Everything clicks into place.
“They’re using it to move people,” I say.
“And information,” the agent adds.
“And evil powerful people,” Briggs mutters.
Yeah.
That too.
Aspen’s voice is barely there.
“And they were willing to kill for it…they did kill for it. A lot of deaths because of this.
I look back at her.
Hold her gaze.
“They still are.”
Silence.
The weight of it settles in.
Heavy.
Crushing.
Because now we all know—
This isn’t something you expose and walk away from.
This isn’t something you survive clean.
This is something you go to war with.
And war?
War takes everything.
The agent steps closer.
Careful now.
Different.
Less control.
More urgency.
“We need that box,” he says.
There it is again.
That push.
That need.