Page 20 of Cold Ignition

Not just as memory.

But as possibility.

And this time—

He wouldn’t let it disappear.

****

The Black Tide operations room felt tighter than usual.

Not physically—the space was the same as it had always been, open and controlled, screens alive with data and movement—but there was a weight in the air now. Focused. Sharp. The kind that came when something crossed the line from problem to personal.

Keanu stood near the edge of the central table, arms loose at his sides, eyes fixed on the main screen. He wasn’t pacing, wasn’t moving at all, but there was a contained energy in him now—coiled, deliberate.

On the screen, Bateman leaned forward slightly, one hand braced against his desk.

“Rangi and Alexios haven’t just been racing,” he said. “They’ve been working.”

Luca huffed softly. “Yeah, we got that. Question is—working for who?”

Bateman’s expression didn’t shift. “No one. That’s the problem.”

That got their attention.

“They’ve been operating as independent contractors,” he continued. “Transport, muscle, recovery jobs—but they are very selective. They don’t take everything. They don’t take anything dirty unless it’s aimed at someone worse.”

“Now that’s a model I can get behind,” Niko muttered. “Vigilantes with a business model,”

“Effective ones,” Bateman corrected. “They’ve been hitting trafficking routes, shutting down arms movements, pulling people out of situations that don’t make the news.”

Victor’s voice came low from the back. “That draws attention.”

“Exactly,” Bateman said. “They’ve been disrupting a network that doesn’t like disruption.”

Niko leaned forward slightly. “Directorate?”

Bateman shook his head once. “Not openly, but there may be a connection. No, this particular brand of evil goes by the name Crucible Circuit, but it is a front. The racing pulls in talent—drivers, mechanics, people who can move fast, think fast, don’t ask questions.”

“And then?” Ethan asked quietly.

“They get filtered,” Bateman said. “Recruited into logistics, transport, enforcement. The ones who don’t play along—”

“Disappear,” Tane finished.

Bateman’s gaze flicked to him. “Yeah.”

The room settled into a heavier silence.

Keanu’s jaw tightened slightly.

“They knew what was happening,” Bateman went on. “Rangi and Lykos. They started mapping it—routes, drop points, personnel. They were getting close to something big.”

“Too close,” Luca said.

“Yeah,” Bateman replied. “Three nights ago, they were running a job—intercepting a transport tied to Crucible’s internal network. It was a setup.”

Keanu’s head lifted.