Chapter 13 Moving Forward #2
"Agreed. What's the timeline?"
"Four days. Girl's being moved at the end of the week. If we're going to get her, it has to be before then." Nadia looked at Mara. "I'm thinking three operators. Me, you, and Kira for medical support. Winter stays here for logistics coordination. Reese handles extraction."
"Works for me." Mara studied the layout, her mind automatically running through breach scenarios. Points of entry. Fallback positions. Contingencies for resistance. "Quinn, what do we know about the men in the house?"
Quinn pulled up profiles. "Three confirmed. Low-level traffickers. Connected to a larger network out of Mexico. Armed but not sophisticated. Local PD has them flagged but no active warrants. They're careful about keeping things quiet."
"Security systems?"
"Basic alarm on doors and windows. No cameras. No motion sensors. They're relying on the residential neighborhood as cover. Nobody expects a trafficking house in the suburbs."
"That works in our favor." Mara traced the route from the back alley to the rear entrance. "We go in at 0300. House should be quiet. We locate the girl, secure her, and exfil before anyone wakes up. Clean and simple."
"When is it ever simple?" Winter asked from across the room.
"Never. But we plan for simple and adapt when it's not." Mara looked at her team. At the women she'd worked with for years. Women who'd become family in the way that only happened when you survived impossible things together. "Four days. Everyone prep accordingly. I want this one smooth."
The team nodded and dispersed to their stations. Mara should have felt focused. Should have felt the familiar pre-operation clarity settling in. Instead, she felt restless. Distracted by thoughts that had nothing to do with Dallas or twelve-year-old girls or tactical planning.
She was thinking about Logan. About whether he was healing. Whether the nightmares had started. Whether he thought about her the way she thought about him. Whether the promise he'd made at the rally point had been real or just something to say in the moment.
"You're a million miles away," Nadia said, appearing at her shoulder. "Want to talk about it?"
"Nothing to talk about."
"Right. Which is why you've been staring at that map for five minutes without actually seeing it." Nadia crossed her arms. "You've been like this since we got back. Competent in the field but distracted everywhere else. Checking your phone more. Staring off into space. This isn't like you."
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're waiting."
Mara turned to face her. "Waiting for what?"
"For him to contact you. For some sign that what happened in Mosul meant something." Nadia's expression was gentle but direct. "You told him how to find you. Gave him Louisiana. Gave him a path through Beth and Quinn. Now you're wondering if he'll actually use it."
"He's recovering from three days of torture and multiple surgeries. I'm sure contacting me isn't high on his priority list."
"Or maybe he's thinking the same thing you are. That it was real. That it mattered. That he wants to see you again but doesn't know if you want to see him." Nadia paused. "You could make the first move. Quinn could get a message to him."
"And say what? Hey, remember me? Want to grab coffee and talk about how we both almost died?" Mara shook her head. "He's Delta. I'm Shadow Veil. We live in completely different worlds."
"Worlds that intersected pretty dramatically two weeks ago."
"Once. In an emergency. That doesn't mean it translates to anything else."
"Doesn't mean it doesn't." Nadia studied her. "You're scared."
"I'm not scared."
"You are. You're scared that if you reach out, he won't respond. Or worse, he will respond and it'll turn out the connection was just adrenaline and proximity. That there's nothing there without the life-or-death stakes." Nadia's voice softened. "But you won't know unless you try."
Mara didn't have an answer for that. Because Nadia was right.
She was scared. Terrified, actually. Of reaching out and being rejected.
Of finding out that the man who'd looked at her in that cell and said she was worth dying for had just been saying what people say when they're grateful to be alive.
Of discovering that the connection she'd felt was one-sided.
"I need to focus on Dallas," Mara said, deflecting. "We've got four days to plan an extraction. I can't afford to be distracted."
"You're already distracted," Nadia pointed out. "But fine. Focus on Dallas. Focus on the work. Just don't be surprised when it doesn't make you stop thinking about him."
She walked away, leaving Mara alone with the tactical map and thoughts she couldn't quiet. The operations center hummed around her. Quinn typing. Winter coordinating. The familiar sounds of Shadow Veil doing what it did best. Saving people. Making a difference. Building something that mattered.
But standing there, looking at maps of Dallas and thinking about a man in North Carolina, Mara felt the disconnect. Felt the gap between the life she'd built and the possibility of something else. Something that scared her more than any operation ever had.
Her phone buzzed. Text from Sloane. "My office. Now."
Mara walked to Sloane's office and found her waiting behind the desk, expression unreadable. "Close the door."
Mara did. Sat in the chair across from her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. I just need to ask you something and I need you to be honest." Sloane leaned forward. "Are you still capable of running operations? Because if your head's somewhere else, if you're compromised, I need to know now. Before we put the team at risk."
"I'm not compromised."
"No? Because from where I'm sitting, you've been distracted since we got back from Mosul. Going through the motions but not fully present. That's not like you. That's not the operator I've worked with for nine years."
Mara's jaw tightened. "I'm handling it."
"Handling what? The fact that you can't stop thinking about Logan Reed?
The fact that you're waiting for him to contact you and it's eating you up that he hasn't?
" Sloane's voice was direct but not unkind.
"I'm not judging. I'm just saying that if your head's not in the game, you're a liability. To yourself and to the team."
"My head's in the game."
"Is it? Because Dallas is four days out.
We're going to extract a twelve-year-old from a house with three armed men.
I need to know that when things go sideways, when the plan falls apart and we're improvising, you're going to be there.
Fully present. Not thinking about a Delta operator in North Carolina. "
Mara met her eyes. "I'll be there. I'm always there."
"I know you are. Usually." Sloane sat back. "But this is different. This isn't just post-operation processing. This is something personal. Something you haven't dealt with before. And I need you to figure out if you can compartmentalize it or if it's going to be a problem."
"It won't be a problem."
"Then prove it. Focus on Dallas. Focus on the girl who needs us.
Deal with your feelings about Logan after the operation.
Not during." Sloane's expression softened slightly.
"I get it. He made an impression. You feel something.
That's normal. But timing matters. We have four days to get this right.
After that, when the girl's safe and relocated, you can deal with whatever's happening with him. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Mara said.
"Good. Now get out of here and help Nadia finalize the tactical plan. I want options and contingencies by end of day."
Mara stood and left the office. Walked back to the operations center where the team was still working.
Still planning. Still doing the job that mattered.
She pulled up the Dallas files and forced herself to focus.
Forced her mind away from Logan and back to the mission.
Back to the twelve-year-old who needed extraction. Back to the work.
But even as she reviewed entry points and security protocols, part of her mind was still in North Carolina. Still wondering if he was thinking about her. Still hoping he'd keep his promise.
Four days. She could focus for four days. Could compartmentalize and execute and save a life. And then, after Dallas, she'd figure out what to do about the Delta operator who'd looked at her and seen someone worth dying for.
The afternoon bled into evening. The team worked through the Dallas plan until they had three viable approaches and contingencies for each.
Nadia ran combat scenarios. Kira prepared medical protocols.
Winter coordinated vehicles and safe houses.
By 1900 hours, they had a solid plan. Not perfect, but solid. Good enough to execute.
Mara was reviewing the final details when she made a decision. She found Quinn in her office an hour later.
"Can you get a message to Logan?" Mara asked. "Through Beth?"
Quinn looked up, one eyebrow raised. "I can. What do you want to say?"
Mara hesitated. This was the moment. Once she sent the message, there was no taking it back. No pretending the connection hadn't been real. "Tell him that I remember the promise. That Louisiana's not that big if you know where to look. And that the beer's waiting whenever he's ready to collect."
Quinn's expression softened. "You sure?"
"No. But I'm doing it anyway."
"That's the spirit." Quinn pulled up her encrypted messaging system. "I'll route it through Beth. Should reach him within a few hours."
"Thanks."
Mara left Quinn's office, her heart still racing. She'd done it. Had reached out first. Had let Logan know she was thinking about him. That what happened in Mosul hadn't been just adrenaline and chaos.
She walked back into the operations center and found Nadia watching her with a knowing expression. "You look like you just made a decision."
"Maybe I did."
"Good decision or terrifying decision?"
"Both."
Nadia grinned. "Those are usually the best kind."
Mara pulled up the Dallas tactical plan and forced herself back into mission mode. Forced her mind to focus on entry points and contingencies and the twelve-year-old who needed them. The message to Logan could wait. The feelings could wait. The possibilities could wait.
Right now, she had work to do.
But somewhere in North Carolina, a Delta operator would soon be reading her message. And that made everything feel different.
Four days. She could handle four days.
And then she'd figure out what happened when a woman who saved lives reached out to a man who'd stayed behind so she could do it.