We walked back into the command tent.
Maps, radio frequencies, and thermal logs covered the center table.
”What’s the update on Holland?” I asked, tossing the dirty cloth into a trash bin.
”Still dark,” Collins said, stepping around the table.
“No trail or current sightings.
Communications are completely dead in Sector Seven.” ”A missing Burke is an operational liability during an active Class-4 investigation,” I said.
“He needs to be located.” ”I’ll widen the search radius.” “Do it.” I tapped the table once, hard, punctuating it.
“My mother has already called twice this week asking if I’ve ‘heard from my brother,’ as if I’m his keeper instead of the one who stood in his place at the altar and married a stranger to keep the Burke name out of the papers.
He vanishes, and I inherit the consequences.
Again.” Collins had the sense not to comment on that.
I tapped my fingers on the edge of the wood frame contemplating an idea.
”Pull a full background file on Stella,” I said.
“Not the public records or the tabloid coverage.
Everything.
Financial accounts, personal associates, ledger transfers—anything that never made it into the news.” Collins paused, looking up from his tablet.
“Didn’t you bring her out here so it’d be easier to get rid of her?
I thought you wanted her gone.” “Have you been spending too much time with Jace?
Apparently his stupidity is contagious.” I didn’t look up from the map.
“You think I want her dead?
That’s a headache with a body count attached, and I have enough of those already this week.
She survived the ravine.
She’s still standing after seven days at West Ridge, which is more than I expected out of her.
That’s precisely why I want the file — not less.” Collins opened his mouth like he wanted to point out the contradiction and thought better of it.
He was right to.
I wasn’t going to explain it to him, mostly because I hadn’t fully explained it to myself.
She was still my wife on paper, which made her a liability whether I liked her or not — that was the version I could say out loud.
The other version, the one I kept filed somewhere I didn’t examine too closely, was that nobody put thirty men in these woods for just the Apex Hunter.
If someone had gone through the trouble of testing whether I could be killed, it wasn’t unreasonable to wonder whether the woman wearing my name had already been quietly filed as a second target.
I didn’t say that either.
“She’s been running our books more accurately than half our logistics unit, sir,” Collins added, not quite managing to keep the surprise out of it.
“Built her own tracking system in three days.
Didn’t ask permission first, either.” “Noted.” I kept my eyes on the map.
It was, in fact, noted — filed next to the ravine, the audit, and every other data point that didn’t fit the profile of the woman I’d been handed at that altar.
I didn’t like variables.
I liked this one even less because I couldn’t decide yet whether it made her more or less of a problem.
”I’ll have the file assembled shortly.” ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ Two hours later, Collins laid his tablet on the table, a file already pulled up.
I flipped through the pages.
Bank histories, employment records, tax filings, and a scan of her firm’s client ledger filled the folder.
Everything looked standard for an accountant in her standing though her finances were lower than expected.
On a page listing Knox estate holdings, my eyes caught a sequence of numbers.
An asset transfer from three years ago didn’t match the public filings attached to the main trust.
It was a minor discrepancy—an accounting error or internal family reshuffling.
It was a Knox family drama, not a security threat.
I swiped the page and moved on.
”The perimeter sweep is clean,” Collins reported, looking up from his radio.
“West Ridge is cleared.
We can be wheels-up within the hour.” ”Good,” I said, closing the folder.
“Pack it up.
We’ll head back to Blackwood House at dawn.” ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ Collins stood by the transport vehicle a few hours later, watching the perimeter guards load the surviving gear.
”You know normal people don’t fight like that,” Collins said as I approached.
”What are you talking about?I’m not normal.
Never have been” ”That’s exactly what worries me.” I chose to ignore him.
”The initial sweep report is in,” Collins said, stepping into the back of the transport beside me.
“The team cross-referenced the gear they were wearing.” ”What did they find?” ”These men weren’t random mercenaries,” Collins said.
“They knew your face.
They knew your rank.
They knew your exact route through Sector Four and calculated the response time down to the minute.” ”They set a trap, nothing new,” I said.
”No,” Collins replied, looking out the tinted window at the clearing.
“They didn’t trap the area.
They came specifically to eliminate the Apex Hunter.” Someone had sent thirty trained operatives into a secured sector just to test my limits—and see if I would die.
Collins typed a few things on his tablet and passed it to me.
”Stella’s primary file,” Collins said.
“The deep background.” ”Didn’t you already give a financial summary?” ”This is different,” Collins said, his tone shifting.
“I looked into her early upbringing as you requested.
She spent most of her childhood and youth isolated after her mother’s death.
Her family kept her away from public social events entirely.” ”Why?
Didn’t she attend the same school as her sister?” ”Yes but she didn’t have access to everything else,” Collins said.
“And there’s more.
She runs her own firm, but her personal registry has distinct gaps.” ”List them.” ”No registered ability,” Collins said, reading off the sheet.
“No Peacemaker traits.
Zero supernatural manifestation on record.
Poor family standing, civilian accounting degree.
She appears to be a standard civilian.” He leaned forward, sliding a sub-page toward me.
”Except her early medical records don’t align with standard civilian files,” Collins continued.
“Childhood injuries were repeatedly classified as household accidents.
School records show three separate classroom transfers due to structural damage.” ”Structural damage?” ”Frequent reports of objects breaking around her,” Collins said.
“Furniture, glass, light fixtures.
All logged as clumsiness.” A small identification photograph was attached to the top corner of the first page.
Stella was looking at the camera with a stiff, awkward smile, her shoulders tense.
Below the photo, the official registry line sat in stark black text: POWER STATUS: NONE DETECTED.
I stared at the words.
”None detected” was standard medical phrasing for unawakened citizens.
But in official Hunter evaluation handbooks, it meant something else entirely.
It meant the testing equipment failed to register a reading.
”Something wrong?” Collins asked, watching my face.
”No,” I said, placing the tablet down.
”Are we done with her file?” ”Run another background check,” I said.
Collins blinked.
“On Stella?” ”Yes.” ”Why?” I looked toward the corridor that led to the holding cells, then out at the treeline surrounding the compound, and finally down at the tablet.
”Because someone just came looking for me,” I said.
“And I want to know what they might have found before I did.”