After the fight at the ranch, Hunter and Rink sit on the balcony of Rink's condominium in Temple Terrace, Tampa, and quietly drink together. Because Hunter has not yet found a new home, Hunter is still sleeping on Rink's couch after being released from the military hospital. Hunter reflects that the most serious injury was not the shrapnel or the garrote wounds, but the gunshot to the leg that severed a vein, caused major blood loss, and forced an emergency medevac, transfusions, stitches, and recovery time.

Hunter notes that Jason Mercer was also treated after surviving the collapse of the deck and walls with surprisingly few additional injuries. Mercer checked out before Hunter and stopped to say goodbye before planning to disappear again into the underground network Sue created. Rink, by contrast, came through the final battle without a scratch, and Hunter, though broadly recovering, is still bothered by pain in an ear injured earlier by Sue, a discomfort Hunter suspects is tied as much to memory as to the wound itself.

The two men are effectively holding the wake for Sue that Vince's last attack interrupted, doing so mostly in silence. Their grief is tempered by the fact that Vince is dead and can no longer threaten them or their allies. Walter has also reported that Arrowsake is already beginning to implode, with key members pulling away, and that Spencer Booth's death will be hidden behind a fabricated story that Booth and his security detail died in a fiery traffic collision; likewise, the bodies and evidence left at the ranch have been made to disappear, protecting the survivors from retaliation or prosecution for the moment.

Hunter then considers the political aftermath of the truce with Arrowsake. Walter has honored the agreement by keeping his dossier buried, although backup evidence remains with Harvey and Velasquez in case the pact fails. Walter has cut ties with Arrowsake and resigned from the CIA, claiming he wants a peaceful retirement with family, but Hunter does not believe Walter is truly finished. Hunter suspects Walter is already positioning billionaire Wyatt Carling to finance a replacement operation, meaning Arrowsake may eventually return under a new name and leader.