Page 77 of Carter
Silence fell heavy between us, each man measuring the weight of the words. Cyclone was the first to break it, his grin sharp despite the blood on his sleeve. “About damn time.”
I looked back at Harper. She stood tall despite the tremor still in her hands, her eyes steady on mine. Not pleading for me to stop. Not begging me to leave her behind. Justwith me.
That kind of trust carved deeper than any scar.
I turned back to the team, my voice steel. “We go after Redwood. No more running, no more reacting. We take the fight to them—end it before they can touch her again.”
River’s eyes flicked to Harper, then back to me. He gave a short, grim nod. “Then we plan.”
The fire that had burned low in my chest since the ridge roared to life again. This wasn’t just survival anymore.
This was war. And I wasn’t stopping until Redwood was ash.
122
Carter
We gathered around the scarred kitchen table, the fire burned down to coals, maps and laptops spread across the surface. The team moved like they always did after a fight—sharp, efficient, every man knowing the weight of what came next. But this time, it wasn’t just another mission. This was the one.
“This is their hub,” Gideon said, tapping the glowing screen. “Hidden in the backcountry, shielded by terrain, and they’ve got defenses stacked—patrols, cameras, automated guns. But their biggest weakness?” He zoomed in on a cluster of buildings. “They centralize too much. Take out the control node here, and their whole system collapses.”
Cyclone leaned forward, his bad arm stiff but his grin all teeth. “So we storm the gates, tear it down brick by brick.”
River’s gaze flicked up. Calm. Calculated. “A frontal assault will bleed us dry. We go in quiet, surgical. Hit them where they don’t expect it. Precision, not brute force.”
I listened, my fists curled tight on the table, the hum of Harper moving quietly in the background grounding memore than any of the intel. She didn’t sit with us, but she stayed near—eyes steady, listening. Not afraid. Not anymore.
“Both of you are right,” I finally said. My voice came out low, hard, steady. “We need precision to break in. But once we’re inside? We hit hard, fast, and final. Redwood has been hunting us, bleeding us, marking the people we love.” My jaw clenched, the words tasting like fire. “This time, we finish it. No more running. No more waiting.”
River studied me for a long moment, then gave one sharp nod. Cyclone’s grin widened. Gideon’s fingers flew over the keyboard, already building a path through firewalls and alarms.
I leaned back, my eyes cutting toward Harper. She caught my look, and in hers I found the strength I’d been running on since this started.
This wasn’t just a mission. This was the fight of my life. And I wasn’t going in for orders, or for vengeance.
I was going in for her.
And God help Redwood when I got there.
123
Harper
Istayed just outside the circle, leaning against the counter, listening as maps and strategies filled the space where silence used to sit heavy. The men spoke in clipped tones—precise, sure, like the whole world could shift on the strength of their words.
River’s calm authority. Cyclone’s rough-edged bravado. Gideon’s quiet genius. And Carter—his voice cut through all of it, steady and commanding, but edged with something deeper.
This wasn’t just another mission for him. I could hear it in the way his jaw tightened, in the clipped way he said Redwood’s name, like it was a curse he meant to wipe from the earth.
Part of me wanted to tell him to stop, to let someone else fight, to let this be someone else’s war. But I knew better. Redwood had marked me. This fight had been dragged into our lives whether we wanted it or not.
And Carter—he wasn’t planning for glory. He wasn’t planning for revenge. He was planning for me.
My fingers curled tighter around the mug I hadn’ttouched in minutes. The warmth had gone cold, but it kept me steady as their words swirled around the table.
Gideon pointed to the screen. “If we can overload their comms, we create blind spots. That’s your window in.”
Cyclone cracked his knuckles, grinning sharp. “And when we’re in, we tear down everything that breathes.”
