Chapter 19
SARAH
My hands fly to the communications panel, monitoring signal strength and encryption integrity while my heart tries to punch through my ribs. Beside me, Micah's focus stays locked on the thermal overlay, tracking heat signatures and movement patterns like his life depends on it.
"Contact," Kane's voice comes through steady and controlled. "Engaging primary targets."
The sharp crack of rifles echoes through the speaker, followed by more gunfire and shouting I can't quite make out. I force myself to breathe normally, to keep my hands steady on the controls while every instinct screams at me to do something other than sit here and listen.
"Operations, Kane." Dylan's voice cuts through the chaos. "Three tangos down, one wounded. Moving to secure surveillance equipment."
The ambush neutralized Reeve's entire team in the opening seconds. It worked exactly as planned, but my chest hasn't loosened even slightly because this isn't over yet.
"Copy that," Micah says into his headset, his voice carrying cold professionalism. "What's the status on the secondary team?"
"No change in position," I report, pulling up the latest satellite data. "They're still holding south of Reeve's location. No indication they've reacted to the engagement."
Micah nods, but tension radiates from his shoulders. The secondary team is the variable we can't fully control. If they heard the gunfire, if they're moving to investigate, if they reach Kane's position before the team can extract, this gets exponentially more complicated.
"Stryker, Dylan," Kane's transmission comes through. "Secure the equipment. Mercer, you're with me. We're checking bodies."
I monitor the encrypted channels, listening for any sign that Committee communications have lit up in response to the engagement. The channels stay quiet. Either the backup team is too far away to have heard anything, or they're maintaining radio silence while they investigate.
"Operations, Kane. We have one survivor. Reeve's still breathing."
A survivor means complications—someone who can talk about what happened here, who saw Kane's team, who might have gotten enough intel before the ambush to compromise us even in custody.
Micah's expression doesn't change. "Condition?"
"Gunshot wound to the shoulder, possible broken ribs. He's conscious but not going anywhere without help."
"Secure him," Micah orders. "Cross wants him for interrogation. Keep him breathing long enough to talk."
If anyone can extract what Reeve knows without him ending up in Committee hands again, it's her. First we have to get him off this mountain and into her custody without the backup team finding us.
"Dylan, Operations." Dylan's voice carries an urgency now. "We've destroyed the surveillance equipment. Smashed the optics, pulled the data cards, burned the recording devices. There's nothing left that could confirm Echo Base location."
Relief floods through me. The primary mission objective is complete. Reeve's surveillance gear is destroyed, Echo Base remains secret, and we've eliminated the immediate reconnaissance threat.
We're not clear yet.
"Secondary team is moving," I report, watching the thermal overlay update with new position data. "They've changed course. Heading northeast toward Kane’s location."
Micah's jaw tightens. "How long until they reach Kane's position?"
I run the calculations, factoring in terrain and the team's current movement rate. "Minutes at their current pace. Maybe less if they're responding to the gunfire."
"Kane, Operations." Micah's voice stays calm but I hear the edge underneath. "Secondary team is inbound on your position. Limited time to secure the prisoner and extract. Move fast."
"Understood." Kane's breathing comes harder now, the sound of someone moving fast over rough terrain. "We're loading Reeve into the vehicle now. Stryker's driving, Dylan and Mercer are providing security. We're rolling."
They have minutes to load a wounded prisoner, secure all the equipment, and get clear of the ambush site before more heavily armed Committee operators arrive to investigate. The timeline is razor-thin.
Micah pulls up the tactical map, highlighting Kane's extraction route and the secondary team's approach vector. "They're going to cross paths if Kane takes the direct route back."
"Alternate route?" I ask, already pulling up terrain analysis.
"There's a service road that loops west before connecting to the main access route." Micah traces the path with his finger. "Adds time to the drive but keeps them clear of the secondary team's approach."
"Kane, Operations." I open the channel before Micah can. "Recommend alternate extraction route via the western service road. Sending coordinates now."
"Copy that, Operations." Kane's voice comes between the sounds of doors slamming and an engine starting. "We're moving now."
The minutes drag. I monitor communications channels, tracking Committee traffic for any sign they've become aware of the engagement. Micah watches the satellite feeds with the intensity of someone who's spent too many operations calculating how quickly things can go wrong.
The thermal overlay shows Kane's vehicle moving west along the service road while the secondary Committee team approaches the canyon from the south. The distances between them hold steady. Kane's team is going to make it clear before the backup arrives at the ambush site.
"Operations, Kane." His voice stays professional, but I catch the relief underneath. "We're clear of the immediate area. Reeve is secured, all team members accounted for. Estimated arrival at Echo Base in under an hour."
"Copy that." Micah's shoulders finally relax slightly. "Good work out there. Operations out."
The radio goes quiet. Micah and I sit in the sudden silence of the operations center, the adrenaline that's been keeping me focused starting to fade. Exhaustion settles in its place, mixed with relief.
"They made it," I say quietly.
"They made it," Micah confirms. He's still watching the satellite feed, though, tracking the secondary Committee team as they reach the canyon where Reeve's team died. "Now we see what happens when the backup finds dead operators and destroyed surveillance equipment."
I pull up the encrypted monitoring systems, listening to Committee communications channels. For long minutes, there's nothing. Then static crackles through the speaker, followed by a voice speaking in clipped, professional tones.
"Base, this is Alpha-Six. We have three KIA, one missing. Surveillance equipment destroyed. No sign of hostile forces. Requesting immediate exfil."
The transmission cuts off. I look at Micah. His expression has gone completely neutral—his operational mode. He's running scenarios, calculating implications faster than I can track them.
"They're calling it in," I say. "Webb's going to know Reeve's team was eliminated before they could confirm Echo Base location."
"Good." Micah's voice carries cold satisfaction. "Let him know we're not as easy to find as he thinks. Maybe it'll make him think twice about hunting us."
Or maybe it'll just make Webb more determined to find us before we can do more damage to his operations. Right now, we've accomplished the mission. Reeve's neutralized, the surveillance equipment is destroyed, and Echo Base remains hidden.
Time passes in careful monitoring. The Committee's secondary team secures the ambush site, calls in extraction, and evacuates with their dead. There's no pursuit, no expanded search pattern, no indication they have any idea where Kane's team went or what happened beyond a successful ambush.
"Operations, Kane." Kane's voice comes through nearly an hour later. "We're almost at the extraction point. Ready for Cross's team."
"Copy that," Micah responds. "Cross is en route. She'll be there in twenty."
Micah and I head to the extraction point—a remote clearing several miles from Echo Base where we meet outside contacts. The drive takes fifteen minutes through winding mountain roads. We arrive just as Kane's vehicle pulls in, and Dylan and Mercer haul Reeve out of the back seat.
Reeve looks worse than I expected. Blood soaks through the makeshift bandage on his shoulder, his face is pale with shock and pain, and how he's holding his ribs suggests Dylan's assessment about possible breaks was accurate.
He's hooded, hands zip-tied behind his back, but I can see the tension in his body. He knows he's in serious trouble.
Kane emerges from the driver's seat, his expression grim. "He tried to struggle during transport. We had to sedate him, but it's wearing off."
"We need to keep him secured," Micah says, checking his watch. "Cross will be here in a few minutes."
While we wait, Kane walks us through the engagement.
The timeline, the surveillance equipment destruction, confirmation that Reeve never transmitted any data back to Committee leadership before the ambush.
Every detail supports what we already knew, but hearing it confirmed lets me breathe easier for the first time since we discovered Reeve's trajectory.
"How close was he?" Kane asks.
I pull up the analysis I've been running since Kane's team destroyed the surveillance equipment.
"Based on the optics he was using and the position he'd set up, he was close.
He was within days of having enough visual confirmation to pinpoint our exact location.
He hadn't gotten there yet, and as far as we can tell, he hadn’t transmitted any of his findings, but the margin was thin. "
If we'd waited even a day or two to intercept him, Reeve might have had enough data to confirm Echo Base's position before we could stop him. The margin for error was thinner than I want to think about.
Kane nods slowly. "Then we got him just in time."
"Yeah," Micah agrees. "We did."
Headlights cut through the trees. A black SUV with tinted windows pulls into the clearing. Cross's team, right on schedule.