“That’s not the same as being prepared for it.”
“No,” Graham said.“It’s not.”
Ronan let that sit.When he spoke again, the operational register was gone.“You’re too close.”
“I’m exactly close enough.She’s in the building.I need to know how she thinks.”
“That’s one way to describe it.”
“It’s the accurate way.”
“Graham.”The name alone, no clause attached.Ronan used that sparingly, which was why it landed.
“I’m not telling you to pull back.I’m telling you to make sure you can still do what needs doing if it goes wrong inside that building.If it comes to a choice —”
“It won’t.”
“If it does.”
Silence on both ends.
“I know what I’m doing,” Graham said.
“You’ve never given me cause to doubt it.”Ronan’s voice settled.“That’s the part that worries me.Three days.Run it clean.”
The call ended.
Graham set the phone on the passenger seat.He sat for a moment with his hands on his knees, looking at the building.Then he picked up the burner phone.
Mitch is confirmed.Four holds, county road position on the south lane, man in the basement.Pruitt is handled for Monday.Federal authorization is live — today’s window held.
Three dots appeared almost immediately.
Ronan?
Just got off with him.Everything’s moving.
A pause longer than Caleb’s pauses usually were.
Has Maren been briefed on the full scope?
Tonight.
Don’t wait until tonight.
Graham set the burner on the seat beside him.Maren was three hours into a twelve.Walking into her unit at the wrong moment would burn his cover and hers in the same beat.
He started the truck and drove home.He spent the afternoon at the cottage on Lake Road with the laptop open and the operational map on the wall, running variables.At five-forty he drove back to the hospital.
* * *
He had been in his truck since 5:45.
Not the main lot.The staff overflow off the south side of Hospital Road, the narrow strip of cracked asphalt the day shift used because the main lot filled by eight.He had parked at the far end, engine off, and watched the light shift across the building’s brick face for the better part of an hour.
He had drafted the text twice on the burner and deleted it twice.Some things landed differently in person.
At 6:19 p.m., the staff door opened.
