Page 22

22

Beatrice

I waited until lunch.

Katherine had gone out to meet with a city inspector—something about a safety review on a new apartment complex. She left with a chipper tone and a coffee in hand, like she hadn’t looked through me all morning, like she was planning something.

The second the door closed behind her, I pulled out the thumb drive from my jacket pocket and slid it into my personal laptop, tucked deep in the bottom drawer of my desk. I had twenty minutes, maybe less.

I opened a secure messaging app Raven had installed for me a few months ago, one he swore couldn’t be traced.

TO: Cyclone

Subject: Need your eyes on this—quietly.

Hey, it’s Beatrice. Sorry to drop this in your lap, but something seems off about the fire marshal I’m working with. Something isn’t adding up. I’ve attached log files—access times don’t match the timeline of the bombing. Please keep this between us. I don’t want to believe it, but… my gut says she’s involved. Raven would know what to do. Just… help me confirm I’m not losing it.

I hit send , then encrypted the files and attached them with a password we’d agreed on for emergencies: “oceanfire.”

My hands trembled when I shut the laptop. I told myself it was just nerves. Just too much caffeine and not enough sleep.

But the second I turned around, I froze.

Katherine stood in the hallway, just past the corner of the room.

“Everything okay?” she asked, her voice light, but her eyes too sharp. “You looked a little… intense just now.”

My heart thudded so hard I could barely hear. “Oh—yeah. Just trying to finish the personnel rotation schedule. Didn’t want to forget. I’m supposed to be home, I’m headed there in a couple of minutes.”

“Hmm.” She took a step closer. “You always were good at planning.”

I forced a laugh. “It’s a weird talent.”

She smiled like it amused her. But there was something coiled under it, like a snake stretching just before a strike.

“I can’t hold this in any longer,” she said, walking closer to me. “I have a secret, it’s been driving me crazy ever since the warehouse fire. I found something and I wanted to show you. I need other eyes on it before I bring it to the police.”

“What is it?” I asked, thinking this was the reason Katherine had been acting so weird. It had nothing to do with me, and I wished I hadn’t sent that message to Cyclone.

“I don’t think I can live with myself if something worse happens. Which is why… I need to show you something.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Katherine—”

“No, please, just hear me out,” she rushed. “I didn’t tell the team yet. I found something in one of the old case folders—something I missed. But I need your eyes on it. I need you to see what I’m seeing. I can’t do this without you.”

I hesitated. “Katherine, I’m not supposed to be on duty. I promised the captain—”

“This isn’t duty,” she said quickly. “It’s off the record—just a second opinion between friends. I’ll drive. We’ll be back in a couple of hours, I swear.”

She blinked fast. like she would start crying if I didn’t go with her. “I’ve been doing this alone for so long… and after what happened, I just don’t trust myself right now.”

Her voice cracked, and I felt my resolve begin to slip.

“Fine,” I said softly. “But only a couple of hours. And you’re driving. You have four assistants. You should be talking to them, not me.”

She wiped her eyes quickly and nodded. “Of course. Just a couple of hours.”

But as I grabbed my jacket, a small knot twisted in my stomach.

Something didn’t feel right.

* * *

We drove in silence for the first twenty minutes. I stared out the window, watching the buildings thin out as we left town behind.

“Where are we going?” I asked finally.

Katherine kept her eyes on the road. “Old supply station on Croft Ridge. It was decommissioned years ago. I found something in the blueprints I hadn’t noticed before. A hidden sublevel—could be where he’s been rigging the bombs.”

My stomach tightened. “Croft Ridge? That place is practically wilderness.”

She glanced over. “Exactly. No one would think to look out there.”

I watched the trees blur past. “You didn’t tell anyone else? You should have told the police.”

“I didn’t want to bring in the team or the police, unless I was sure. And after what happened at the last fire…” She paused, voice tightening. “I couldn’t let anyone else get hurt.”

That quiet guilt again. It hung in the car like smoke.

I looked out the window, unease settling deeper in my gut. God, am I the stupidest person on earth? “Just a couple of hours,” I reminded her.

“Of course,” she said. “You’ll be home before lunch.”

* * *

By the time we reached the ridge, the road had turned to gravel, and the signal on my phone dropped to nothing. The building came into view—an old concrete structure, half-eaten by ivy, with rusted doors and shattered windows, and definitely abandoned.

“This is it?” I asked, climbing out slowly. My shoulder hurt, and my head was a little dizzy. I knew it was a mistake coming here.

Katherine nodded, pulling a flashlight from her bag. “It’s just through here. The hidden room is supposed to be behind a false panel in the back of the building.”

We stepped inside, our footsteps echoing across the cracked floor. Dust filled the air, thick and undisturbed.

“Kind of weird you found blueprints no one else had,” I said, trying to keep it light.

She didn’t laugh. “I have my sources.”

We walked deeper into the dark building. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. This reminded me of some kind of gold mining cave. Something felt… off, like the air was too still, too silent.

Katherine stopped at a metal panel on the far wall. “This is it.”

She pried it open. Nothing was behind it—just solid concrete.

I frowned. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

She stared at the panel a moment longer. Then slowly turned toward me.

“I needed to get you away from the station. Away from your brothers. From Raven.”

My heart skipped. “What?”

Katherine’s smile was cold and fragile. “You don’t see it, do you? Everyone always sees you. Listens to you. You walk into a room, and suddenly I don’t exist.”

My pulse quickened. I took a small step back. “Katherine… what are you talking about?”

“You were never supposed to be at that fire,” she said, her voice calm. “But then you were. And I thought… maybe a small injury. Just enough to get you out of the way. But even bruised, you still bounce back.”

I stared at her. “You set that fire.”

Her eyes glistened, and her voice turned almost gentle. “I just needed space to do what I had to do. But you keep getting in the way.”

I reached for my phone, but there was no signal. Of course.

“I’m leaving,” I said, trying to keep my tone steady.

She didn’t move to stop me. “That’s fine. But think carefully about what you say when you get back. You wouldn’t want to start a panic. Or… accidentally draw attention to someone who’s already under stress. They might think you were losing it, and set you up to see a psychiatrist.”

I stepped toward the exit.

“I’m serious, Katherine. You need help.”

But I didn’t look back.

* * *

Outside, I walked fast. The SUV was still parked where we left it. I climbed inside, locked the doors, and tried the ignition.

She had the keys.

I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe. Slow. Steady.

I had to get out of here.

I sat in the locked SUV, pulse racing, trying to think. No keys. No signal. And Katherine was still inside that building—maybe watching, maybe not.

I reached for my bag in the backseat. Maybe I had something, anything —a penlight, a knife, an emergency whistle—but the moment I turned to grab it, the driver’s door yanked open.

Before I could scream, she hit me. Something sharp cracked against the side of my head—blinding pain, and then—

Blackness.

* * *

KATHERINE

Beatrice slumped forward, unconscious. I checked her pulse. Still alive. Perfect.

“I really did try to give you a warning,” I whispered, pushing her to the other side. “But you never listen. You never stop.”

She was heavier than I expected, but adrenaline does funny things to your body. I pushed until she was over enough for me to drive, and drove until the road became little more than rock and gravel.

I’d scoped this place out months ago.

No one came up here.

No one ever would.

* * *

A sharp jolt woke me.

Pain stabbed through my skull. My vision swam as the world tilted. I tried to move—my arms were bound. My legs barely responded.

I was in a vehicle.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

And then, I saw her.

Katherine stood outside, silhouetted by the sun high in the sky, a strange calm in her eyes.

“I told you I needed space,” she said softly, more to herself than me. “I never wanted it to come to this.”

The door flung open. I tried to scream, but she clamped a hand over my mouth. I’m going to cut these ties off you. We don’t want someone to find you one day and see ties on you,” she laughed like a crazy person.

“Shhh. Let’s not make this worse than it has to be.”

I struggled, but she shoved me hard. Too hard. I felt myself fall—air rushing past me.

Then—pain.

Branches. Something jagged slashed my arm. I twisted midair—

Whump.

I landed hard on something solid. Not the ground. A tree. My body slammed into an old thick branch that jutted out from the side of the mountain, jutting from a rocky slope like a skeletal hand.

The wind was knocked out of me. My head lolled. Everything spun.

I tried to scream, but it came out broken and weak.

I couldn’t move my right arm. My side burned. Blood dripped from my hairline down to my neck. The world buzzed in my ears.

I opened my mouth again and forced out a cry.

“Help!”

But no one was around to hear it.

Just trees. And silence.

I was alone. Injured. And Katherine had just tried to kill me. At least my wrist and ankles were unbound.