The screen went dark. Shadow Veil's operations center fell quiet.
"Six hours until wheels up," Sloane said. "Everyone get your gear staged. Final equipment checks. I want weapons cleaned, ammunition counted, medical supplies inventoried. Nothing gets left to chance."
The team dispersed. Mara headed for the armory where her tactical gear waited. Body armor. Weapons. Night vision. Communications equipment. Everything she'd need to breach a fortified building and extract a wounded operator under fire. She started the process of checking each piece, her hands moving through familiar patterns while her mind worked through scenarios.
Nadia found her an hour later, her own gear already staged and ready. "You planning to tell me what's really going on?"
Mara didn't look up from the rifle she was cleaning. "We're rescuing an American operator from enemy custody. That's what's going on."
"That's the mission. I'm asking about you."
"I'm fine."
"You've checked that rifle three times. It was clean the first time."
Mara set down the cleaning rod and met Nadia's eyes. "What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say whatever's going on in your head that's making you look like you're about to run into a building and either save someone or die trying."
"That's literally what we're doing."
"You know what I mean." Nadia leaned against the workbench. "This is personal for you in a way that goes beyond tactics. I saw your face when Quinn confirmed the location. When Hawk's team talked about Steele. This isn't just about paying a debt."
Mara was quiet for a long moment. She thought about lying. About deflecting. About keeping whatever was happening in her chest locked down where it couldn't complicate things. But Nadia had earned honesty. They'd been running operations together for six years. Had saved each other's lives more times than either could count. If anyone deserved the truth, it was her.
"I can't stop seeing his face," Mara said quietly. "Can't stop hearing his voice. Can't stop thinking about the way he looked at me right before I ran. Like he'd already made peace with what was about to happen. Like he'd decided I was worth dying for."
"You just met him."
"I know."
"In the middle of a firefight."
"I know that too."
"And now you're risking everything to go back for him."
"Yes."
Nadia studied her. "You don't even know his real name."
"Doesn't matter." Mara picked up the rifle again, started reassembling it with practiced efficiency. "Something happened in that compound. Something I don't have words for. And I need to know if it was real or just adrenaline and chaos."
"What if it was just adrenaline and chaos?"
"Then I'll know. And I can stop seeing his face every time I close my eyes."
"And if it wasn't?"
Mara didn't answer that. Couldn't answer it. Because she didn't know what happened if the pull she'd felt in that compound turned out to be real. Didn't know what it meant thata man she'd known for thirty seconds had gotten under her skin in a way no one else had managed in nine years.
Nadia pushed off from the workbench. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing the right thing. Not because of whatever's going on in your head about him. But because leaving people behind isn't who we are. And if there's a chance we can get him out alive, we have to try."
"Thanks."
"But Mara? When we find him, when you see him again, you're going to have to figure out what this is. Because you can't run operations with your head somewhere else. That gets people killed."
"I know."
