Page 157 of Promises in the Dark

“For fuck’s sake, Raven, I was trying to save your life!”

I stepped between them, my hands raised. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Both of you, calm the fuck down. What the hell is going on here?”

Raven’s eyes snapped to mine. “This piece of shit,” she spat, jerking her head towards Viper, “took a shot at me while I was on patrol.”

I turned to Viper, raising an eyebrow. “That true?”

He shook his head vehemently. “I wasn’t aiming for her, Rogue. I swear on my life. There was someone behind her, coming at her with a knife. I was trying to take the bastard down.”

“Bullshit!” Raven snarled, taking a step forward.

I put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. “Alright, let’s fucking cool off for a second,” I said, trying to keep my voice level. "Viper, you’re saying you saw someone sneaking up on Raven?"

He nodded, his eyes darting between me and Raven. “Yeah, couldn’t see his face, but the fucker had a knife. He was coming right for her.”

I frowned, something not quite adding up. “How’d you miss? Your aim’s usually spot on.”

Viper dragged a hand through his hair, looking like he wanted to rip it out. “The angle was shit, okay? I had to lean out over the edge to get a clear shot. By the time I steadied myself, the guy had already ducked behind some rubble. I took the shot anyway, hoping to at least scare him off.”

Raven scoffed, clearly not buying his explanation. “Don’t listen to this traitor, Rogue. He’s feeding you a line of bull— ”

“Traitor?” Viper cut her off, his calm finally shattering. “How the fuck am I a traitor when I just saved your ungrateful ass?”

They lunged at each other, fists flying. I cursed, throwing myself between them again.

“Enough!” I roared, shoving them apart. "We’re on the same fucking team!”

Raven’s eyes narrowed, confusion replacing some of the anger “What are you talking about, Rogue? We agreed Viper couldn’t be trusted. Remember?”

We had talked about Viper, sure. But that was before... before everything went to shit. Before Red and I started seeing the bigger picture.

I glanced at Red. She had the same look in her eyes—uncertainty. Should we tell them? Could we trust them?

Fuck it. If we were going to get to the bottom of this, we needed allies.

“Viper’s not the traitor.”

Raven’s head whipped toward me. “What? But we agreed—”

“I know what we agreed,” I cut her off. “But I’ve been doing some digging. And I’m starting to think we’ve been barking up the wrong tree this whole time.”

Raven’s eyebrows shot up. “What the hell are you saying?”

I took a deep breath, knowing once I said this, there was no going back. “It’s Pyro. We think Pyro might be the one behind all this shit.”

Raven’s face went through a series of emotions—shock, disbelief, then slowly, reluctant consideration. “Pyro? But... why?”

“Think about it,” I pressed on, warming to the topic now that it was out in the open. “Every time a mission goes tits up, who comes back without a scratch? Who’s always in the right place at the right time? And who’s been pushing for more aggressive tactics, even when it puts the team at risk?”

Understanding dawned in Raven’s eyes. “Son of a bitch.”

Viper nodded, grimacing. “Hate to admit it, but it makes a fucked up kind of sense.”

Red finally spoke up since we’d hit the roof. “Viper, this man you saw attacking Raven. Was he armed with anything other than the knife?”

Viper shook his head. “Nah, just the blade. Why?”

Red’s brow furrowed. “Doesn’t it seem odd? A single insurgent with just a knife? It’s practically suicide.”

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