Chapter 13 · Nobody Dies at Dusk

Cole had twelve minutes until dusk and the rifle scope tracking them through the industrial quarter had already moved twice.

He kept Ivy three steps behind him, one hand back to signal every time he caught the glint. She didn't argue anymore. Not after last night when he'd laid it all out—the deal, the loops, the fact that her name wasn't in his original contract but someone had made damn sure she ended up in his kill zone anyway.

"Still there?" Ivy's voice was steady but her fingers were tight on the med pack strap.

"Yeah." Cole checked the roofline again. "Southeast. Forty degrees from the water tower."

Eleven minutes.

The sun was dropping fast and the sky had that orange-brass edge that made his gut twist every time. Eighty-two loops of watching that same light drain out while Ivy bled out in his arms. Eighty-two times hearing her last breath rattle and then waking up in the pre-mission briefing with Nail cracking jokes and nobody remembering a damn thing.

Except him.

"You're doing that thing again," Ivy said.

"What thing."

"The thousand-yard stare. You go somewhere else.