Logan looked at Mara. At the bruise on her face. At the raw wrists. At the three days of torture written in her eyes. Nazari had done this. Had taken her and hurt her and tried to break her. And now he was getting away.
"Logan." Mara's hand caught his arm. She was weak but her grip was firm. "Don't. He's not worth it."
"He did this to you."
"And I survived. I'm here. I'm alive." Mara's eyes held his. "Going after him now means splitting the team. Means risking everyone. Means maybe not getting out of here. Is that worth it?"
Logan wanted to say yes. Wanted to chase Nazari down and make him pay for every second Mara had spent in that cell. But she was right. Splitting the team to pursue a fleeing targetin hostile territory was suicide. The mission was extraction. Everything else was secondary.
"Risk, how's she doing?" Logan forced himself to focus on what mattered.
"Fluids are helping. She's stable enough to move but she can't walk on her own. Someone's going to have to carry her." Risk packed up his kit. "We need to get her out of here. Get her proper medical attention."
"I can walk," Mara protested.
"You can barely sit up," Risk countered. "Don't be stubborn."
Logan slid one arm under Mara's knees and the other behind her back, lifting her carefully. She was lighter than she should be. Three days without food had taken its toll. She tensed at first, then relaxed against him, her head against his shoulder.
"I've got you," he said quietly. "Not letting go."
"Okay." Her voice was small. Tired. The adrenaline that had kept her sharp was fading now that rescue had arrived. "Logan, I'm sorry. I should have told you I was deploying. Should have told you?—"
"Later. We'll talk about all of it later. Right now we just need to get you out of here."
Sloane led the way out of the building. Winter and Nadia provided cover as they moved through the courtyard. The compound was littered with bodies. Guards who'd chosen the wrong employer. Logan stepped over them without a second glance.
Hawk and the rest of Delta had secured the main gate. Vehicles were staged just outside the wall. Joker was at the wheel of the lead vehicle, engine running. Ghost was still coordinating with ISR, trying to track Nazari's escape route.
"Primary target is in the wind," Hawk reported as they loaded Mara into the vehicle. "Multiple vehicles scattered indifferent directions. We don't have the resources to pursue all of them."
"Let him go," Logan said, settling into the back with Mara still in his arms. "We got what we came for."
Hawk looked at him, then at Mara, then nodded. "All teams, fall back to exfil. Mission complete."
The vehicles pulled out, heading away from the compound at speed. Risk was in the back monitoring Mara's vitals, adjusting the IV flow, checking her injuries. Sloane sat across from them, her expression carefully neutral but her eyes showing relief.
"Thank you," Mara said to her. "For coming back. For coordinating this."
"We don't leave people behind," Sloane replied. "Besides, your boyfriend here was pretty insistent about mounting a rescue. Figured we'd better help before he did something stupid."
"He's good at stupid things," Mara said, but she was smiling slightly. Her hand found Logan's, fingers threading through his despite the IV line and the bandages Risk was applying to her wrists.
Logan held on tight, afraid that if he let go she might disappear. Might turn out to be a hallucination brought on by stress and fear and three days of not knowing if she was alive.
But she was solid. Real. Her pulse beat steady under his fingers. Her breathing was evening out as the fluids helped. She was here. Safe. And Nazari hadn't broken her.
"How did you find me?" Mara asked quietly.
"Sloane contacted Ghost. Ghost told me you were missing. We put together that Nazari probably had you based on the location and the timing. Then we got lucky. Command sent us after Nazari for a completely different reason. Arms shipment. We just happened to convince them there might be an American hostage at the target location." Logan's jaw tightened. "When wehit the compound and you were actually there, that was the best moment of my life."
"Mine too," Mara said. "Well, second best. Best was when the zip ties came off."
Risk snorted from where he was working. "She's going to be fine. Anyone making jokes while this dehydrated has fight left in them."
The convoy made it to the exfil point without incident. A helicopter was waiting, rotors already spinning. Risk helped transfer Mara to the medevac setup inside while Logan climbed in beside her. Sloane's team was loading into a second helicopter. Both teams extracting together.
As the helicopter lifted off, Logan watched the compound disappear below them. Nazari had escaped. The primary target had gotten away. On paper, the mission was a partial failure.
