Rey didn't hesitate after receiving the final coordinates. His fingers moved fast across the device, forwarding Elliot's last known location to Arthur. I could see the strain in his posture—the kind that only appeared when an Alpha network was forced into emergency alignment.
If Arthur and Richard responded, there was still a chance.
Not certainty. Not safety.
Just a higher probability of survival.
Rey had only ever communicated with them through encrypted channels. No faces. No meetings. Only voices carrying the weight of two men who had long since stepped out of public packs and into something far more dangerous—quiet power, accumulated wealth, and combat instincts refined through years of survival.
They were Elliot's last line of reinforcement.
Men he was never supposed to call unless everything else had already failed.
And now, everything had.
Rey paused for half a second before pressing send.
Because hesitation no longer belonged in situations like this.
—
