Two.
She tensed, preparing to run.
Three.
Conall broke cover in a burst of motion, laying down suppressing fire.In that moment of safety, Nadine sprinted for the outcropping, covering ground with lupine speed.
She reached cover as return fire began, bullets throwing up puffs of dirt where she’d been running.
But now she had angles.
The first shooter never knew what hit him.Professional precision, center mass.The second tried to relocate and caught her follow-up shot in the shoulder.The third found himself pinned by follow-up shots while Conall advanced.
Clear,he called after checking positions.
Three professional operatives, neutralized in under five minutes through perfect coordination.
Everyone alive?Chen asked as they regrouped.
Breathing,Nadine confirmed.What about the backup teams?
Conall checked his radio, his expression darkening.Compromised or jammed.Either way, we’re on our own.
We gathered new evidence,Chen noted.Objectives complete.I say we leave.
Agreed,Nadine said.
As they prepared to evacuate, Nadine looked back at the site where her father had died.Where he’d been activated one final time before his handlers decided he was no longer useful.
I’m sorry,Conall said quietly.For what you learned about Gregory.
He was still my father,she said finally.Interface or no interface—he still chose to take me in when I had nowhere else to go.
That was real.
That was real,she agreed.
On the drive back, though, she couldn’t quit thinking about her father.
Had Gregory truly been Chimera’s asset, not their enemy?If so, his death had been corporate housekeeping, not pack justice.
In either case, it unnerved her to realize that someone was still watching his grave.
HALFWAY BACK TOSUNBURST, their backup team got through to Conall.
Their comms were jammed,he said after he finished talking to their leader.No idea how.
Chen nodded grimly.Do you have a communications expert to deal with that?
Conall shrugged.Anders does, I’m sure.I’ll talk to him tomorrow.
By the time they reached town, the adrenaline from the firefight at the mine site had faded, leaving Nadine hollow.
Learning her father had been Chimera’s puppet, that her hunt for the Sunburst Pack had been orchestrated lies—the knowledge pressed down on her as she gathered equipment from their vehicle.
Nadine.Conall’s voice carried that careful tone he’d been using since their kiss in the archives—professional distance with an underlying current she refused to acknowledge.
She looked up to find him standing a few feet away, his dark hair still disheveled from their retreat, his expression unreadable in the fading desert light.
