Nobody moved.

The silence in the yard was absolute, broken only by the steady, rhythmic blinking of the red light.

The rain kept falling, cold and relentless.

I stared at Sterling’s thumb.

It was trembling, pressed hard against the red plastic button.

“Don’t do it,” Eleanor whispered, her teeth chattering.

She looked like a drowned rat in her soaked designer coat.

“Shut up, Eleanor,” Sterling spat.

He did not look at her.

His wet hair clung to his forehead, and his eyes were wild.

“I will blow that cabin to pieces,” he said to me.

“I have nothing left to lose.”

I kept my hands away from my waist.

I needed him to believe he still had a card to play.

“Marco,” I said softly.

“Boss,” Marco replied from the darkness behind me.

“Did you activate the signal dampeners on the perimeter?”

Sterling’s eyes flicked to Marco.

Marco did not speak.

He simply pulled a small black device from his tactical vest and held it up.

A green light on the side of the device glowed steadily in the dark.

“Military grade,” I said.