Page 58 of Tag
The sound of the door opening pulled my attention. Gideon stepped in, followed by a tall woman in civilian clothes with an agency badge clipped to her belt. She didn’t waste time. “I’m taking the drive. My team’s ready to run it through every system we’ve got.”
Tag passed it over without a word.
She slid it into a padded case, sealing it tight. “If there’s a trace on this thing, Graves will know someone’s poking around in his files. You’d better be ready for him to move—fast.”
Tag gave a humorless smile. “We’re counting on it.”
When she left, the room felt smaller, heavier. I sank into the chair across from Tag, studying him. “You think Graves will come for us before we get to him.”
“Not think,” Tag said. “Know.”
The way he said it—calm, certain—sent a shiver down my spine. And somewhere deep in my gut, I knew he wasn’t afraid of it.
He was waiting for it.
49
Tag
The safehouse lights were dim, the glow from the laptop casting sharp shadows across the table. Intel had worked fast—too fast for my comfort—but time wasn’t something we could hoard.
Aponi sat beside me, leaning forward, her eyes fixed on the screen. Gideon hovered near the door, rifle slung loose, scanning the darkness outside like it might move.
The Intel tech—Callahan—typed with the kind of precision that said she didn’t make mistakes. “The drive’s loaded with scrambled data, but buried inside is a secondary encryption—like a secret file inside a locked vault. Someone didn’t want this found.”
“Can you open it?” I asked.
She gave a thin smile. “Already did.”
The screen filled with names, dates, locations. Graves had been busy—tracking shipments, bribes, and worse. But one name stood out, flashing in red at the top:BLACK HARBOR.
Aponi frowned. “What’s Black Harbor?”
Callahan’s fingers froze over the keys. “It’s not a what. It’s a where. And if these coordinates are right, it’s less than an hour from here.”
My pulse kicked up. “We gear up and move.”
Callahan’s voice cut through the moment. “You should know—this file was meant to be found. Graves wanted someone to see it.”
That hit me like cold water. “It’s a bait site.”
Gideon straightened. “Then why go?”
“Because if he’s there,” I said, locking eyes with Aponi, “we end it tonight.”
We moved fast, loading into the SUV under the cover of night. Desert wind whipped against the side of the vehicle as Gideon drove, headlights off, the glow of the dashboard painting us in cold light.
Half an hour later, we rolled to a stop on a ridge overlooking a cluster of warehouses lit by floodlights.
Something about it was too quiet. Too still.
Aponi leaned forward between the seats, her voice barely a whisper. “Tag… where are the guards?”
The answer came in the form of a single red dot dancing across the dashboard.
Sniper.
“Out!” I barked, shoving Aponi toward the door just as the first shot shattered the windshield.
