Not after what Cain had to protect. When she saw a black unmarked van pulling away from the motel at 12:10A, moving too fast, headlights off, she didn't wait for confirmation. Ethan," she said, already grabbing her coat. They took the boy. Ethan didn't ask how she knew.
He simply stood, jaw tightening, eyes narrowing with the calm that always came before he stepped into danger. He grabbed his keys, and the two were out the door before the porch light even flickered. The rain grew harder, turning the streets into stre mirrors as they sped through the city. Ethan called Izzy and she answered on the first ring. They have him, she cried, voice cracking, breath heaving.
Ethan, they took my baby. He spoke softly, but his voice carried the weight of iron. Listen to me. Izzy, we're coming. Tell me where.
When she told him, Laya closed her eyes. Cain's playground. She murmured. Of course. Ethan's hands tightened on the wheel.
"No more shadows," he said. "Tonight we drag him into the light." The textile plant loomed like a rusted skeleton against the storm, its broken windows glowing faintly from the headlights of the van parked near the loading dock. Ethan killed the lights on his car and coasted to a stop 100 yards away. Laya checked her pistol, adjusted her holster, and nodded once.
Ethan didn't move immediately. He looked at the structure, studied the patterns, counted the silhouettes moving near the van. Four men, confident, too confident. They think she'll come alone, he whispered. Good.
Rain drenched his hair as the two slipped into the shadows, moving around the far side of the building. Izzy arrived minutes later, soaked, trembling, barely able to stand. She stumbled toward the van, screaming Matteo's name. But Hail stepped out from behind a pillar, expression cold, gun drawn. The same high school friend Ethan once trusted, now reduced to Cain's obedient weapon.
You should have kept your mouth shut. Izzy, Hail said. This is on you. She dropped to her knees, hands out, sobbing. Please.
He's all I have. Please. Hail's jaw twitched. Regret or calculation, no one could tell. "Bring her," he ordered the others.