And Knuckles was already dying. He should never have been dragged into this. That’s why we’ve kept him away from the physical stuff. His body wasn’t up to it.
My vision darkens at the edges.
I can feel the beast under my skin pacing, snarling, begging to sprint across the sand and rip the door off its hinges.
Spike steps closer, quiet but firm. “Skip.”
I don’t look at him.
“Skip,” he says again, lower. “We get them out. But we do it right. Or more of our people die.”
“I know,” I growl. But my hand shakes anyway. The thought of Eli in any form of danger makes my chest hurt in a way I can’t fucking manage.
I swallow down the panic. Force myself to focus. Focus on the rage.
“First two waves go in and take out the guards,” Spike continues, going over the plan for the last time. “Use your silencers. We need the element of surprise.”
“Wave three breaches with Maverick’s men,” Bones adds. “They handle the tents. Take out any stragglers. We go for the house.”
“Heat signature earlier read five bodies inside the house,” Foster says, angling the drone tablet toward us. “Now there’s only one.”
The world tilts.
“What the fuck?” I mutter.
“There’s no way they built a tunnel under the damn desert,” Crusher says, leaning in. “Sand would’ve collapsed. Maybe the other four are in a reinforced room. Somewhere the thermal can’t read.”
“Or a freezer,” Bones adds, voice flat and cold.
“Or they’re dead,” I say, because someone has to say the thing everyone’s avoiding.
Silence. Thick. Heavy. Suffocating.
No one denies it. Because they can’t. Because I’m probably right.
My jaw locks so tight I hear something crack.
“That last heat signature is most likely Cortéz,” I whisper.
I close my eyes…just for a second…and every nightmare I’ve been wrestling with since Eli disappeared slams into me at once.
Pretty boy… hold on. Please, be alive.
“We go now,” Spike says, voice cutting through the rising panic in my chest. He turns to Bones. “Take Maverick’s men. I want Cortéz’s soldiers captured. You decide which ones look like they’ll talk. Kill the rest.”
Bones smiles.
“Gladly.”
He stalks toward the Italians like a wolf joining his pack.
But I’m barely seeing any of it.
Because all I can picture is me finding Eli’s cold, dead body when we enter that house.
Spike slaps a hand against my shoulder, grounding me. “Skip. Breathe. We find Knuckles and Eli. Then we make Cortéz pay.”
I nod once.
