four hours."
"Copy."
"And Ryker? Don’t let her out of your sight. These people don’t leave loose ends. They auction them."
The call ends and I stand on the porch for thirty seconds, letting the operator take control. Sorting the information into compartments.
