"If Kane needs me, we'll figure it out. All three of us." Dylan glances at me, then back to Khalid.
My phone buzzes a third time. Cross again, with more details. Committee personnel include Webb's top operatives.High-level meeting, possibly negotiating with Kosygin's organization. Potential intelligence goldmine if someone can get eyes inside.
I forward it to Kane without comment. Whatever he decides, we'll support. But the journalist in me is already calculating travel times to Prague, thinking through cover stories, considering how to position myself to observe without being detected.
"Reagan." Dylan's voice pulls me back. "I see what you're thinking. Don't."
"I'm not thinking anything."
"You're thinking about going to Prague yourself. Getting close to the story." His expression is patient but firm. "This isn't journalism. This is operational intelligence against people who've already tried to kill you once."
He's right. The Committee sent a kill team to the hunting lodge specifically to eliminate me and Khalid. Webb knows my face, knows my name, knows I'm the journalist who exposed Morrison's crimes. Walking into Prague puts a target on my back.
But it also might be the story that finally brings Webb down.
"Just considering options," I say.
"Consider them with me." Dylan takes my hand. "I don't walk into danger without talking to you first. Same goes the other way."
Khalid watches us, silent but alert. Learning what partnership looks like. How trust functions when both people are competent, capable, and occasionally reckless.
"Fair enough." I squeeze his hand. "Let's see what Kane decides first. Then we evaluate as a team."
The common area settles back into evening routine. Khalid finishes his homework. Dylan completes his mission reports.I work through Cross's financial data, building the next investigation.
My phone sits on the table, screen dark but loaded with information that might change everything. Prague. Committee operations. Webb personally involved. The kind of opportunity that comes once, the kind that could end this permanently.
Or get us all killed.
I look at Dylan, at Khalid, at the life we're building here in the converted mining facility. Three months of routine. Three months of healing and structure and building futures. Part of me wants to protect this, keep us safe in this underground fortress where nothing can touch us.
But safety is an illusion as long as Webb operates. As long as the Committee exists. As long as people like Kosygin fill power vacuums with fresh horrors.
Khalid falls asleep on the couch around ten, his literature book open on his chest. Dylan carries him back to his quarters with practiced ease, and I hear their low voices through the door. Goodnights. Assurances. The small rituals that tell a traumatized teenager he's safe and wanted.
When Dylan returns, he finds me staring at my phone, Cross's messages still glowing on the screen.
"Talk to me," he says.
"I want this." I gesture at Echo Base, at the life we're building. "The routine, the family dinners in the mess hall, Khalid's homework. I want it more than anything I've ever wanted."
"But?"
"But I also want Webb destroyed. Want the Committee dismantled permanently. Want every monster who profits from suffering to face consequences." I meet his eyes. "And I don't know if I can have both."
Dylan sits beside me, close enough that our shoulders touch. "You're asking the wrong question."
"What's the right one?"
"Not whether you can have both. Whether you're willing to risk one to achieve the other." He takes my hand. "Kane will move on Prague regardless of what we decide. The mission happens whether we're involved or not. We can trust him to handle it, or we can be there ourselves."
The distinction clarifies the choice. "You're saying we don't have to be in Prague to fight Webb."
"I'm saying we have options. We can support from here. Provide intelligence, analysis, backup planning. Or we can go operational, get directly involved, increase risk but potentially increase effectiveness." He pauses. "Either way, we're fighting. How matters more than where."
My phone buzzes one more time. Kane, with a longer message now: "Prague confirmed major Committee meeting. Webb negotiating with Eastern European contacts. Potential intelligence coup. Need surveillance team with language skills and regional knowledge. Evaluating assets. Report follows."
Surveillance team with language skills. I speak decent Czech, better Russian. My journalism took me through Eastern Europe covering intelligence stories. I know the terrain, the culture, the patterns.
