"Just making sure your head's in the right place."
Mara smiled faintly. "My head's fine. Ask me again when we're stacked on the door."
Nadia finished reassembling her pistol and holstered it. "This is different from what we usually do."
"I know."
"We're not just pulling someone out of a trafficking house. We're hitting a fortified compound in a foreign country. Armed guards. Unknown variables. And if it goes loud, we're on our own."
"I know that too."
"Just want to make sure you know what you're getting us into."
Mara turned from the window. "I know exactly what I'm getting us into. A woman and a child need extraction. We're the ones who show up. That's the work. That's always been the work."
Nadia held her gaze for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Just checking."
Kira appeared from the back, medical pack over one shoulder. "I've got enough supplies for major trauma on two people plus field treatment for minor injuries. If anyone takes a serious hit, we're driving straight to the safe house. I can stabilize there but we'll need to get them out of country fast."
"Winter's got transport staged at the safe house," Mara said. "Two vehicles. One for us, one for backup. Local driver who doesn't ask questions. Route to Erbil is clear."
"And if it's not clear?" Kira asked.
"Then we make it clear."
Sloane closed her laptop. "Latest satellite pass shows no changes to the compound. Same guard rotation. Same heat signatures. Amira and Karim are still in the residential wing."
"And Nazari?"
"Working late in his office. Same as every night this week. G.I.D.E.O.N. predicts ninety-two percent probability he'll still be there at 0200."
"And the other eight percent?"
"He's asleep in the master bedroom. Either way, we know where to find him."
Mara nodded. The plan was solid. As solid as it could be with seventy-two hours of planning and incomplete intelligence. They'd breach from the south. Quieter approach. Less visible from the main gates. Cut through the perimeter wall with thermite charges. Fast and controlled. No explosions to wake up the entire neighborhood.
Move through the compound. Neutralize guards non-lethally if possible. Reach the residential wing. Secure Amira and Karim. Get them to the extraction point. Load into vehicles. Drive hard for Erbil before Nazari could mobilize a response.
Simple. Clean. Precise.
Except operations were never simple once the shooting started.
The plane began its descent. Mara felt it in her stomach. The drop in altitude. The shift in engine pitch. They were approaching the border. The point of no return.
"Gear check," she said.
They moved through the ritual without discussion. Nadia verified her weapons. Kira rechecked medical supplies. Sloane confirmed communications equipment. Mara checked her own loadout. Sidearm. Spare magazines. Night vision. Tactical knife. Zip ties for restraints. Everything staged where she could reach it in the dark.
Two years since she'd run field operations. Two years of strategic oversight and mission planning from L'Abri Sûr while her team did the dangerous work. But this one was different. This one required her to be the person who came for them.Not because the team couldn't handle it. Because sometimes the work demanded that you put yourself on the line.
The plane touched down on a remote airstrip that probably didn't exist on any official maps. The kind of place where money bought silence and no one asked why four women were arriving in the middle of the night with enough equipment to assault a small fortress.
Winter was waiting with two SUVs. Black. Nondescript. Clean plates that would pass casual inspection. She'd done good work. Fast work. The kind of logistics coordination that made operations possible.
"Safe house is forty minutes south," Winter said as they loaded gear. "I've stocked it with everything on your list. Food. Water. Medical supplies. Ammunition. Clean phones. Local currency. Two escape routes if you need to abandon the primary location."
"Guards at the compound?" Mara asked.
