Page 49 of Shattered Salvation
She steps back without speaking and lets me inside. The living room is tidy but lived-in, with framed photographs on the mantel and a half-read book open on the coffee table. She doesn't offer me a seat. She simply closes the door and turns to face me with her arms crossed over her chest.
"You've been digging into my family," she says. It isn't a question.
"I've been digging into the man who attacked my mate and framed another," I answer. "Declan Smisson. Your son. The one who's been accessing station files and feeding information to thenetwork that protected Hex for years. I'm trying to understand how much you knew and when you knew it."
Morrison's jaw tightens. For a moment I think she'll order me out of her house. Instead she walks to the mantel and picks up one of the framed photographs. It shows a younger version of herself with a boy who can't be more than ten. The resemblance is unmistakable even in the faded colors of the print.
"He was just a kid," she says quietly. "Smart. Angry. Always asking why the rules only applied to some people and not others. I thought if I gave him structure he'd settle. I thought the badge would mean something to him the way it meant something to me."
She sets the photograph down and looks at me directly. The deflection is still there, but it's thinner now. The exhaustion in her face makes it harder to maintain.
"You knew he was involved," I say. "You knew and you let the investigation point at Kade instead. You let Emrys believe he wasn't safe in his own home. And you would've framed my mates for it if the evidence hadn't been too clean to ignore."
The words land between us like a line drawn in the air. Morrison doesn't deny it. She doesn't defend herself. She simply stands there with her shoulders slightly hunched and her eyes fixed on the photograph she's just set down. The silence stretches long enough that I can hear the clock ticking on the wall behind her.
When she finally speaks her voice is low. "I don't know where he is. He stopped answering my calls three days ago. I've been trying to reach him through every channel I have left and he's gone. If he's working with the people who let Hex out, then I've already lost him."
I study her face for any sign of deception and find only the raw edge of someone who's spent years holding a department together while her own son slipped further out of reach. Theaccusation I carried into her house feels heavier now that I can see the cost it's already exacted on her. I don't soften. I can't. Not when Emrys still wakes some nights reaching for the light switch and Kade carries the memory of handcuffs in the set of his shoulders.
"I'm not leaving this alone," I say. "If you're protecting him, I'll find out. If you're being used by him, I'll find that out too. Either way, the federal team will be here soon and they won't care whose son he is."
Morrison nods once, as if she's expected nothing less. She doesn't ask me to stay. She doesn't offer any further information. She simply walks me to the door and closes it behind me without another word. I stand on the porch for a moment and let the cool air clear the scent of her house from my lungs. Then I get back in my car and drive toward Rourke Securities with the weight of the conversation sitting heavy in my chest.
I'm halfway there when my phone rings. Dana's name appears on the screen.
"Declan just parked outside a warehouse on the old industrial road," she says without preamble. "We've got a drone up. He hasn't moved in twenty minutes. The building's registered to a shell company that traces back to one of the Cardinal accounts."
I pull the car to the side of the road and put the call on speaker. "Send me the coordinates. I'll get it to Caldwell."
She does. I forward the location to Caldwell with a short message. He calls back within two minutes.
"We don't move until the team's in position," he says. His voice carries the same steady focus it always does when something's gone wrong before and he's determined not to let it happen again. "I lost a prisoner once already. I'm not doing it twice. Tell Kade to keep his people back. This is federal jurisdiction now and I'm not giving them any reason to shut us out."
Skylar
I stand near the open trunk of Caldwell's car and check the straps on my vest one more time. The weight sits heavier than usual tonight. Midnight has already passed and the federal team is moving into final positions around the warehouse. I pull out my phone and step away from the group. Emrys answers on the second ring, his voice soft and tired in the way it gets when he refuses to sleep until he knows I'm safe.
"You're still there," he says.
"I'm still here," I answer. "We move in the next twenty minutes. I wanted to hear your voice before it starts."
There's a pause on his end. I picture him curled in the nest with one of Kade's hoodies pulled over his knees, phone pressed to his ear while Kade waits nearby in silence.
"It's almost over," Emrys says after a moment. "Whatever happens in there tonight, the part that was hurting us ends. Come home when you can."
"I will," I tell him. "Stay in the nest. Let Kade take care of you until I get back."
He makes a small sound that might be agreement. We stay on the line for another thirty seconds without needing more words. When I end the call I slip the phone back into my pocket and walk back to the group. Caldwell gives me a single nod. He doesn't ask who I called.
We drive in two vehicles with the federal agents leading. The warehouse sits at the end of a long access road lined with rusted fence and tall weeds. Only one dark sedan is parked near the loading bay. Declan's car. We move into position without wasted motion. I stay with Caldwell near the side entrance while the main breach team takes the front. The signal comes through the radio. We go in fast.
The inside of the warehouse is larger than it looked from outside. Rows of shipping containers and stacked pallets fill most of the space. In the center a makeshift command area has been set up with folding tables and laptops. Several men in dark clothing turn at the sound of the breach. One reaches for a weapon. A federal agent drops him before he can draw. The rest raise their hands.
Declan stands near the back table with his hood down and his hands visible. He doesn't run. He watches the room fill with armed agents and lets them cuff him without resistance. Hiseyes meet mine for a second as they walk him past. There's no recognition in his face, only flat calculation.
Hex is in the far corner near a stack of crates. He looks smaller than the files made him seem. He reaches for something on the table when Caldwell comes through the gap between two containers. Hex turns with a gun already in his hand. Caldwell fires twice before the other man can aim. The shots echo off the metal walls and Hex drops where he stands. The loose end that believed one man could be his entire protection ends in a room full of the operation he never understood he was part of.
The federal team moves through the rest of the space with practiced efficiency. They find hard drives, ledgers, and communication equipment that'll take weeks to sort through. The operation the network tried to keep hidden lies open under the bright temporary lights. Every file we chased for months sits here in physical form. The money trails. The supply lists. The names. Everything the feds suspected for years but could never prove in one place at one time.
