Chapter 16 - THE NIGHT MASON FINALLY LISTENEDMason wanted to prove himself.
That nearly got him killed.
He secretly followed one of the names from Everett's list to an abandoned warehouse outside Alexandria.
Claire discovered his plan too late.
By the time she arrived, gunshots had already shattered the windows.
Mason was trapped behind a concrete pillar.
Daniel tried to reach him.
Claire stopped him.
“Listen.”
Daniel stared.
“To what?”
“Exactly.”
No footsteps.
No shouted commands.
No returning fire.
A trap.
Claire spotted a thin wire near the doorway.
Explosives.
Mason had been deliberately left alive to draw them inside.
Claire found another entrance.
She reached him from above.
Mason was bleeding from the shoulder.
When he saw her, he tried to joke.
“Office girl.”
Claire glared.
“Not tonight.”
They escaped seconds before the warehouse burned.
Outside, Mason sat against an ambulance.
For once, he didn't talk.
Finally he said:
“I thought I could handle it.”
Claire sat beside him.
“So did I once.”
Mason looked at her.
“Does that ever go away?”
“What?”
“Thinking you're smarter than the mistake you're about to make.”
Claire smiled faintly.
“No.”
“Great.”
“You just learn to listen sooner.”
Mason nodded.
Then handed her something he'd taken from the warehouse.
A photograph.
Claire looked at it.
Her heart stopped.
Thomas Vale.
May you like
Alive.
The timestamp was three months after Ridge Kilo.
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