Page 122 of Make Them Cry
Gage is coming. I know he is. I feel it in my bones.
And when he gets here, I’ll be ready.
FORTY-TWO
GAGE
Arrow doesn’t ask if I’m ready. Instead, he just throws me the keys to his car and says, “Drive.”
Saint Pierce rips past in a smear of sodium streetlights and slick winter pavement. My knuckles are white on the wheel, jaw locked so hard it clicks. Knight rides shotgun feeding short updates from Render and Ozzy into our open channel. Lark’s in the back seat with a laptop balanced on her knees, ponytail threaded through a ball cap, fingers moving like she’s trying to outrun panic.
River is out there. Somewhere cold. Somewhere dark. Somewhere I am not.
I can’t live with that.
Arrow taps his phone and puts it on speaker. “Dean. It’s Arrow. We need the lights on.”
The voice that answers could cut glass. Calm. Command threaded with steel.
“Copy. Which lights?”
“All of them.”
There’s a beat. Then: “Address?”
“I’m bringing them to HQ.”
“Door will be open.”
The line goes dead.
Knight exhales. “He didn’t ask for details.”
Arrow half-smiles, humorless. “He knows I’ll bring the important ones.”
We turn down an unmarked ramp that looks like a service entrance, follow it to a gray door with a tiny keypad that flips to green before I even roll the vehicle to a stop. Inside is heat and concrete and the clean, quiet hum of money spent well: reinforced corridors, recessed cameras, a war-room that would make a three-letter agency take notes.
Maddox Security HQ.
We stride in like we belong—because tonight, we do.
Dean Maddox is already there, sleeves rolled to his forearms, tie gone, that particular brand of authority that makes the room settle even when no one asked it to.
Beside him stands a monster of a man who looks like he can bench press a semi. “This is my cousin, Sawyer,” Dean says. “And this,” he points to another man who’s even bigger if that’s even possible, “is Ranger. Over there,” he points to a woman seated at a computer, “is Rae. She’ll be on comms.”
“I’m just happy they’re on our side,” I say before shaking hands with Sawyer, and then Ranger.
Dean doesn’t waste a second. “Let’s head into the Aquarium where you can brief us.”
I share a glance with my sister, as we move toward a huge conference room surrounded by glass. It sits center in the command center, and is a bit intimidating.
Dean shuts the glass door once we’re all inside. “And go,” he says, getting right to it.
Arrow nods at me. My mouth is already moving.
“Her name is River Quinn,” I say. “Mid-twenties. Developer at NovaPlay Studios. She’s been the focus of a coordinated harassment campaign tied to Cathedral. We have reason to believe Cathedral’s admin ‘Regent’ is Helena Lune—head of HR at NovaPlay. We pulled up security cams at her place and saw that she was taken around nine-forty, and shoved into a black van. No plates.”
Sawyer glances at Rae. “Casualty risk?”
