Page 50 of Closer Than You Think
“We've got a problem.”
“Details,” I reply, my tone matching his. This is our language—brief, to the point, alive with the undercurrent of impending violence.
Cain nods once, sharply, and turns to the screens. His fingers fly across keys, bringing up images and data that make my heart pump harder, not with fear but with anticipation.
“Talk to me,” I demand, pacing in front of him. I never display anxious energy like this, but caring for Hallie has changed everything.
Cain doesn't mince words. He points to a cluster of digital maps and encrypted texts on the nearest screen. “I followed the breadcrumbs, Silas. Cell pings. IP addresses. They led back here—inside Ares.”
“Inside?” The word is a bullet, fired from my lips, hitting its mark. Treachery within these walls is unthinkable, yet here it is, laid out in ones and zeros.
“Someone's been leaking our movements.” His voice is ice, but beneath the surface, there’s something lethal simmering. “We've been compromised.”
I scan the evidence, hard-eyed and sharp-minded despite the betrayal slicing through my defenses. I trust Cain's instincts as much as my own—it's why he's my second in command, why he's standing here now, sounding the alarm.
“Who?”
“Unknown. Yet.” Cain shifts, a predator poised.
My jaw clenches. We built Ares from the ground up, forged it in secrecy and strategy. No one infiltrates. No one betrays.
“Silas . . . ” Cain hesitates, a rare crack in his composure. “There's more.”
“Out with it.”
He pauses, choosing his next words with care. “I found messages that indicate what they wanted with Hallie.”
“And?”
“It was to get to you.”
My world spins.
“They tailed you, noticed your . . . attachment. They thought it could be their in. Get into Ares, get all the information they could ever want on our clients and jobs. Extortion, blackmail, control. They’d be able to do it all with some very powerful people.”
He displays the evidence he found, decoded messages clearly describing their plan.
Rage, hot and blinding, surges through me. Hallie—my one haven in this cesspool of power plays and violence. Her laughter, her warmth, they're light in my shadow-drenched life. And now, she's a target because of me.
“Over my dead body.” The promise is a growl, torn from the core of me.
“Let's ensure it doesn’t come to that,” Cain says quietly, deadly serious.
My pulse hammers in my ears as I stare at Cain, the weight of his words anchoring me to the spot. “This evidence . . . are you certain it's solid?” The question comes out sharper than I intend, edged with the sting of betrayal.
“Silas,” Cain starts, his tone even and steady, “I've cross-referenced the data myself. Encrypted messages, burner phones tying back to our own network. It's conclusive.”
“Conclusive,” I echo, the word tasting like ash on my tongue. My gaze drifts away from Cain, scanning across the array of screens casting a cold glow over the war room. Betrayal within Ares is an anomaly, a glitch in the system that I can't reconcile.Not when trust is the currency we trade in, the lifeblood of our operation.
“Si, listen to me.” Cain's voice pulls me back, grounding. “Whoever's behind this, they know how to cover their tracks. But the patterns are there. If we don't move now?—”
“Then Hallie . . . ” The thought chokes off, unspoken but understood.
“Exactly.” He steps closer, blue eyes locked onto mine, a silent beacon of resolve. “We need to flush them out before they make their next move.”
“Flush them out,” I murmur, rolling the plan around in my mind. Action is needed, swift and unforgiving. There’s no place for hesitation, not with Hallie's life hanging in the balance.
The weight of betrayal presses down on me, a thick fog of realization that this chaos, this imminent threat—they're all products of my own making. I feel the walls of the private floor closing in, suffocating, as if they too accuse me of the havoc that's about to ensue.
