Page 73 of The Scout

A mole. A rival company. A government conspiracy.

None of them sat right with me.

Because this felt personal.

And I should know. I’m the king of making things personal.

A rival company wouldn’t go this far. Not unless we’d cut into their business, taken something from them, and Dominion had gone out of its way to avoid conflicts on American soil. If we were going up against another private military firm, we’d know it by now.

A government conspiracy? Maybe. We’d done things that put us on the wrong lists, but Will wasn’t the one who’d make them nervous. If they were coming for Dominion, they’d come for me.

That left something else. Something worse.

I wasn’t sure what yet, but my gut told me this wasn’t about money.

The details of the ransom demand came in just as Charlie and Noah stepped into the room, their faces tight with unreadable expressions.

“We got a time and place,” Charlie said, dropping his phone onto the table and sliding it toward me.

I picked it up, scanning the message.

Folly Beach Pier. Tomorrow. Ten minutes after sunset.

I set the phone down slowly. It was a bad location—too many angles, too many places for shooters, too easy to get boxed in. They’d chosen a spot that forced us into a barrel, where they’d have control.

They weren’t amateurs.

I was still thinking through the logistics when I felt it.

A presence at the door.

I looked up just as Isabel stepped into the room.

Her hair was damp from the shower, pulled over one shoulder, her skin scrubbed pink from the hot water. She had changed into one of the t-shirts I’d given her, the hem barely brushing the top of her thighs, her feet bare against the hardwood floor.

But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

It was the look on her face.

Something tight. Determined.

I didn’t like it.

I knew what was coming before she even opened her mouth.

“I want to help,” she said, voice steady.

“No.” I didn’t even hesitate. “That’s impossible.”

She crossed her arms. “It’s not impossible.”

I pushed away from the table, turning to face her fully. “Isabel, I don’t care what it costs. I’ll pay whatever I have to in order to get him back.”

Her jaw tightened. “That’s not the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

“I need to be there,” she said simply.

---