Page 87 of Rogue Mission

Ryker glances in the rearview. “Could happen. Wouldn’t be the first time we lost a vehicle, won’t be the last.”

“Where does all this money come from?” I ask, confused.

“Agile has an angel donor, technically a business partner to Marshall,” Justice explains. “Billionaire whose wife was rescued once upon a time.”

He’s watching me, something intense and unreadable in his gaze.

“What?” I whisper.

“Just thinking.”

“About?”

His thumb strokes across my knuckles where he’s covering my hand that’s holding pressure. “How amazing you are. How I never saw you coming. I’m terrified to lose you.”

My breath catches, the heaviness in his voice weighing down my body.

“Same here. But life is full of uncertainty, we just have to be the best we can for each other.”

“I just hope I’m up for the job,” he adds softly, “I let my sister down in the most important time in her life.”

The pain in his words hits me hard.

“I think you’ve already proven that you’re going to do everything you can to keep me safe.”

The silence that follows is heavy, the truck shifting and swaying, eating up the road.

There’s still more work to be completed. There’s still a hired killer looking for me.

But I can’t dwell on that. I lean my head against his shoulder, soaking up the closeness that grounds me. “One moment, one day at a time. That’s all I can think of right now.”

“Speaking of finishing this,” Ryker says, tersely from the driver’s seat. “The guy we need to grab just got to his house. His door camera just picked him up.”

Justice's expression shifts instantly, all business again. “How far are we out?”

“Ten minutes from here,” Ryker says, speeding up as he enters a highway.

“Last round for the night,” Justice says, worry creasing his brows as he says, “I guess I shouldn’t have said never. Because you’re coming with us into this guy’s home.

I lean in, whispering against his lips, “Let's finish this."

THIRTY-THREE

Get this done.

Stay focused. Finish the job.

The engine rumbles under my boots. It matches the rhythm pounding through my skull.

Ryker glances at me in the mirror. The tension in the truck matches the stakes.

I turn to Rosalie. “Sweetheart, we’re about to pull Westerly’s top guy out of his own bed. In a gated neighborhood. This kind of place has cameras we can’t control, neighbors, private security. All that means one wrong shadow and we don’t walk away.”

What I don’t say is that one wrong move and we won’t have the answers we need.

Who’s been hired to kill Rosalie.

What is Beast caught up in, and what the damned dirt in the canister in my pocket means to all of them.