Page 40 of Rogue Hope
She turned, maintaining careful neutrality. “What?”
“I just ...” he hesitated, uncharacteristically uncertain. “Thank you. For the opportunity today. The trace wouldn’t have worked without both of us.”
The simple sincerity in his voice caught her off guard. For a moment, she glimpsed the man she’d once known—the one who’d shared her dreams and fears before Paris changed everything.
“It was the right approach,” she replied evenly. “Nothing more.”
“Still,” he persisted quietly. “Your team is ... they’re good people.”
“Yes,” she agreed, allowing a hint of warning into her tone. “They are.”
The unspoken message hung between them.Don’t hurt them like you hurt me.
Finn nodded once, understanding evident in his expression. “See you tomorrow, Zara.”
She turned away without responding, following the familiar trail through pine-scented woods as darkness settled fully around her. Behind her, laughter and conversation continued around the fire, her team and Finn forming a tableau of comfortable camaraderie that she couldn’t bring herself to rejoin.
Tomorrow they would begin planning the mission to the Black Forest, setting in motion events that would likely escalate the danger significantly. Tonight, she needed solitude to rebuild the emotional walls that Finn’s presence had begun to erode—walls she couldn’t afford to lose, not with so much at stake.
Not just the mission, but her carefully constructed life after Paris. After him.
21
Night had settledover Knight Tactical’s compound by the time Zara hauled her tired body upstairs to the guest quarters, each step awakening fresh aches from the day’s exertions at the lake. The headquarters was quiet, with only Axel monitoring security feeds, Ronan patrolling the perimeter, and Maya handling communications.
And Finn, lodged in quarters directly across from hers—a constant reminder of complications she’d rather avoid.
She would have preferred her own home, but with Vanguard hunter teams searching and Cipher’s intentions unclear, Ronan had insisted she remain on-site. “Home advantage,” he’d called it before departing for a rare family commitment.
She locked the door and performed her habitual security sweep before lowering herself carefully onto the bed. Finn’s reappearance had destabilized everything—including her own judgment. The way her team accepted him so readily only heightened her concern. Were they seeing something she was missing, or was she the only one seeing clearly through emotional smoke?
Her phone felt heavy as she stared at the shadowed ceiling. The stakes were too high for unchecked instinct orwounded pride. She needed someone who had navigated these waters before—someone who understood both the Agency’s labyrinthine politics and her own complicated history. Someone who could see the entire chessboard when she could only see the pieces directly threatening her.
She needed Harrison.
Her old mentor might be the only person alive who could tell her if she was being paranoid—or not paranoid enough.
Before she could rethink her decision ten more times, she punched in his number.
“Mockingbird,” Harrison’s voice came through, using her old Agency code name. The familiar designation sent a wave of comfort through her. “Late night call. Must be serious.”
“Sir,” she responded, formality slipping in automatically despite her fatigue. “I’ve missed our debriefs.”
“As have I. What’s troubling my most promising operative?”
She had been that, hadn’t she? Before Finn. A wave of loss swamped her. She fought her way out of it.
“I have concerns about our current operational trajectory,” she said. “And I needed someone who remembers Paris as it actually happened.”
“I’m listening.”
She outlined the situation—Finn’s unexpected reappearance, their trace on Cipher, and Vanguard now hunting them both.
Briefing complete, she waited, letting him digest the info.
Finally, he grunted softly. “So Novak resurfaces after seven years with precisely the intelligence needed to take down Cipher. And now you’re both being hunted. That’s quite a situation. Not that you and your team aren’t up to the challenge. I’ve been keeping tabs on you. Your team, too. I have every faith the lot of you will come out on top. Whether Novak’s on the level or not.”
“My team doesn’t have the full context. They weren’t there for Paris. They don’t know what Finn—” She caught herself. “They don’t have your perspective.”
