Page 58 of Rescued By the Alpha SEAL

But as I run, Granger's words chase me like wolves in the dark:

"The next time I pull the trigger?—"

The doors swallow me whole as I race against time and shadows.

"It won't be just her in the crosshairs."

19

SLOANE

The guest room's stale air presses down on me as I balance on the mattress edge. My pulse races beneath my skin. The Barracks should offer safety to the homeless—that's what Logan built it for. But right now, this shelter feels more like a cage.

The laptop screen casts an eerie blue glow across my trembling hands. Files upon files spread before me like a digital crime scene, each one a piece of the puzzle I've been chasing since my father disappeared.

Operation Blackout.

The words stare back at me, stark and damning. My fingers hover over the keyboard, hesitating for just a moment before pressing play on the audio file that could change everything.

A man's voice cuts through the silence with chilling precision:

"Civilian classified as asset... then terminated."

My breath catches. The clinical tone, the cold detachment—it reminds me of another voice from twenty years ago. Anotherman who thought truth was negotiable. Who decided some lives were worth less than others.

I force myself to breathe, to focus. The journalist in me takes over, cataloging details, connecting threads.

But the woman who kissed Logan last night? She wants to run. To slam the laptop shut. To pretend I never found this.

Instead, I dig deeper.

Military documents fill the screen, their jargon creating a maze of acronyms and code names. But I've spent years learning to read between bureaucratic lines. To find the humanity buried under redactions.

Mission logs. Assignment briefs. A timeline that makes my stomach turn.

OPERATION BLACKOUT — MISSION DETAILS:

My fingers trace the words on screen, following the breadcrumb trail of corruption. Each document reveals another layer, another lie. The supposed "weapons pipeline" was just cover for something darker—something that reminds me too much of why my father vanished.

Then I find it.

Mission Status: COMPROMISED

Reasons for Compromise:

My heart stutters.Logan.He wasn't the executioner. He was the one who tried to stop it.

Relief floods through me, followed immediately by shame. How quickly I'd assumed the worst. How easily I'd let fear override trust.

I scroll faster now, hungry for more truth. The documents outline what happened after the mission failed—surveillance of every operative involved, systematic elimination of witnesses, a cover-up so thorough it makes my skin crawl.

And then, like a punch to the gut, I find the final report.

FINAL REPORT — OPERATION BLACKOUT:

Primary Asset Neutralized:Classified Civilian —[Redacted]

Collaboration and Execution: