She could see him behind the bed, rifle trained on Wes, his face a mask of controlled fury that she'd only seen a handful of times in all the years she'd known him. Jupiter had taken position near the hole they'd blown in the wall, his weapon covering Mina.
But Mina had the advantage, and they all knew it. The cold barrel of her pistol pressed against the base of Lark's skull like a promise of death.
"I said, drop your weapons," Mina repeated, her accented voice deadly calm. "Or I paint the wall with her brains."
"Easy." Kawan kept his tone steady despite the rage burning in his eyes. "Nobody needs to die here."
"Don't they?" Wes asked, shifting his position to get a better angle on Jupiter. "See, that's where you're wrong. You’re all definitely going to die."
Lark tested the zip ties around her wrists. They were tight, professional—no give at all. But the chair she was tied to was cheap motel furniture, held together more by habit than engineering. If she could create enough of a distraction...
"You know, Wes, I always knew you were an asshole. But I never figured you for a coward." The words came out thick and slurred from her swollen lip.
The barrel pressed harder against her skull. "Shut up," Mina said.
"No, really," Lark continued, ignoring the warning. "Shooting unarmed women? That's not patriotism. That's just being a pussy."
Wes's face flushed red. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"I know you sold your soul to the devil for what—money? I know you've been feeding intel to our enemies for God knows how long. And I know that when this is over, history's going to remember you as exactly what you are—a fucking traitor."
"History's written by the winners," Wes snarled. "And right now, we're winning."
"Are you?" Jupiter asked conversationally. "Because from where I'm sitting, you're holed up in a shitty motel with two hostages and six very pissed-off special operators who want to discuss your career choices."
"Thor, this is Kawan," he said, speaking loudly enough for everyone in the room to hear. "We're going to need the rest of the team to show themselves. Slowly. No weapons."
Wes laughed. "Nice try. But we're not that stupid."
"No?" Thor's voice came from just outside the front door. "Then maybe you should look out the window."
Wes moved carefully to the window and peered through a gap in the curtains. His face went pale. "Shit. They brought the whole team."
"How many?" Mina demanded. “Counting these two assholes and Thor, there should be six in total.”
"I can see two by the access road, one on the roof across the street." Wes stepped back from the window. "Armstrong's entire SEAL team."
"That all?" Mina asked.
"Far as I can tell. Standard deployment,” Wes said.
Lark felt a flicker of something that might have been hope. If Wes could only see Thor's team, that meant Brick and his men remained hidden. The element of surprise was still intact.
"Alright," Mina said after a moment. "Here's what's going to happen. Your SEAL friends outside are going to back off. Way off. Then you two are going to put down your weapons and slide them across the floor."
"And then what?" Kawan asked.
"Then we all take a little drive together. Nice and civilized,” Mina said.
"To where?" Jupiter asked.
"Somewhere we can have a longer conversation about where that AI technology ended up." Wes inched closer to Specs.
Lark's blood ran cold. They still thought she and Specs knew where Bradford and Alvarez were hiding. Which meant this wasn't over—it was just beginning.
"Problem with that plan," Jupiter said. "We don't actually know where it is."
"Bullshit," Wes said. "You've been in contact with Bradford and Alvarez. We know that much."
