They all looked at her. Rachel's pulse hammered in her throat, but she didn't back down.
"This is war for profit. They're selling our weapons, feeding intel, cutting deals with the same people killing our men. It's not onebad actor. It's coordinated. Systematic. And it goes high. Higher than you think."
Rachel could see it in their faces, the realization sinking in.
Predator turned toward Ghost. "What's the play?"
Ghost didn't answer right away. He stared at the blank screen, his jaw working. Rachel could see the muscle jumping beneath the skin.
Then he turned to her. His eyes found hers.
34
Rachel leaned forward, elbows on her knees. Her hands had clenched into fists without her realizing it. The images on the screen held all of her attention.
"I want to get this out there," she said. "People need to see it. All of it."
The men exchanged glances, weighing what she was saying. She felt every pair of eyes on her.
Ghost. Reaper. Torch. Frost. Predator. Brick. Echo. Rogue. Bear.
Every man here had taken lives and buried friends. Violence didn't shake them. But this betrayal was different.
"But before I publish anything," she continued, "I need confirmation. If I name the wrong officer, if I get even one detail wrong, I won't just be discredited. I'll be hunted."
"You'd be a target again," Ghost said.
Rachel met his eyes. His face gave away nothing but she could see the tension in his jaw. The same man who'd kept her alive wouldn't let her walk back into danger unprepared.
Across the room, Echo's fingers flew over the keyboard. "The video's too low-res," he muttered. "But your high-res stills? That's where we dig. If there's anything identifiable, tats, scars, gear, we'll find it."
Rachel stood and crossed to him. She leaned over his shoulder as they worked through the images frame by frame.
"Shit." Predator's voice cut through the room.
Rachel's stomach dropped. On screen, one of the men turned just slightly. The angle was bad, face obscured by shadow and grain. But there on the back of his hand, clear in the high-contrast freeze:
A skeleton hand rendered in black ink with fine bones and clean lines.
Frost spoke first. "That's Carver's tattoo."
Cold spread through Rachel's chest. "Wait. Wasn't he the lead Ranger on the joint op that rescued Bear?"
Ghost nodded slowly. "Yeah. That's him."
Brick's hands curled into fists. "I trusted him. We all did."
Ghost stared at the screen, his jaw tight. Rachel could see what this meant to them. Carver wasn't just another soldier. He was one of them. A brother. And now he was something else entirely.
Ghost's voice cut through the quiet. "We need confirmation. We don't move until we know exactly who Carver is working with and how deep this goes."
Rachel understood immediately. "You're planning a recon mission."
Ghost nodded once. "We don't go in loud. We watch. We track. We see who shows up and how far up this goes."
Predator leaned back, knuckles cracking. "Then we make our move."
Ghost looked around the room at his team, already shifting into operational mode, then turned back to Rachel. His eyes found hers.
