Chapter 27 · Names on the Kill List

Lucas doesn't sleep.

He's been awake for thirty-six hours straight, and the coffee's gone cold in his hand. The Guild archive is empty this time of night—just him and the hum of the ventilation system and rows of metal filing cabinets that smell like rust and old paper.

He shouldn't be here. If Vera finds out he's been digging through restricted files, she'll have him in front of a tribunal before sunrise. But Drake's out there with Ella, and the last transmission Lucas got was three days ago. Radio silence since then. That's not like Drake. Drake checks in. Always.

Something's wrong.

Lucas sets the coffee down and pulls open another drawer. His hands are shaking. Not from fear—from exhaustion and too much caffeine and the sick feeling that's been sitting in his gut since he found the first discrepancy in his father's case file.

Michael Green. Killed in action, 1997. Darkborn ambush. That's what the official report said. Lucas was nine years old when they told him his dad died a hero.

Except the dates don't match.

The mission logs say Michael Green was in Prague on the night he supposedly died in Romania. And there's a witness statement—