2024-10-14 07:00:09“Woah!” Lisa exclaimed, eyeing the expensive restaurant Tedmond had brought her to. “I’ve never been to a place this luxurious before.”
Tedmond raised an eyebrow. “I thought so too.”
He led her to a table, and they both sat down. Lisa still wore the contact lenses, pretending to be Cora, but Tedmond had other plans.
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CHAPTER 672
The hum of the heavy SUV’s tires against the asphalt was the only constant in a world that had turned gray and blurred. Inside the cabin, the space was cavernous, more like a mobile command center than a civilian vehicle. Despite the looming shadow of Oakhaven, the atmosphere had taken on a bizarrely domestic quality.Lottie hunched over a small, portable induction burner balanced precariously on a storage crate. She stirred a pot of instant noodles with mismatched chopsticks, brow furrowed in concentration as the steam curled around her face."You know," Lottie said, voice competing with the rattle of the road, "I can’t stop thinking about Hugo. We just left him there with Thomas and Albert. Do you think he’s shaking in his boots, or already trying to pick the locks on the wine cellar?"Marek, whose massive frame seemed to fill the driver’s seat, kept his eyes locked on the horizon. He adjusted his grip on the leather-wrapped wheel. "Hugo’s like a cockroach, Lottie. Drop a build
CHAPTER 671
"Jeffrey didn’t ask you to be a shield, Thomas," Albert said softly. "He asked you to be a compass. You’ve guided Master Tedmond through storms that would have swallowed lesser men. You haven’t failed. You are the reason he still knows which way is home."Albert’s gaze drifted toward the monitors humming in the distance. "We are the pillars of a house under siege. We cannot crumble, for if we do, the roof falls on them. Master Tedmond knows you worry. That is why he mocks you, it’s the only way he knows how to acknowledge that he needs you."Thomas wiped a hand across his eyes, letting out a dry, shaky laugh. "He has a hell of a way of showing it. ‘Speak some sense into me,’ he said.""And you shall," Albert replied, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. "But for now, we have work to do. If they are to reach Oakhaven, they will need every satellite we can hijack. Shall we?"Thomas straightened, fire returning to his eyes. "Yeah. Let’s get to work. If that idiot gets a scratch becau
CHAPTER 670
Tedmond let out a dry, small chuckle, a sound that softened the edges of his grim face, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "I’ll be fine, Thomas. It was just a thought.""It was a stupid thought!" Thomas barked, jabbing a finger at him. "You listen to me, Tedmond. You go to Oakhaven, you find your mother, and you bring your narrow-minded, road-tripping self back here. Because when you do, I’m going to lecture you—seriously. I’ve got a list of every reason why you’re a tactical moron, and I’m reading it aloud."Tedmond gave a single, sharp nod, a silent promise. "I’ll look forward to it."He slid the door shut, the van rumbling forward into the gray rain, leaving Thomas standing in the garage with clenched fists and a storm of worry behind his eyes."You heard the man," Marek rumbled, shifting the van into gear. "He wants to lecture a live man, not a ghost. Let’s move."The tires crunched over wet gravel as the van slid into the thick morning mist. Thomas stayed in the garage lon
CHAPTER 669
Lottie spent the next few minutes firing off questions, the rapid-fire kind meant to probe, to trip a man’s resolve.She asked about temptation, the long nights on the road, the distance between them. Tedmond answered each one with a clinical, unwavering loyalty that bordered on the sacred. His responses weren’t rehearsed; they were facts, as immutable as the laws of physics.Finally, Lottie stopped. She leaned back, a genuine, softer smile touching her face. “Damn, Tedmond. Your wife sure struck gold. I’m actually looking forward to meeting her someday, just so I can tell her she picked the last honest man left on the planet.”Tedmond’s brow furrowed into a deep, protective frown. “You are not meeting my wife.”“Why not?” Lottie asked, hands sliding to her hips. “I think we’d get along—”“The car is ready!” Thomas’s voice boomed through the intercom, echoing from the basement and shattering the tension. “And if you aren’t down here in sixty seconds, I’m letting the tires out mysel
CHAPTER 668
Thomas stared at them, mouth hanging slightly open. “That is… that is the most strategically vacant reasoning I have ever heard in my professional life. ‘The ground feels honest’? ‘Enjoy the scenery’? You’re going into a Syndicate processing hub, not a Sunday picnic!”Thomas didn’t like what he was hearing. All he wanted to do was make the whole thing easy, and now Ma,rek and Lottie were trying to make it even harder.Tedmond didn’t laugh, but the corner of his eye twitched with the faintest shadow of a smile. He met Thomas’s gaze, the intensity of his stare anchoring the absurdity of the moment.“The air is monitored, Thomas,” Tedmond said evenly. “Every flight plan leaves a signature. But a car… a car is just one of ten thousand vehicles on the highway. We need to stay invisible, until the moment we choose not to be.”“Fine,” Thomas groaned, throwing his hands up. “Go ahead. Take the long way. Drive until your tires melt. I’ll stay here and try to keep the satellites from losing y
CHAPTER 667
The admission was more chilling than the anger.Thomas swallowed hard as he took in the shift in Tedmond. The desperation was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating resolve that felt far more dangerous.“Get inside,” Thomas muttered, stepping aside. “Albert’s been screaming at my monitors for the last hour. He found something in the Oakhaven intake logs… but he refuses to show it until you’re on the line.”Tedmond stepped into the warmth of the house, the smell of old wood and burnt coffee washing over him. He didn’t reach for a chair or a drink. He went straight to the monitors.“Albert,” Tedmond said evenly. “Tell me you have a visual on the woman they think is Molly Webb.”“I have something better, Master Tedmond,” Albert replied, his voice grim through the speakers. “I have the Oakhaven intake footage. But you need to see this. Someone else was waiting at the gate.”A pause.“Someone who didn’t care about her ID.”Tedmond leaned over the console, eyes narrowing as the grainy Oakh
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