The sound of the helicopter’s rotors cutting through the nighttime air was deafening as the trio made their manner to the secluded helipad. The car turned into their price tag off the mainland, and although the air became thick with tension, there was additionally a quiet anticipation that hung within the air, an understanding that this became the beginning of the stop. Sophia should feel it deep in her bones—the burden of what they had been about to do, the risk of it all, and the promise of the solutions they’d been chasing. James walked beforehand, his face a mask of concentration, each step useful. He had usually been the one to attention to the subsequent flow, in no way hesitating even in the face of uncertainty. But tonight, Sophia should see the faintest trace of vulnerability in

