Next to me, Oksana is the only unnaturally cheerful one.
She’s dabbing antiseptic ointment on the wound that reopened yesterday, making a passive-aggressive point, because we got into another fight about her needing to take better care of herself. Humming under her breath, she closes the med kit sheborrowedfrom the pilot.Humming! Like she’s getting ready for a fucking brunch date.
"You’re enjoying this," I mutter.
She looks up, eyes bright with mischief. "We’re going on a mission."
"Most people dread missions," I point out.
"Most people are boring."
Raf snorts without looking away from the window. "She’s right."
"Of course she is," I reply. "She’s Oksana."
Oksana beams like I just proposed.
Raf glances over. "She’s excited."
"She’s insane," I mutter.
Raf shrugs. "Then she fits right in. Besides, who is more insane, the one you accuse of being insane or you for marrying her?"
"Touché," I grumble.
She throws a gauze packet at both of us. "Stop talking about me like I’m not here."
The phone rings, stopping the banter. We’ve been waiting for this call. Oksana perks up next to us as I answer, "Grigori."
Grigori’s voice comes through, clipped, all business. "You’re patched through."
Then another voice joins the line. Nico, calling to give us valuable intel on how to get into Valverde’s compound. "Steph," he says, no hesitation, no softness. The man on the other end doesn’t sound like someone asking permission. He sounds like someone who’s already done the math. "You’re going in blind if you hit them straight."
Raf’s head turns a fraction. Listening now.
"Silvestre’s compound runs on redundancy," Nico continues. "Outer perimeter is noise, guards meant to be seen. The real security starts underground. Service tunnels. Old smugglers’ routes. He inherited them and never shut them down because he uses them."
"You have sketches?" Oksana asks.
"Sending," Nico replies immediately. "You want the eastern access. Floodgate entrance. Looks sealed. It’s not. The power cycles every ninety seconds. You’ll have a twelve-second window where the cameras desync."
Raf exhales slowly. A smile ghosts his mouth. "I like him already." He taps his screen, pulling up a schematic as Nico’s files come through. "We hit them with an EMP first. Localized. Short-burst. Take out cameras, comms, and internal locks. It will disorient everyone inside without frying the servers."
Grigori’s voice cuts in, sharp. "You sure you won’t cook the tunnels?"
"Positive," Raf replies calmly. "Shielded. Old construction. That’s why they still use them."
Nico hums his approval. "EMP gives you about forty seconds of confusion. After that, they’ll revert to analog protocols."
"Plenty," I say. "We don’t need comfort. We need chaos."
Oksana nods once. "EMP, then eastern access. We go underground, split at the spine."
Raf’s grin sharpens. "Silvestre left. Aurelio right."
"And no exit the way you came in," Nico reminds us. "They’ll collapse the tunnels once they realize what’s happening."
I glance at the dark window as Caracas begins to glow beneath us. "Then we don’t give them time to think."
