Chapter 162 The Plan

Chapter 162 The Plan
Lyra woke up wrapped in Cade's arms, the morning light soft through the curtains, and for a moment neither of them moved, both aware of what today would decide.

"You're thinking about it already," Cade said, his voice rough with sleep.

"You are too."

He pressed a slow kiss to her shoulder. "I didn't sleep much."

"Neither did I."

They lay there a while longer, unwilling to break the quiet before the day demanded something harder of them. Eventually Cade shifted, propping himself up on one elbow to look at her properly.

"If you do this," he said, "I need conditions, not suggestions. Conditions."

"Tell me."

"I'm within thirty seconds of you the entire time. Not close by. Thirty seconds, no more." His jaw was tight.

"You wear something that lets me see you clearly if I need to find you fast, and the second anything feels wrong, anything at all, you're out. No finishing the look, no pushing for one more minute."

Lyra held his gaze. "I can agree to all of that."

"And Renzo watches the road the whole time. If that sedan comes back early, we abort before you're even near the building."

"Agreed."

Cade studied her for a long moment. "You're really doing this."

"I think I am." She reached up and touched his jaw. "Not because I don't understand the risk. Because I understand it and I still think it's worth doing."

He closed his eyes briefly, like he was steadying himself against something. "Okay."

Dante's office felt smaller than usual with all four of them crowded in, the map from days earlier still pinned to the wall, new marks added showing the sedan's pattern, the loading door, the twenty-minute window Renzo had clocked with increasing precision.

"Walk me through it again," Dante said, looking at Renzo.

"Sedan leaves at approximately two-forty each day it's shown up. Next arrival, whether it's the same vehicle or someone else, hasn't come before three-ten on any day we've watched." Renzo tapped the map.

"That gives us a thirty-minute window, conservatively. We use twenty of it, leave ten as buffer."

"And the loading door," Dante said.

"Stayed open the last two watches, both times after the sedan left," Cade said. "If that holds, she'd have a way in without forcing anything."

Dante's eyes moved to Lyra. "You understand what you're actually walking into if that pattern doesn't hold. If someone's still inside."

"I understand," she said steadily.

"Say it back to me. What do you do if anything inside surprises you."

"I leave," Lyra said. "Immediately. No trying to see one more thing, no pushing past thirty seconds from Cade."

Dante studied her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright." He looked at Cade. "You're the extraction. Thirty seconds, like you said. Renzo watches the road and calls it the second anything changes."

"Understood," Renzo said.

"What exactly am I looking for," Lyra asked. "Once I'm inside."

"Anything that tells us what they're moving," Dante said. "Crates, markings, anything that looks like weapons or product. Don't touch anything. Just see it, remember it, and get out."

"And if I can get a photo without risk."

"Only if it's genuinely without risk," Dante said. "I'd rather have your memory than a photo that gets you caught."

Lyra nodded slowly, absorbing it. "One more thing," Dante said, his voice softening slightly. "You don't have to do this. I want that said plainly, in this room, before we go any further. If you change your mind right now, nobody in this room thinks less of you for it."

Lyra looked around at the three of them, Cade's tension barely held in check, Renzo's careful neutrality, Dante's steady patience.

"I'm not changing my mind," she said. "I want to do this."



They drove out separately, staggered, the way Renzo insisted on doing it to avoid drawing any pattern of their own. Lyra sat in the passenger seat of Cade's truck, watching the fields pass, her heart beating steady but fast. "Talk to me," Cade said, glancing at her.

"About what."

"Anything. I need to hear your voice not thinking about the warehouse for a minute."

Lyra managed a small smile. "Rosa's fish story. I still can't believe the supplier tried it twice."

"Some men never learn."

"Rosa learns fast, though. I don't think that supplier's getting a third chance."

"No," Cade agreed, some of the tension in his shoulders easing slightly. "He's not."

They reached the brush cover with fifteen minutes to spare before the sedan's usual departure window. Renzo was already there, binoculars trained on the warehouse.

"Right on schedule," he said quietly. "Sedan's still there, should be moving in the next ten minutes if the pattern holds."

They waited, the tension in the air thick despite the quiet warmth of the afternoon. Lyra changed into the lighter jacket Cade had insisted on, something easy to spot from a distance, something that wouldn't blend too well into shadow if he needed to find her fast.

At two-thirty-eight, the sedan pulled out through the gap in the fence and disappeared down the access road. "Now or never," Renzo said, checking his watch. "Clock starts."

Cade turned to Lyra, gripping both her shoulders. "Thirty seconds. I mean it."

"I know."

"If anything feels wrong..."

"I leave," she said, finishing it for him. "I promise."

He kissed her, quick and hard, like he needed to before letting her go. "Go," he said, voice rough. "Fast and careful."

Lyra nodded and started across the field toward the fence, her heart pounding louder than she'd expected, every sense sharpened, the warehouse looming closer with each step.

Behind her, she heard Cade's voice low to Renzo. "If she's not back in eighteen minutes..."

"She will be," Renzo said. "Trust the plan, Cade."

Lyra reached the gap in the fence and slipped through, the loading door standing open exactly where they'd seen it, a thin line of shadow waiting on the other side of it.

She glanced back once, saw Cade's silhouette at the tree line watching her exactly thirty seconds away, then she stepped inside.