“Rook,” Sage murmured.
The name tugged at something—familiar, but out of place.
He hadn’t thought about him in years.
Viper stepped forward slightly, his attention fixed on the screen.
“Genesis will start tracking him, plus the remaining names,” he said. “Quietly. He could be tied to Adrian’s death—or be the next target.”
He looked to Law.
“Pull the old files and see what patterns you can find.”
Law nodded once.
Then Viper’s gaze shifted back to Sage.
“You’re on intel support.”
Sage gave a small shrug as if it didn’t matter. “Already there.”
He turned back to the laptop, fingers moving again as the room shifted toward operational planning.
If Viper thought he was sitting this one out, he had another thing coming. Sage had no intention of being sidelined—but Viper didn’t need to know that. The only person he answered to was Azrael.
Someone started discussing access points. Memphis was already pulling up a map of the old L.A. territory.
Sage barely heard any of it. He was busy planning.
Another window opened on the screen.
More archived names.
Old ghosts.
He was halfway through another log file when his phone vibrated against the counter.
The sound was barely there.
Almost nothing.
But he froze.
Just for a second.
His fingers stilled on the keyboard before he reached over and flipped the phone face down beside the laptop.
Then he went back to typing.
Across the counter, Law didn’t say anything.
But Sage knew he’d noticed.
The next morning came quietly to Nightfall Drifters Ranch.
Making his way into the kitchen, Law stepped around Cookie and filled two mugs with coffee. One, he added heavy cream and a squirt of honey from the bottle beside the pot.
“You guys workin’ today?” Cookie asked without looking up from the skillet.
