But this isn't about us.
This is about Echo Ridge security and a leak that could get everyone killed.
Compromised. Reeve knows more than he should about Echo Base. Trust no one outside the team. Burn after reading. - H
I send it before I can second-guess the decision, then delete the message from my phone and purge the encryption keys. I can't leave any trace if the Committee gets hold of my equipment. Sarah will know what it means. She'll understand the implications even if she hates me for breaking two years of silence with a warning instead of an apology.
The drive back to Echo Base takes hours, winding through back roads and logging trails that don't appear on civilian maps. Tommy built the route network specifically to avoid satellite tracking and provide multiple egress options if we'reever compromised. I stop regularly, scan for pursuit or aerial surveillance, confirm I'm not leading the Committee directly to our front door.
By the time I reach the hidden access road, full dark has fallen and the rain has shifted to sleet. The temperature dropped sharply in the past hour, turning the mountain roads treacherous and reducing visibility to almost nothing. Perfect conditions for covert return to base. Terrible conditions for the conversation I'm going to have with Sarah when I brief her on what I found.
She'll be glacial. Controlled distance masking volcanic rage. I've seen her angry before, back in DC when a case went wrong and someone she trusted turned out to be working for the people we were hunting. But that anger was directed outward, at the betrayal and the system that enabled it. What she's carrying now is personal, focused, honed to a razor edge that I absolutely deserve.
I abandoned her when she needed me most. It doesn't matter that I never received her messages, that I was deep in Committee networks with complete communications blackout necessary to maintain cover. The outcome is the same. She was wounded and alone and desperate, and I wasn't there.
Her brother went missing during the same period, vanished on operations that turned out to be Committee interference with SEAL team activities. She reached out to me through all the channels we'd established, begged me to use my CIA connections to find out what happened to Gabe. She got nothing but silence while she searched alone and grieved what she thought was my death.
Gabe's alive now. Safe at Talon Mountain with Mara after being found in Alaska. But Sarah spent over a year not knowing, operating in that terrible space between hope and despair whileI was hunting infiltrators and couldn't risk breaking cover even to tell her I was alive.
I made choices that saved Echo Ridge from Committee infiltration, gathered intelligence that prevented compromises that would have killed everyone on the team. But those choices cost me Sarah, and no amount of success changes that equation.
The vehicle entrance to Echo Base is concealed behind what looks like a collapsed mine shaft. I transmit the access code and the heavy blast door cycles open, revealing the tunnel that leads to the underground facility. Security protocols require I stop at multiple checkpoints, verify identity through biometric scans, and submit to visual confirmation by whoever's running operations.
Tonight it's Tommy, meaning he's already informed Kane about my return and the emergency message I sent Sarah. Nothing happens at Echo Base without Tommy knowing about it within minutes. The man treats information security like a religion and surveillance systems like his personal deity.
"Welcome back, Ghost," Tommy says through the comm as I clear the final checkpoint. His voice carries neutral calm—someone who knows there's drama incoming but has decided not to acknowledge it directly. "Kane wants a debrief soon. Sarah's in the command center running analysis on the preliminary data you sent."
Of course she is. Because Sarah refuses to do halfway measures or emotional avoidance when there's intelligence to process. She'll compartmentalize the personal issues, focus on the threat, and maintain perfect detachment while every word between us carries the weight of years.
I park the truck in the vehicle bay and gather the recording equipment from its hidden compartment. The physical evidence needs to go directly to Tommy for analysis, facial recognition on the contact, voice pattern matching on both speakers, andenhancement of any background details that might provide additional intelligence.
The walk to the command center takes me through familiar corridors that still feel foreign. I've only been officially part of Echo Ridge for months now, despite helping with operations before that. Kane recruited me earlier, but I kept operating on the periphery, providing intelligence and tactical support without formally joining the team. It was easier to maintain deniability that way. Safer to stay Ghost.
But after the Reeve operation started showing Committee knowledge they shouldn't have, Kane made it clear I needed to commit or step back. We can't have operators floating on the edges when security is compromised. Either I was part of Echo Ridge or I wasn't, and halfway measures get people killed.
So I joined. I moved into quarters, started running operations as part of the team instead of an external asset. And I've spent every moment since trying not to notice how Sarah's carefully rearranged her entire schedule to avoid being in the same room with me for longer than absolutely necessary.
The command center doors are open when I arrive. Kane's at the main tactical display, reviewing what looks like communication intercepts. Tommy's at his usual station, multiple screens showing various monitoring feeds and data analysis. And Sarah's at the signals intelligence console, her back to the door, posture rigid with tension. She knows I'm here without turning around.
Her reflection shows in the dark glass of the inactive monitor to her left. Pale. Exhausted. Hair pulled back in a ponytail that's coming loose after hours at the console. The way she used to look during marathon intelligence sessions back in DC when we were tracking Committee financial networks and she'd refuse to stop until she found the pattern she was looking for.
"Hawthorne." Kane keeps his eyes on the display. "Good timing. We just finished the preliminary analysis on your intercept. Tommy's got facial recognition running on the contact. Should have results within the hour."
I cross to the tactical display, deliberately positioning myself where Sarah can't ignore my presence but I'm not crowding her workspace. The recording has been cleaned up significantly, background noise filtered out, voices enhanced to the point where I can hear every word clearly.
Reeve's voice: "Echo Ridge tempo has increased over the past quarter. Multiple engagements, all successful, minimal casualties. They're getting confident."
The contact: "Patterns we can exploit. Team composition gives us leverage. The signals analyst is the weak point—personal complications that might be exploitable."
My jaw tightens. They're not just tracking our operations. They're analyzing personnel vulnerabilities. Looking for pressure points they can use to compromise effectiveness.
And they've identified Sarah as a potential target.
"They know about our external network," Sarah says without turning around. Her voice is flat, clinical, carrying none of the warmth it used to have when she was working through a problem and wanted to talk through the logic. "Someone's been feeding them intelligence. Not location, but patterns, parameters, team composition. Enough to let them anticipate our movements."
"We're working on identifying the leak," Kane says. "Sarah's been analyzing communication logs for the past several hours. Tommy's running forensic analysis on our external contacts. We should have preliminary results by morning."
I catch Kane's eyes and he gives me a look that says we'll talk privately later. He knows there's more to this than intelligence gathering. Knows the Committee's interest in Sarahisn't random. Knows I'm going to have to work directly with her to investigate this leak whether or not she wants me anywhere near her.
