Chapter 23 #2
"Agreed," Hawk said. "Ghost, coordinate with Sloane on their capabilities and equipment.
I want to know exactly what they're bringing to this operation.
Bulldog, review the compound security. Find weaknesses we can exploit.
Risk, prepare for medical scenarios. Joker, logistics and exfil.
Make sure we have multiple routes out of there. "
The team dispersed to their tasks. Logan stayed in the SCIF staring at the map. At the red marker showing Nazari's compound. At the thermal image showing the isolated heat signature that was probably Mara.
Three days. She'd been in there for three days.
Ghost came back in after coordinating with Sloane. "She wants to talk to you. Sloane. Says it's important."
Logan nodded and Ghost set up the secure video call. Sloane's face appeared on the screen. She looked tired. Worried. But her eyes were hard with determination.
"Steele," she said. "I'm sorry this is how we're meeting again."
"Don't apologize. Just help me get her back." Logan's voice was rough. "What do you need from us?"
"Honestly? Just keep doing what you're doing.
You know the region. You have resources we don't have.
ISR support, air assets, official authorization.
" Sloane paused. "But I need you to understand something.
Mara is my teammate. My responsibility. I'm the one who decided to let her stay on overwatch instead of pulling her back with the rest of us. This is on me."
"This is on Nazari," Logan corrected. "He's the one who took her. He's the one who's going to pay for it."
"Agreed. But I need to know that when we go in there, you're focused on the mission. Not on revenge. Not on making Nazari suffer. Getting Mara out alive is the priority."
"I know that."
"Do you? Because from where I'm sitting, you look like a man who wants blood." Sloane's expression was understanding but firm. "I get it. I'd feel the same way. But Mara needs you tactical, not emotional. Can you give her that?"
Logan was quiet for a moment. Sloane was right. Part of him wanted to make Nazari pay for every second Mara had been in that compound. Wanted to make him hurt the way Mara was probably hurting. But that wasn't the mission. The mission was extraction. Everything else was secondary.
"Mara comes first," Logan said finally. "Nazari's just the obstacle in the way."
"Good. Then we're on the same page." Sloane's expression softened slightly.
"She talks about you, you know. In the downtime between ops.
The way she smiles when her phone buzzes.
The way she makes excuses to check messages.
We all knew something was different with her. Someone had finally gotten through."
"She didn't tell me she was deploying to Iraq."
"She didn't tell any of us she was talking to you for weeks.
Mara keeps things compartmentalized. Work and personal.
Mission and relationship. It's how she operates.
" Sloane leaned forward. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.
The fact that she kept you separate means you matter more, not less. "
Logan nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
"We're going to get her back," Sloane said. "Both our teams. Working together. And then you can tell her all the things you should have told her before she left."
The call ended. Logan sat there for a long moment thinking about what Sloane had said. About all the things he should have told Mara. About the fact that she might die in that compound without knowing how he felt.
No. That wasn't going to happen. He wouldn't let it happen.
Hawk found him an hour later still in the SCIF. "Wheels up in six hours. Everything's coordinated. Shadow Veil is already in the air. We link up in Erbil, do final planning, then we go."
"Six hours," Logan repeated. Six more hours of Mara in enemy hands. Six more hours of not knowing if she was hurt or scared or holding on.
"She's tough," Hawk said quietly. "Whatever Nazari's doing to her, she can handle it. She survived worse before. She'll survive this."
"You don't know that."
"No. But I know operators. Know the kind of person it takes to do what she does. That kind of person doesn't break easy." Hawk put a hand on Logan's shoulder. "We're going to get her back. You have my word."
Logan looked at his team lead. At the man who'd led him through countless operations. Who'd never let the team down. Who'd put his career on the line by coordinating this rescue.
"Thank you," Logan said quietly.
"Don't thank me yet. Thank me when Mara's safe and Nazari's in the ground."
Six Hours Later
The C-17 lifted off from Fort Liberty with Delta Force aboard. Logan sat in the cargo bay with his team, equipment staged and ready. The flight to Erbil would take hours. Hours he'd spend preparing mentally for what they'd find when they hit that compound.
Somewhere ahead of them, Shadow Veil was already in the air. Both teams converging on Erbil. Both teams committed to the same mission. Get Mara out. Stop Nazari. Make sure no one else suffered at his hands.
Logan closed his eyes and tried to rest. Tried to quiet the voice in his head that kept listing all the things that could go wrong. Tried to focus on the training and the planning and the fact that he had the best team in the world backing him up.
Mara was alive. She had to be alive. And in a few hours, he'd prove it.
He'd bring her home.
Whatever it took.