---

Chapter 8: Shadows and Teeth

The morning briefing room was unusually tense.

Grayson stood by the screen, flipping through encrypted reports.

Cain leaned against the window.

Vera sat quietly, eyeing Rook every so often.

And then came the assignment.

> “Missing person,” Grayson said.

“Tech broker. Deep connections in illegal neural weapon trade. Last seen five nights ago.”

He clicked the final slide.

> “Rook, you’re going with Oren.”

A beat of silence.

Oren turned.

> “Why her?”

> “Because you’ve been running into dead ends,” Grayson replied.

“She sees what we don’t.”

Oren folded his arms.

> “She’s a kid.”

Rook didn’t blink.

> “You’re sloppy.”

The room tensed.

Oren scoffed.

> “Excuse me?”

> “Your reports are full of assumptions. You don’t tag dates precisely. You smell like gunpowder. And you lie when you’re nervous.”

> “You calling me a liar now?”

> “No,” she said flatly.

“I’m calling you loud.”

---

Grayson cut in calmly.

> “You’ll leave in twenty. That’s not a request.”

---

Two Hours Later – In the Field

The building was a rotted apartment complex on the industrial fringe. Rook and Oren moved through the hall, tension between them heavy.

Rook crouched by a broken panel on the elevator shaft.

> “Blood trail ends here,” she murmured.

Oren rolled his eyes.

> “Yeah, thanks, I saw that too.”

> “But you didn’t see the micro-residue of mercury vapor.”

> “What?”

She scraped the surface gently and showed the smear on her glove.

> “Someone used an old biotracker. That’s what these smugglers use to fake heat signatures and disappear from drones.”

Oren stared at her for a beat.

> “You memorized black market chemistry manuals?”

> “I stole them.”

---

They found a back room.

Dust. Old wires. Burned data drives.

But tucked beneath the wall panel…

A tooth.

Rook picked it up with gloved fingers.

> “This isn’t his,” she said.

> “How do you know?”

> “It’s milk-toothed. This belonged to a child.”

They both froze.

Oren looked at her now — not as a kid, not as a joke.

But something colder.

---

> “You think the missing guy’s tied to the child organ market?” he asked.

Rook’s eyes went empty.

> “Yes.”

He stepped back.

> “You okay?”

She didn’t answer.

Just stared at the tooth.

---

Later – Outside the Building

The wind was dry. The city loud.

They stood near the car.

Oren finally said:

> “You were right.”

> “I usually am.”

> “Still doesn’t mean I like you.”

> “You don’t have to. Just don’t get in my way.”

He gave a tired laugh.

> “You’re a lot of things, Rook.

But I’ll give you this — you don’t flinch easy.”

Rook looked up at him.

> “Neither do you. That’s why you’re still alive.”

Beautiful — this will be a powerful moment of subtle connection and quiet heartbreak.

Rook quoting Sherlock Holmes is perfectly in character: she admires intellect, detachment, clarity. But when Oren casually asks why, expecting a cold or nerdy reply, her answer is unexpectedly raw.

Not dramatic.

Just sad.

And honest enough to stay with him.

Let’s weave this moment into the second half of Chapter 8, just after they find the child’s tooth and start walking back.

---

(Scene continuation – Chapter 8: Shadows and Teeth)

The walk back to the car was long.

Oren didn’t say much.

Neither did Rook.

The streetlights flickered above them. A cold wind stirred dust and loose wires around the abandoned complex.

Halfway there, Rook murmured something under her breath.

> “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”

Oren glanced sideways.

> “Sherlock Holmes?”

She nodded.

> “I didn’t peg you for the literature type.”

She shrugged, then looked ahead.

Oren tilted his head.

> “You really like him?”

> “Yes.”

> “Why?”

She stopped walking for a moment.

Didn’t turn to look at him.

Just said quietly:

> “Because he doesn’t feel things the way others do.

But he still tries to protect people…

even if he never believes he deserves to be one of them.”

Oren blinked.

> “That’s… dark.”

She kept walking again.

> “It’s just a book.”

But the way she said it — flat, practiced — told him it wasn’t just a book.

It was a mirror.

---

He didn’t say anything else.

But her words followed him.

Even as they drove back.

Even as she sat beside him, silent and staring out the window.

> “Protects people… even if he doesn’t believe he deserves to be one of them.”

Who says that at eight years old?

Who feels that?

---

Oren stole another glance at her.

Small frame.

Golden eyes.

Unreadable.

But not emotionless.

Just hidden.

---

End of Chapter 8