Page 130 of In the Shadows
“There’s a situation developing in Mobile. Maritime corridor, similar pattern to what we found in Blossom Springs. Shell companies buying waterfront access. Falsified permits. Local law enforcement looking the other way.”
“Caleb.”
“I’m not asking you to go.”
Ronan blinked. That was new. In six years, Caleb had never led with anything other than a mission briefing and the assumption that Ronan would be on a plane within twelve hours.
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because I’m sending someone else, and I need you to run the operation from where you are.”
The water lapped against the dock pilings. A pelican landed on the far post and folded its wings, settling in like it owned the place.
“Run it how?”
“The way you’ve always run things. Strategy. Coordination. Intel analysis. You read a situation faster than anyone I’ve worked with—you don’t need to be standing in it to understand it.” Caleb’s voice was careful, like he’d been rehearsing this. Knowing Caleb, he probably had. “I’ve been thinking about this since we first talked. About what Shadow Ops looks like going forward.
“I want you behind a secure laptop on a dock in Florida, drinking bad coffee and telling field operatives what they’re missing.” A pause. “It’s not a demotion, Ronan. It’s an evolution. You spent twelve years learning how every kind of operation works from the inside. That knowledge doesn’t disappear because you stopped carrying a weapon.”
Ronan looked out at the inlet. A boat was moving through the channel, slow and easy, headed for open water. Three months ago, he would have catalogued it automatically—make, model, heading, number of occupants. Now he just watched it go.
“What will it look like?”
“Secure comms from the cottage. Encrypted channels, same setup you had during Blossom Springs. I send you the intel packages. You analyze them, build operational plans, and brief the field teams. Remote coordination. You never have to leave town.”
“And when something goes sideways in the field?”
“Then you’re the voice in someone’s ear telling them how to get out alive. Same as I was for you.” Caleb let that sit. “You were good in the field, Ronan. But you were always better at seeing the whole board. That’s what I need. Someone who sees patterns. Connections. The thing everyone else is missing.”
“Lila knows.”
“About Shadow Ops. Yes. I assumed she would by now.”
“She’d have to know about this, too. No more secrets. Not from her.”
“That’s between you and her. As far as I’m concerned, she’s proven she can be trusted with classified information. She sat in an FBI interview room for three hours and didn’t give up a single operational detail.” Something that might have been admiration entered Caleb’s voice. “She’s tougher than half the agents I’ve worked with.”
“Don’t tell her that. She’ll want a badge.”
“I’m serious, Ronan. This isn’t a consolation prize. This is me asking you to do what you’re best at, from a place where you can also have the life you’ve built. Both things. Not one or the other.”
The pelican launched itself from the dock post, wings spreading wide, and glided low over the water before climbing toward the tree line. Ronan watched it disappear.
Both things. He’d spent twelve years believing the work and the life were mutually exclusive. That you could have the mission or you could have the person, but never both. That choosing one meant giving up the other.
“The Mobile situation,” Ronan said. “How bad?”
“Early stage. The kind of thing that turns into Blossom Springs if nobody catches it in time.”
“Who are you sending?”
“I’ve got someone in mind. Former Navy. Good instincts, rough around the edges. Needs a steady hand on the operational side.”
“Send me the intel package. I’ll have an assessment by tonight.”
Caleb was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice had lost the carefully rehearsed quality. Something looser underneath. Relief, maybe.
“Welcome back, Cross.”
