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The screen door slammed behind us, sealing in the stifling tension of the San Diego house I thought was a sanctuary. My fingers tightened around Nora’s small, cold hand as we walked down the concrete driveway toward my car. / Chapter 15 / 30

Chapter 15 - The Counter-Hunt

I didn't call the local police. Local cops in a sleepy Oregon coastal town couldn't handle an international syndicate with tentacles reaching into federal black budgets. Instead, I locked up the workshop, grabbed my truck keys, and drove straight to the house.

Nora was sitting at the kitchen table doing her homework with a box of crayons spread out before her. When I walked through the door, her face lit up with a bright, innocent smile.

"Daddy! Look, I drew a picture of our house!"

I forced every ounce of terror and rage out of my expression, replacing it with a warm, steady smile as I walked over and kissed the top of her head. "It's beautiful, sweetheart. You're getting better at drawing every day."

While Nora was upstairs washing up for dinner, I fired up my encrypted laptop and patched a secure satellite link through to Caleb Price.

Caleb’s face flickered onto the screen within seconds, illuminated by the green glow of his monitors. He looked tired, dark circles under his eyes, surrounded by open case files.

"Ethan. You look like you just saw a ghost," Caleb said without preamble.

"I got a call," I said, my voice cold and hard as iron. "An associate. They know where we are. They’re demanding the rest of the Coronado trust funds, or they target Nora."

Caleb slammed his fist onto his desk. "Damn it. We missed a cell. When Miller flipped, he claimed all West Coast sleeper assets were rounded up. There must be an independent operative running rogue—someone tied to Colin’s old private security network in Seattle."

"I’m not running anymore, Caleb," I said quietly, staring directly into the camera lens. "I’m done looking over my shoulder. I want their names, I want their locations, and I want them neutralized."

Caleb stared at me for a long moment, reading the absolute, unyielding resolve in my eyes. A slow, grim smile touched his lips.

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The applause slowly faded as Maya stepped off the graduation stage, the heavy wooden steps creaking beneath her feet. Little Lily stirred against her chest, letting out a soft yawn that sounded entirely too peaceful given the emotional hurricane that had just swept through the auditorium.

The applause slowly faded as Maya stepped off the graduation stage, the...

Pain rippled through my lower back as the front door clicked shut, the heavy wooden frame sealing off the warmth of the house. The rain didn't fall; it drove sideways, sharp and icy, slicing through my thin cardigan and soaking into my maternity clothes.

Pain rippled through my lower back as the front door clicked shut, the h...

The sound of shattering crystal echoed like a gunshot across the sun-drenched gardens of the Lake Geneva estate. High above the courtyard, Eleanor Montgomery’s pristine white-gloved hand hovered in empty space, her fingers trembling violently.

The sound of shattering crystal echoed like a gunshot across the sun-dre...

"I've been waiting for you to say that," Caleb said, pulling up a digital map of the Pacific Northwest. "My intel network picked up a spike in encrypted satellite transmissions originating from a logging camp outside of Astoria, just two hours north of you. That’s where the call came from."

"Send me the coordinates," I said.

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