Page 60 of Iron Shield
Normal Blackout updates—current affairs and a lead from Delta team. Apparently they’d spent all night raiding a bunker and recovered two rifles matching serial numbers from Echo’s armory.
A small rustle went around the table, and Rome sat a little straighter.
Two rifles weren’t much. But it was the first real piece of Echo they’d touched in weeks.
He listened to the reports without adding a word. When Cannon swept a look around the table, he paused at Rome.
“Rome. You have something to add?”
He compressed his lips for a beat before just stating what was on his mind. “We’ve entertained ideas about copycats. But I think it’s more likely that we didn’t get all of Cipher’s network.”
The room went quiet.
“Few people knew about Echo, let alone the location of their base. Only someone on the inside could have that information. It reeks of Cipher.”
“Cipher ran a big network.” Younger met Rome’s stare, backing him up. “If someone flew under the radar all this time, it’s possible they got missed.”
“Someone below his inner circle. Maybe someone we even passed over because they looked clean.”
Cannon tapped his fist to his mouth. “That network was deep. Cipher turned a lot of people in positions nobody would bother looking twice at.”
Suddenly, O snapped straighter. “Dante’s coming through with a video call on the Blackout network.”
“Patch him through,” Cannon ordered.
Dante’s face filled the frame of the big monitor. His eyes were sharp and monitors glowed behind him.
“Sierra,” he said as his only greeting. “I was up all night working on new footage from a business that neighbors Antonio’s Ristorante.”
Rome sat forward, fists curled on the table. “Why are we just now seeing it?”
“The business had some questionable activities taking place and buried the footage we needed. I had to gain access to it through some…shall we say…creativeroutes.”
“What do you got?” Rome asked.
Dante gave a brisk nod. “Looks like a cold-blooded murderer to me. Ran it through facial recognition and he popped right up. Name’s John Hutchins. Logistics Specialist First Class. Stationed at Great Lakes.”
Rome’s blood surged. Great Lakes was the base north of Chicago where he and Stina were airlifted back to Sierra base.
He jerked his gaze to Cannon. “I volunteer. Send me back.”
He held his stare for only a split second. “Rivers is with you.”
They both pushed away from the table and scrambled for their gear. They’d travel light but that didn’t mean they were going unarmed. When they passed the corridor that would take him to Stina, he turned his head but kept walking.
The chopper was waiting for them, and they boarded without speaking.
Forty minutes into the flight, he felt Rivers’s stare drilling into him.
Rome cocked a brow in question.
Rivers settled into his seat. “You seem pretty invested in Stina’s case.”
He gave him a flat look. “I was sent to investigate what happened to her bodyguard. When I found him dead, that meant I became her bodyguard.”
Rivers smiled. “Rumor on base is she’s sleeping in your bed.”
A cord in his chest yanked tight, but he managed to keep his expression neutral. “Can’t believe everything you hear.”
