Inside the facility, alarms began to wail.
“Base, mobile team. Communications hub is under assault. I counted a dozen hostiles, possibly more. This isn’t sabotage—it’s a raid.”
“Mobile, base. Copy.” The Baroness’s voice was tight. “Document. Do not—”
The radio cut out.
Static.
Then nothing.
“Base?” I tried. “Base, do you copy?”
Nothing.
“They’re jamming,” Eddie said quietly. “Someone’s running interference on our frequency.”
My stomach dropped.
No radio meant no contact with the other teams.
No contact with the farmhouse.
No way to know if Thomas was—
Don’t think about it. Focus on the job.
“We keep documenting,” I said. “Until we’re out of film.”
The assault on the communications hub was brutally efficient. The Order’s people knew exactly where to go and what to disable. Within minutes, the facility’s lights flickered and died.
The alarms cut off mid-wail.
Bern began going dark.
We moved to the third target with only a few shots left, but we were too late. By the time we arrived, smoke was already rising from the main building. Fire trucks wailed in the distance, converging on the site. Whatever the Order had done, they’d done it before we could witness it.
“Back to the farmhouse,” I said. “We’ve got what we can get.”
Danny nodded and turned the car east.
The radio was still dead.
I kept trying, cycling through frequencies, hoping for a signal.
Nothing. Nothing. More nothing.
“They’ll be fine,” Eddie said. He was watching me with calm, steady eyes. “The warehouse team, they know what they’re doing. They’ll be all right.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, but I know panicking won’t help them.” He paused. “Your partner, Condor, he’s good?”
“He’s the best.”
“Then trust him to find a way.”
I wanted to believe that.
