"Copy. Maintain position. They'll be back."
The compound settles into tense silence. I move to the weapons cache Finn set up in the corner. AR-15s, hunting rifles with scopes, shotguns for close quarters. Spare magazines, tactical vests, medical supplies. I load magazines, check chamber status on the rifles, verify sight alignment.
Zeke appears beside me. "You good?"
"Yeah."
"You sure? Because you've got that look. The one people get when they're about to go into combat mode."
Combat mode. Close enough. "I'm good. Just getting my head in the right place for what comes next."
"Which is?"
"Keeping Traci alive. Keeping Helena safe. Making sure Graves doesn't walk away from this." I meet his eyes. "By any means."
He nods slowly. "That's good enough for me."
The radio crackles again. This time it's Cara from the communications room. "Sensors just lit up. Multiple vehicles approaching from the north. Fast. They're coming in hot."
I key my radio. "All positions, weapons free when they enter the kill box. Controlled fire. Pick your targets. Don't waste ammunition."
Acknowledgments come back. Finn from the western window. Zeke moving to the eastern position. Cara confirming sensor feeds.
I take position at the main door. Clear sight line down the access road. Range markers visible on the trees Finn tagged earlier. The SUVs appear around the curve. Three vehicles. Moving fast but not reckless. Tactical approach.
They stop at the treeline. Doors open. Figures emerge wearing tactical gear and carrying suppressed rifles. I count maybe a dozen. Trained contractors. Moving with disciplined coordination that says they've done this before.
Body armor. Night vision mounts on their helmets. Hand signals as they fan out into assault formation.
They advance toward the compound. Covering each other. Using terrain for concealment. Whoever trained these people knew what they were doing.
But they're advancing into a prepared defensive position held by people who've done this before under worse conditions.
The first contractor enters the kill box.
I don't fire. Not yet. Let them commit. Let them think we're not here or not ready.
More follow. Then more still. Most of the team exposed now.
Finn's voice on the radio. "Ready."
"Wait for it."
They're committed. In the open with limited cover.
"Fire."
Finn's rifle cracks first from the western window. Suppressed but still audible in the cold air. One contractor drops. Clean shot.
I open up with controlled bursts from the doorway. Torso shot on the nearest target. He goes down hard. I shift to the next. Double tap. He collapses.
Zeke's firing from the eastern window. Controlled shots. Another contractor staggers, hit but the body armor catches it. The impact disrupts his movement, but doesn’t take him down. Zeke fires again. The contractor falls.
They scatter. Disciplined response. Hitting cover, returning fire, trying to establish a defensive position.
But they're in the kill box now. Overlapping fields of fire from multiple positions. No good cover. Nowhere to go but back the way they came.
Finn drops another one. Zeke gets one trying to flank east. I put rounds into the tree one is using for cover, forcing him to move. When he breaks from concealment, a chest shot catches him. He folds.
