Hayes lowered her weapon slightly, a smirk finally crossing her face. “Keep your money. I prefer my pension.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Everpoint device—the little ‘toy’ the sheriff had mocked. She walked past the cowering buyer and plugged it directly into the warehouse’s mainframe server. Within seconds, the device bypassed all local security protocols, downloaded the buyer’s entire network of illicit contacts to military intelligence, and permanently wiped the stolen schematics from the local drives.
“Checkmate,” she whispered.
By dawn, the lumber mill was a massive crime scene crawling with federal agents and military police. The mercenaries were lined up in zip-ties on the wet grass, and the stolen weapons were safely secured in armored transports heading back to military bases.
Back in Oakhaven, the town was waking up, blissfully unaware of the war that had been fought just a few miles away. Sheriff Cooper was being loaded into the back of an armored FBI vehicle, his head hung in absolute defeat. He looked up just as Hayes walked out of the precinct. She was no longer wearing her drifter clothes. She wore her Class-A general’s uniform—crisp, authoritative, and adorned with rows of ribbons denoting decades of valor.
She didn’t even look at him. She didn’t need to.
Instead, Hayes walked across the quiet street, pushing open the glass door of Mabel’s Diner. The little bell jingled above her. The comforting scent of sizzling bacon and cheap coffee filled the air.
Betty, the waitress, stopped dead in her tracks, holding a glass coffee pot. She looked at the stars on Hayes’s shoulders, her jaw dropping slightly. “Sarah? I mean… Ma’am?”
Hayes smiled, a genuine, warm smile that reached her eyes. “Just Evelyn is fine, Betty. Is my corner booth open?”
“O-of course,” Betty stammered, hurrying to wipe down the table with a rag.
Hayes sat down, watching the sunrise paint the small town in beautiful, soft light. She sipped her black coffee, the weight of the night washing away. The world was full of arrogant men who thought they held all the power, who underestimated the quiet ones sitting in the corner. Let them think what they want, she mused.
Outside, the roar of a Black Hawk engine started up again, ready to take her back to the shadows. But for now, the coffee was hot, the mission was done, and General Evelyn Hayes was exactly where she needed to be.