Page 68 of Deep Cover

His throat constricted with a tight ache. He had understood that his disappearance would cost her more than just him. But hearing that she’d cut herself off from her own hometown because it was too full of ghosts hurt more than he’d braced himself for.

“I know,” he said, voice rough, and cradled the back of her head. “I know, Ryss.”

What else was there to say? No apology was big enough to cover the graveyard of memories she couldn’t walk through. He just held her and let the silence say what words couldn’t fix.

Both of them knew this was going to end soon. Coming to terms with it was going to hurt.

His phone buzzed on the nightstand, a harsh interruption that made her flinch against him.

He reached out and clasped the device, bringing it up to read.

War room. Now.

“Damn.” He was already sitting up, and the warmth of the last hour started to fade away. Even if he grabbed for it, the thread would slip through his fingers.

They dressed fast, not speaking. He handed her a sock she was searching for and she tossed his shirt at him. She hustled into her clothes and hurried into the bathroom for a quick cleanup.

He was waiting when she emerged a minute later and they walked into the war room together. Most of the team was already gathered. Rome and Monk looked to have just come from their afternoon workouts, wearing gym clothes, sweat dotting their foreheads.

Younger had what remained of a beef stick in hand, and he polished it off in two chomps. Rorke and Townie were engaged in a quiet conversation and O was hunched over his computer, as usual.

Cannon walked in last, and the air around him crackled with tension as if he carried his own weather pattern with him. “O’s got something,” he said without preamble.

O projected a map onto the big screen. “Found the warehouse.”

Rivers’s gut bottomed out, and he turned his head to meet Caryssa’s gaze. She stared back, and though she tried to fight off the emotion this announcement came with, he saw it clearly.

O continued, “Property is registered under the second business entity. It was completely buried and took forever to surface. There’s a warehouse on it, out past the industrial district in Portland.” He tapped a few keys, providing the team a series of photos of warehouses and shipping yards and heavy trucks parked along a concrete wall.

Next frame was a satellite image of the location. “The records trace back to Bill.”

Caryssa bowed her head, and for a heartbeat, her lashes swept downward as she closed her eyes. When she lifted her head again, she’d managed to slide her mask into place again.

Cannon gave a hard nod at the screen. “We’ve got the address. Now we need the plan.”

The room broke into motion. Rorke pulled up floorplans from public records. Rome located satellite imagery and Monk and Townie got together on access points. O was already digging deeper into the property records, checking on security.

“Cameras?” Cannon asked, not looking up from the table.

“Two on the exterior, both older models,” O said. “Interior’s a question mark. Won’t know until we’re inside or I find blueprints on file with the county.”

“Guards?”

“Unconfirmed.”

“Crew?”

“If there’s one at all, I’d bet on a skeleton crew.”

Cannon’s jaw ticked. “Then we go in ready for more.”

Rivers sat frozen for one long beat, unable to move around the dread sitting cold in his gut.

This was it. The thing that ended everything.

Across the table, he caught Caryssa’s eye, knowing her expression matched the feeling in his chest. They both recognized the gravity of the situation. This was the beginning of the end of them.

“Lane,” Cannon addressed her, and she looked up. “You’re coming with us. We need a Bureau presence onsite for chain of custody of any evidence. Saves time.”