Saint and Blade take left corridor.
Viper and I move right.
Ghost stays rear.
I hear it before I see it.
A muffled sound.
Small.
We clear one room. Empty. Second room—office space. Papers scattered. Laptop open.
Third door.
Locked.
The muffled sound again.
I step back.
Kick once.
Door splinters inward.
Two men inside.
One near the window. One by a chair in the center of the room.
The chair holds a girl.
Wrists tied. Ankles bound. Tape over her mouth.
She’s young.
Too young.
The man near her turns, eyes wide.
“What the—”
He doesn’t finish.
Viper hits him first. Clean strike to the throat. Man drops.
The second reaches for something on the table.
I cross the distance in three strides.
Grab his wrist.
Twist.
Bone cracks.
He screams.
I slam him face-first into the wall.
