Zeke claps me on the shoulder. "We held."
"For now."
"What do you mean?"
I look south. Toward where Graves is holed up in that staging area. Cornered animal with nothing left to lose.
"He has to know we held the line. Knows his contractors failed. Knows we probably captured some of them alive." I meetZeke's eyes. "He's going to run or he's going to make one final play. Either way, this isn't finished."
Zeke's expression hardens. "We find him. Before he can regroup or disappear."
"Yeah. We find him."
Helena appears in the doorway. Traci's beside her now, awake and watching. The girl's face is pale but determined. She survived. She testified. And now the man who terrorized her is cornered with nowhere left to hide.
I catch Helena's eye one more time. Heat flares between us despite everything—the bodies outside, the contractors bleeding in custody, the threat still hunting us. That want hasn't gone anywhere.
But Graves is still out there. Still dangerous.
He comes first.
After that, I'm coming back for the woman who sees exactly what I am and doesn't look away.
