"Two-minute intervals between patrols on the north side," Frost murmurs beside me, his voice barely audible through the comms. "Cameras have a three-second lag when they pivot. Doable."
Colt "Frost" Harrison—once Syria, once Colombia, a hundred ops in between. The man's a ghost when he needs to be, cold and deadly efficient.
"Thermal's showing three roving patrols inside," Flint adds from my other side, studying his handheld scanner. "Two static positions at the loading docks. They're clustered—suggests they're guarding something specific."
Jake "Flint" Morrison. Former Delta, breacher extraordinaire, and the kind of operator who can read a building's defensive setup like most people read a menu. Between him and Frost, we've run enough missions to move like parts of the same weapon.
"Alpha team in position," Max's voice crackles through my earpiece. "North entrance is clear."
"Bravo team ready at the south gate," Brady confirms. "On your signal, Hawk."
0158 on my watch. At noon, Prometheus plans to dump enough poison into LA's water supply to kill tens of thousands. The chemicals sit below us, ready for distribution. We stop them tonight, or we don't stop them at all.
"Remember," CJ's voice comes through from the mobile command center, "Savannah needs to access their mainframe to identify which chemicals are prepped and where they're staged. Without that intel, we could blow the whole place and still miss the active compounds."
Savannah checks her equipment beside me, kitted out in tactical gear that would look like dress-up on someone else. But her eyes—focused, determined, ready—tell a different story. The Glock on her hip isn't for show.
"You sure about this?" One more time.
"The mainframe requires biometric access," she says, checking her magazine. "Nathan programmed it to recognize select Prometheus members. What he didn't know is that I cloned his biometric signature months ago when I suspected he was hiding something." She holds up a device that looks like a thick smartphone. "I can trick the system, but I have to be physically present."
Solid reason. Doesn't mean I like it.
"Stay between Frost and me at all times," I tell her. "If shooting starts?—"
"I drop and find cover while you handle threats." She meets my eyes. "This isn't my first firefight, remember?"
No, it's not. But that doesn't stop the protective instinct that makes me want to lock her in the command vehicle and handle this without her.
"Hawk." Frost's hand on my shoulder. "She's tougher than she looks. Trust her."
Flint nods once, a silent agreement. The man doesn't waste words when a look will do.
Tyler trusted me, and that didn't save him.
"All teams, we go on my mark," I say into comms. "Rules of engagement—anyone armed is hostile. We need the server room intact; everything else is expendable. Priority is destroying the chemicals staged for tomorrow's attack."
"Copy," comes from multiple voices.
Savannah chambers a round in her Glock, the sound sharp in the darkness. "Let's burn their world down."
"Mark."
We move.
Frost and Flint go first on the rappel lines, fast and silent, hitting the ground together. Immediately, they split—Frost left, Flint right—creating a security diamond. The movement is instinctive, practiced. They don't need to communicate it.
Savannah and I follow, my arm around her waist, controlling our descent. She doesn't shake this time—three days of being hunted has burned the fear out of her, replaced it with purpose.
"North breach," Max reports, followed by the muffled thump of a breaching charge.
"South breach," Brady confirms.
Gunfire erupts from both directions—the guards responding faster than expected. Professional security, not mall cops. Alpha and Bravo teams draw them off, giving our smaller team time to infiltrate.
"Moving to secondary," I tell them, leading toward the service entrance Intel identified.
The lock is electronic, high-end. Savannah steps forward with her device, fingers flying across the screen. Frost and I take positions on either side of the door, weapons up. Flint takes three steps back, scanning our six with thermal.
