Chapter 7
STRYKER
The jet descends through cloud cover thick enough to hide us from any surveillance satellite the Committee might be using to track us.
Rachel and Lucas sleep in the seats across from me. The flight gave me too much time to think. Too much time to realize exactly how badly I could fail them both.
Lucas wakes first as the engines change pitch. He blinks sleep from his eyes and presses his face against the window, watching mountains rise up to meet us.
"Are we there?" His voice comes out small and uncertain.
"Almost." I unbuckle and crouch beside his seat. "We're landing at a small airstrip. Then there's a drive to where we're actually going."
Rachel stirs as the landing gear deploys. Her eyes open slowly, disoriented for a moment before awareness floods back. Sleep to waking to remembering everything that brought us here.
"We're landing," I tell her.
She nods and reaches for Lucas, checking his seatbelt with automatic efficiency. Normal died the moment he witnessed Kessler eliminate that Protocol Seven guard.
The pilot makes the approach smooth, touching down on a runway that barely deserves the name. Cracked asphalt stretches between walls of pine trees, isolated enough that civilian air traffic never ventures near.
We taxi to a small hangar where two black SUVs wait with engines running.
The jet door opens and stairs extend. I unbuckle and move to help Rachel with Lucas, but she's already got him. Mercer's at the door first, scanning the area before descending.
We load into the second SUV. Rachel settles Lucas into the child safety seat and then climbs into the passenger seat. Lucas presses his face against the window.
I follow Mercer onto a dirt road that winds deeper into the mountains. Pavement disappears within the first mile. Trees press close on both sides, branches forming a canopy that blocks most of the afternoon sun.
I drive automatically, following the route burned into my memory from dozens of previous trips.
Left at the lightning-struck pine. Right where the creek crosses under a wooden bridge that looks like it should have collapsed years ago but holds firm because Tommy reinforced it with steel supports hidden inside rotting wood.
Rachel watches everything with careful attention. Memorizing. Cataloging. Building a mental map because that's what you do when you've survived over a year held captive.
Glances at her come between checking the road. She's changed since I walked away. Harder, leaner, carrying herself with the controlled tension of someone who's learned that relaxing gets you hurt.
If I hadn't left, she never would have gone to Mexico. Never would have met Mateo. Never would have spent over a year trapped in that compound. And Lucas—
I force myself to stop before that line of thinking goes somewhere I can't come back from.
But the truth sits heavy in my chest anyway.
Lucas could have been mine. Should have been mine.
If I'd stayed. If I'd chosen her instead of walking away because I was too scared to admit I wanted her more than the mission.
Hawthorne got her out of that compound. He did the job I should have been doing. But by then it was too late. Rachel had survived hell, and Lucas existed because of that hell, and I have no right to imagine a different past where she was mine and safe and we built something together.
Lucas falls asleep about an hour into the drive. Rachel watches him in the rearview mirror before turning her attention back to the road.
"How much longer?" Her voice stays quiet.
"Another hour, maybe a bit more. Terrain gets worse the closer we get.
" I navigate around a boulder that's been sitting in the middle of the path since last spring.
"Kane picked this location specifically because it's nearly impossible to reach.
Makes approach that much harder for anyone who doesn't know the route. "
Silence settles between us. Not comfortable, but not hostile either.
"Thank you." Rachel breaks the quiet after several miles. "For coming to Tucson. For protecting us."
"You don't need to thank me."
"Yes, I do. You could have stayed gone. Could have let someone else handle this." She looks at me directly. "Why did you come?"
Because Kane assigned the mission. Because you and Lucas needed protection. Because walking away from you was the biggest mistake I ever made and some part of me has been looking for a reason to come back ever since.
"Kane sent me," I say instead. The lie tastes wrong but it's easier than the truth.
"The Committee killed people we cared about.
Burned operators who got too close to their operations.
They're systematic about eliminating threats, and Lucas witnessed one of their cleanup operations.
That makes him a target they won't stop hunting until he's dead or they are. "
Rachel's silent for a moment. "So this is personal for your team."
"Yeah. Morrison led the Committee before Webb took over.
We exposed Morrison's war crimes, but he died before we could get him prosecuted.
But the organization survived. Webb's consolidating power, making examples of anyone who threatens their operations.
" I navigate around a fallen tree branch.
"Protecting Lucas means we get leverage against Kessler, which means we can hurt Webb's operational capacity.
Every witness we keep alive is another crack in their foundation. "
"So I'm useful."
"You're a mother protecting her son. That you're also useful in our war against the Committee is how things work." I glance at her. "But I would have come even if you weren't. Even if Lucas hadn't witnessed anything. Kane knows that."
Rachel's mouth tightens. She knows I'm not telling her everything but she doesn't push. Just turns her attention back to the window and watches the forest slide past in silence.
Mercer's brake lights flash ahead as we approach the final checkpoint. A rockfall blocks the road completely. He punches a code into a keypad hidden inside a hollow log and the entire obstruction shifts aside on hydraulic lifts disguised to look natural.
I drive through and the barrier closes behind us. Now we're in the final approach corridor, the last mile that leads directly to Echo Base's entrance.
The facility appears gradually. A cave mouth wide enough for vehicles, positioned at an angle that makes it invisible from aerial surveillance. Tommy installed camouflage netting woven with vegetation that adjusts seasonally.
I pull into the cave behind Mercer and kill the engine.
Motion-activated lights flicker on, illuminating a tunnel that extends deep into the mountain's heart.
Steel-reinforced walls replace natural rock after the first fifty feet.
Blast doors stand ready to seal the entrance if Echo Base ever comes under assault.
Rachel takes it all in with wide eyes. Lucas wakes as I open his door.
"Whoa." His voice echoes slightly. "This is like a secret base from a movie."
"Pretty much." I help him out and hand him Ghost. "Come on. Someone's waiting to meet you."
The tunnel opens into Echo Base's main chamber.
Operations center with multiple workstations and surveillance feeds covering the left wall.
Weapons storage and tactical gear along the right.
Living quarters branch off through corridors carved from solid rock.
Training facilities, medical bay, communications hub.
Everything needed to run long-term operations from a place the Committee has never successfully located despite years of trying.
Kane stands at the tactical table. He looks up as we enter and something in his expression shifts. Not quite a smile, but close.
"Stryker." He nods once, then focuses on Rachel and Lucas. "Rachel. Lucas. Welcome to Echo Base."
Rachel shakes his hand with controlled wariness. "Thank you for having us."
"You're not guests. You're under protection." Kane's voice carries flat certainty. "Which means this is your home until the threat is neutralized."
Lucas edges closer to Rachel but his eyes are everywhere, taking in the surveillance feeds and weapons racks and tactical displays. A kid who witnessed a murder and now finds himself in a military facility buried in a mountain. What kind of normal can he return to after this is over?
If there's any normal left to return to.
"Let me show you your quarters." I gesture toward the residential corridor. "You can get settled while Kane and I debrief."
We pass communal areas where the team gathers for meals and briefings. The gym where we train and blow off steam. Tommy's tech cave where he monitors global intelligence feeds and builds encryption systems the NSA would pay millions to crack.
Lucas stares at everything with wide eyes. "Do people actually live here?"
"Yeah. My team operates out of Echo Base full-time." I stop at a door. "This is yours."
The quarters are basic but functional. Two rooms connected by a shared bathroom. Double bed in the larger room for Rachel. Single bed in the smaller one for Lucas. Everything bolted to the floor or wall.
"It's not the Ritz," I say, suddenly aware of how Spartan it must look.
"It's secure." Rachel runs her hand along the steel-reinforced doorframe. "That matters more than comfort right now."
Lucas drops his backpack on the single bed. "Can I explore later?"
"We'll see. Might have someone show you around if that's okay with your mom."
Rachel looks at me for a long moment before nodding. "As long as someone responsible is with him."
"Khalid's good with kids. Dylan's adopted son. He's fifteen and he knows this place better than anyone except Kane."
"Dylan. The one protecting my sister?"
"Yeah. He's still in Phoenix with them. Should be back in a day or two once he hands them off to the protection contractors Victoria Cross vetted." I check my watch. "I should go. Kane's waiting."
Rachel catches my arm. "Who is Victoria Cross?”