"Carver's through the entrance. Moving down what looks like a main corridor." A pause. "Two heat signatures approaching his position—probably escorts."
Ghost forced himself to breathe evenly. Every instinct screamed at him to move, to breach that door and start shooting until he found Rachel. But tactics beat instinct. Always had.
Going in blind would get her killed.
So he waited, the rage sitting heavy in his chest where it couldn't interfere with the mission. His team gathered around him, Brick, Reaper, Predator, Torch, Bear, Rogue, Frost. Shadows in the growing darkness, all of them tense and ready.
"Listen up," Ghost said, his voice cutting through the night air. "We split into three teams."
He pointed toward the loading dock. "Reaper, Predator—you take the back entrance. Silent entry. Neutralize whoever's posted and work your way forward. I want a clear path to Rachel's position from both directions."
Reaper was already threading a suppressor onto his sidearm, the motion smooth and practiced. Predator gave a single nod.
"Brick, Rogue, and I breach the front," Ghost continued. "We go in loud. Create chaos. Pull their attention away from Carver and Rachel."
Brick's grin was sharp and humorless in the dim light. "My kind of plan."
Ghost turned to Torch and Bear. "You two are extraction. The second we make contact, you move with Carver. Your only job is securing Rachel and getting her out. No heroics. No distractions. You grab her and you run."
Torch checked the blade strapped to his vest, a wicked Ka-Bar that had seen action in three theaters. "Understood."
Bear stood beside him, broad-shouldered and immovable. He'd barely touched down in San Diego before volunteering for this op, no questions asked. After what they'd pulled him out of in Afghanistan, after the hell he'd survived in that cave, Ghost knew Bear understood what Rachel was going through right now.
Bear met Ghost's eyes. "Nothing touches her. You have my word."
Ghost nodded once. That word meant everything.
"Frost—you're our exit strategy," Ghost said, turning to the last member of his team. "Keep the engines hot and a route clear. We don't leave without her, but when we move, we move fast."
"Copy." Frost was already moving back toward the vehicles.
Ghost's gaze swept over his team one last time. Eyes hard. Grips tight. Faces set in that expression of lethal calm that came from too many missions with too few margins for error.
He'd bled with these men, fought beside them, trusted them with his life a hundred times over.
And tonight, he was trusting them with Rachel.
Carver's voice crackled through the comm, slightly distorted but clear enough. "I'm inside. Main storage area. I count six hostiles, maybe more in the back rooms." A pause. "I've got eyes on Parker. She's restrained in a chair, central position. Looks roughed up but conscious."
Ghost's jaw clenched so hard his teeth ached.
Conscious. Alive. Aware.
Waiting for him.
"Copy that," Echo said. "I'm tapped into their internal radio frequency. They're discussing a transfer, Langley wants her moved within the hour."
An hour. They had less than sixty minutes before Rachel disappeared into whatever black site Langley had prepared.
Ghost looked at his team. The warehouse loomed ahead, its floodlights flickering to life as full darkness settled over theindustrial complex. The fractured glow cast jagged shadows across the lot, turning the space into a landscape of light and darkness.
Rachel was inside that building. Hurt. Restrained. Alone.
But not for much longer.
"We go in fast and hard," Ghost said, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "No mistakes. No one gets out unless we let them."
Torch's expression darkened. "Ready to break some people."
