Page 15 of Protect Thy Enemy

And it’s the ghost of her father, haunting me at every turn. Leo’s face flashes in my mind, unbidden. His grin. His fire. His absolute certainty, even when he was wrong.

Williams isn’t him. I know that.

But part of me can’t help wondering if I’ll see her end up the same way.

***

That night, sleep doesn’t come easy. It never does.

It’s like her presence detonated my own mental bomb. One that takes me back to memories I thought I escaped. That I outran. So I shouldn’t be surprised that when I finally drift off for the night, the past drags me back.

The warehouse is cold, the kind of chill that seeps into your bones and stays there. I remember the flicker of a broken light overhead, the distant hum of machinery, and the stale stench of oil in the air.

Leo is beside me, his expression calm in a way that never sat right with me. It’s the kind of calm that only comes when someone’s already made their decision. Accepted their fate.

“We don’t have time,” Leo says, his voice barely a whisper over the comms. His eyes are locked on the bomb in front of us, wires twisted in a tangle that would make any demolition expert curse. “We either cut it, or those agents in the backroom don’t make it out alive.”

“We wait for Harris,” I reply, my voice low and steady. “That’s the plan. We don’t move until the extraction team gives the all clear.”

Leo shakes his head, his jaw tightening. “Grant, by the time Harris gets here, it’s over. You know that.”

I do know that. The timer on the bomb is ticking down, every second dragging us closer to the inevitable. But protocol exists for a reason. You don’t act alone. You don’t improvise when lives are on the line.

“I can disarm it,” Leo says, crouching beside the bomb. “I’ve seen this setup before. It’s basic. I know what I’m doing.”

“Leo.” My tone sharpens, my hand clamping down on his shoulder. “You make one wrong move, and we don’t walk out of here. Let Harris do his job.”

“And let them die while we stand here twiddling our thumbs?” Leo snaps, his voice cutting through the tension. “No way in hell.”

I grip his arm tighter, forcing him to meet my gaze. “This isn’t your call.”

For a moment, he hesitates, his jaw clenching. But then his expression shifts, hardening into something resolute.

“I have this,” he says softly, shrugging off my grip.

Before I can stop him, he moves. His knife flashes in the dim light, cutting through one of the wires in a single motion. The timer stops.

Relief surges through me for half a second, until I hear it.

A click.

My blood runs cold.

“Leo,” I start, but it’s too late. The secondary trigger activates, a hidden mechanism designed to detonate when tampered with.

“Run,” Leo says, his voice calm again. Too calm.

“Leo, don’t—”

“I said run!” he shouts, pushing me back with a force that sends me stumbling.

The explosion tears through the air before I can even process what’s happening. The heat, the sound, it’s everywhere, consuming everything.

When I come to, I’m outside the warehouse, Harris’s team dragging me to my feet. The world is spinning, but I don’t have to ask. I already know.

Leo didn’t make it.

The flashback blurs, rewinding to minutes before the explosion.

---