Page 153 of Cold Mercy

Noah stands over him, eyes blown wide and feral, pupils dark like an animal cornered and starving. His fists are clenched so tight they tremble, knuckles slick and red.

I scream Thomas's name, raw and instinctive, the sound tearing out of my chest before I can stop it.

“Thomas, baby, look at me. Everything is going to be okay. Please, just look at me.”

Every part of me lunges toward him, toward the man bleeding out on that chair, but a guard tears me backward by the arms.

Pain detonates under my ribs. My abdomen seizes like something is clawing from the inside, and my throat burns with a sob I can’t swallow.

Even as I choke on air and feel my body fold in half, the pain is meaningless compared to the torture of seeing him fight with everything he has left while I remain powerless to reach him.

My body shakes so violently I can barely stand, but I refuse to stop staring at him as he bleeds and searches for my gaze. He’s in agony, and I’m being held back like some animal while he suffers alone.

“Sophia—” he tries, voice cracked completely in half.

Hearing him say my name like that splinters something in me so deeply it feels physical.

I thrash against the guard holding me, but my muscles give out. My knees slam the concrete, and another sharp bolt of pain tears through my abdomen, and I fold over, dry-heaving, nails scraping the floor.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” I say, desperate and shaking, turning to Noah. “Anything. Tell me what to say, where to go, who to become. Just stop. Let him go, please.”

For a split second, something like interest flickers across his face.

“You’ll change your mind,” he says calmly. “First you’re going to see something.”

He tosses a thick folder at my feet. A thin, creeping stream of blood has reached it, seeping under the edge of the cover, soaking into the paper.

Noah watches my face the way someone watches a fuse burn down.

“Go on,” he says softly. “Read.”

My fingers clawing at the papers, flipping through them even as they blur with tears.

MOREAU SOPHIA

SUBJECT PRIORITY: HIGH

RISK LEVEL: ELEVATED

FILE: OPERATION AURORA–47B

PRIMARY OPERATIVE

COLLINS THOMAS — OPERATIVE ID 6-1913

ASSIGNED ROLE: INFILTRATION / ASSET PROXIMATION

COVER EMPLOYMENT: IT SPECIALIST — JAMES CALLOWAY ESTATE AS THOMAS REED

CLASSIFIED / TITLE 18 U.S.C. 798 — FEDERAL OFFENSE TO DISCLOSE.

OPERATION OBJECTIVE

The primary objective is the identification and mapping of all personal, financial, and operational connections between subject MOREAU, SOPHIA and deceased asset MERCER, NOAH.

Investigate and verify potential affiliations with the 'AURORA' syndicate. Determine if the subject is a passive beneficiary or an active participant in the organization's structure.

The secondary objective includes long-term proximity to Subject MOREAU for behavioral observation and information extraction.