I stand and help her off the bed. Her knees wobble slightly, but she steadies herself fast.
When we open the door, our people are there, waiting. Arrow’s face is tight. Juno looks worried but steady. Gage’s gaze sharpens on Salem, protective. River offers Salem a small smile that says she understands what it means to love a dangerousman. Knight and Lark stand close together, Lark’s hand brushing Knight’s arm like she is anchoring herself.
We move down the hall as a group, drawing eyes because we look like trouble. A nurse watches us pass, suspicion and curiosity in her face.
As we reach the exit, my phone buzzes.
A message from Rae, short and chilling.
SYSTEMS DOWN. INTERNAL ACCESS USED. WE ARE COMPROMISED.
My stomach drops.
I tuck the phone away and keep walking, keeping Salem close enough that my shoulder brushes hers.
She looks up at me. “What is it?”
I keep my voice low. “Rae says internal access was used.”
Salem’s face tightens. “So the mole is real.”
I don’t answer out loud. Because I do not want to speak that possibility into the air where anyone could hear. But as we step into the cold night outside the hospital, with sirens in the distance and the world feeling too big and too hungry, one truth settles heavy in my chest. Someone inside Maddox Security wants Salem back in a cage.
And they already know where we’re headed.
TWENTY-SEVEN
SALEM
The ride to HQ feels like we are outrunning a storm that already knows our name. Streetlights smear into pale streaks across the windshield as Arrow drives, hands steady, jaw locked. Juno sits up front with him, one hand braced on the dash every time we take a turn too fast. Knight, Lark, River, and Gage are in the other vehicle behind us, and I can see their headlights in the rearview mirror like a tether we cannot afford to lose.
Ozzy sits beside me in the back seat, his body angled toward mine as if he can physically block danger from reaching me. His hand never leaves my thigh. Warm. Solid. The pressure is a reminder that I am still here.
My wrists ache. My cheek throbs. My mind is loud.
A mole.
Systems down.
Internal access used.
My father’s warning.
The fact that the one person who should have been safest in a hospital bed is now the one person I cannot stop thinking about.
I swallow and turn my head toward Ozzy. “Where’s your SUV?”
He looks at me, eyes sharp. “I left it at the gas station. I rode to the warehouse with Poe.”
“Poe? He was at the warehouse?” I ask. “There was so many people there. I must have missed him.”
Ozzy swallows. “Yeah he was there, I think,” he appears confused, “right? Arrow, where did Poe go?”
Arrow shrugs. “Dunno.”
I keep my voice calm, but my chest is tight. “Should you call him?”
Ozzy’s gaze flicks to the window, then back to me. “Yeah.” He grabs his phone and scrolls through it quickly. He presses the phone to his ear, waiting. And waiting. He presses the phone off. “No answer.” He shakes his head. “Where did he go?”