Chapter 30 A Dangerous Gamble

• The room was tense, the air heavy with the scent of rain-soaked leather and gun oil. Scarlett, Damien, Serena, and Gideon huddled around the small wooden table, their faces illuminated by the flickering glow of a single overhead bulb. Outside, the storm raged on, the wind howling like a wounded beast against the boarded-up windows.
• Maps, files, and photographs were scattered across the table’s surface—evidence of their desperation, their last-ditch effort to outmaneuver a man who always seemed three steps ahead. A bloodstained note lay at the center, its jagged handwriting spelling out a threat too dire to ignore.
• "M is forcing our hand," Serena said, pulling her soaked jacket off and tossing it over the back of a chair with a wet slap. Water dripped onto the floor, and the sound was unnaturally loud in the silence. "If we wait, we’re dead."