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I found him on the second floor, sitting in a folding chair next to a pile of expired MREs and a stack of shredded field notes.

His beard was longer than I expected. His eyes were sharp as razors.

He looked me over once.

“You’re the hammer,” he said.

I didn’t answer. Fuck I didn’t know what he was talking about. Are all of these people crazy?

He chuckled. “Thought so. You’ve got the look.”

“What do you know about the man watching Jude?” I asked, voice low.

“Not much to tell,” he said. “He never had a name. Not one that stuck. We called himthe Auditor.”

“The Auditor,” I repeated. “Cute.”

“Not my idea,” the man muttered. “He wasn’t a cleaner. He didn’t erase people. He…observedthem. Studied them. Figured out how they broke. Then made notes.”

My pulse thudded. Was this worse than I thought?

“And Jude?”

“She was the one he couldn’t figure out,” the man said, almost like it bothered him. “All that fire in her. All that control. He thought she was a perfect subject. And when she left that site…”

He looked at me.

“He didn’t take that well,” he said.

I stepped closer, fists curling at my sides.

“You’re telling me he’s not here for intel. Not revenge. Just… obsession?”

The man nodded once.

I turned without another word.

Because if I stayed, I might have killed the bastard just because he’s a crazy idiot.

Outside, I called River. “It’s him. He’s called the Auditor.”

“Got it,” River replied. “Oliver’s pulling every record we can find.”

I ended the call and climbed into the truck, my jaw clenched so tight it hurt.

This wasn’t a mission anymore.

This was personal.

And if that son of a bitch wanted to get close to Jude again?

He’d have to come through me.

And I’d make damn sure—

He didn’t walk away.

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