"Exactly."
We reach the extraction point forty minutes later. A parking garage near the train station, a rental car with clean plates, a route to the Austrian border that avoids major checkpoints. Dylan drives while I decompress, the adrenaline slowly fading into exhaustion.
"Kane's going to want a full debrief," Dylan says.
"Kane's going to be pleased. We documented the entire network, identified key players, and planted a time bomb in the middle of their alliance." I lean back in the seat, watch Prague's outskirts slip past. "By the time they figure out the intel is fake, they'll have done half our work for us."
"If it works."
"It'll work. Webb doesn't trust anyone, and Kosygin's people are already looking for excuses to cut ties. We just gave them one."
Dylan is quiet for a moment. The highway opens up ahead of us, Austria and safety getting closer with every mile.
"You scared me," he says finally. "When you didn't come out."
"I was inside for twelve minutes."
"Felt longer."
I reach over, take his hand on the gear shift. "I'm here. We're both here. And we're going home."
Home. Echo Base, buried in a Montana mountain. Khalid waiting for us, probably driving Mercer crazy with questions about the mission. The team, the work, the life we're building between operations.
"Khalid's going to be waiting at the airstrip," Dylan says.
"With Odin." I can picture it already. The kid who pretends he's too old for worry, pacing with a Belgian Malinois matching his restless energy. "He's been counting days since we left."
"He'll want to know we're okay."
"We are okay." I squeeze his hand. "That's what matters. We're safe, the mission worked, and we're coming home."
Dylan doesn't respond, but his thumb traces circles on my palm.
The border crossing goes smoothly. Our documents are solid, Tommy's work as flawless as ever. The Austrian guards wave us through with barely a glance, and then we're out. Free. Heading for the airport and the long flight back to Montana.
"Kane will have new assignments," Dylan says. "After the debrief. Prague was just the beginning."
"I know."
"You ready for that? More missions, more risk, more time away from Khalid?"
I consider the question. A year ago, I would have said no.
"I'm ready," I say. "As long as we do it together."
Dylan doesn't answer. Just lifts my hand and kisses my knuckles.
The airport appears on the horizon. Commercial flight to Frankfurt, then a charter to a private airstrip in Montana. Eighteen hours of travel, give or take, and then home.
The Committee is still out there. Webb is still building his empire. Kosygin is still expanding into Western operations. The threats keep coming.
But we hurt them today. Planted seeds of doubt that will grow into fractures, fractures into breaks. By the time they realize what we've done, the alliance will be in ruins.
KANE
I watch the transport plane touch down on the makeshift runway, Montana wind whipping across the flattened ground. Dylan and Reagan emerge looking tired but intact. Successful mission, minimal complications. I've learned not to take outcomes like that for granted.
Stryker falls into step beside me as I head toward the hangar.
