Kuda continued.
“Our job is Mara. Our job is Elias. Reyes handles Voss.”
Chase sat down.
Nobody cheered.
That was how Kuda knew they understood.
Real restraint rarely felt heroic.
It felt unfinished.
But sometimes unfinished was what kept people alive.
Two nights later, someone tested them.
A black SUV stopped outside June's ranch.
The security cameras caught two men leaving the vehicle.
They cut the outer fence.
They made it twenty yards before floodlights came on.
They expected bikers.
Instead, they found federal agents.
Reyes had anticipated the move.
The men surrendered without a shot fired.
One carried zip ties.
The other carried a photograph of Mara.
When Kuda saw it, every promise he had made became difficult.
He went to the hospital.
Elias was sitting upright for the first time.
“They came for her,” Kuda said.
Elias closed his eyes.
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then don't do anything stupid.”
Kuda laughed without humor.
“You know me too well.”
“I know the look.”
“What look?”
“The one you had before you punched a deputy in Winnemucca.”
“He deserved it.”
“He was giving you a parking ticket.”
“Still.”
Elias almost smiled.
Then Kuda sat beside him.
“I want Voss.”
“I know.”
“I want him to know fear.”
“I know.”
Elias turned toward him.
“But what do you want Mara to learn from us?”
The question stopped him.
Elias continued.
“That when somebody hurts you, you become worse than them?”
Kuda said nothing.
“Or that you make them answer for it without becoming them?”
Kuda looked through the window.
Mara was outside with June, drawing motorcycles on a notepad.
He thought of a child walking into a fairground carrying a vest too heavy for her.
“Daylight,” he said.
Elias nodded.
“Daylight.”
The arrest didn't happen dramatically.
There were no motorcycles surrounding Voss's mansion.
No fistfight.
No final showdown in the desert.
At 6:42 on a Tuesday morning, federal agents entered the Las Vegas headquarters of Voss Strategic Services with search warrants.
At 6:51, agents entered Adrian Voss's home.
At 7:03, Voss walked out in handcuffs wearing expensive slacks, a white shirt, and the expression of a man who had spent decades believing consequences were for other people.
The charges expanded over the following months.
Racketeering.
Witness intimidation.
Obstruction.
Bribery.
Interstate vehicle theft.
Conspiracy.
Evidence connected Voss to the Eylian ambush and several later disappearances.
Former Agent Martin Keating was arrested in Arizona.
Two county officials resigned before they could be indicted.
Three shell companies collapsed.
And the two men arrested outside June's ranch agreed to cooperate.
Kuda watched Voss's arraignment from the back of the courtroom.
Voss noticed him.
Their eyes met.
Kuda had imagined this moment countless times.
He expected satisfaction.
Instead, he felt tired.
Voss smiled.
A small, contemptuous smile.
Kuda didn't respond.
Afterward Reyes met him in the hallway.
“You okay?”
“Thought I'd feel something bigger.”
“That's because movies lie.”
Kuda glanced back at the courtroom.
“What happens now?”
“Years of lawyers.”
“That's disappointing.”
“Accountability is usually paperwork.”
Kuda laughed.
“Elias would like that.”
“Elias was smarter than you.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Reyes smiled.
Then her expression changed.
“There is something you need to know.”
“What?”
“We traced the photograph of Mara.”
Kuda's smile disappeared.
“It was taken six months ago.”
“Before Lena died?”
“Yes.”
“Meaning?”
“Voss had known where Elias was for months.”
Kuda frowned.
“Then why wait?”
“Because he didn't know where the ledger was.”
Reyes explained.
Voss had deliberately allowed Elias to run.
He hoped fear would drive him toward the hidden evidence.
The men following Elias weren't trying to kill him at first.
They were waiting for him to lead them to it.
When Lena died and Elias began moving again, Voss tightened the surveillance.
The knife attack happened because Elias realized he was being followed.
“So Mara wasn't just leverage,” Kuda said.
“She was insurance.”
His stomach turned.