The corridor was still empty but that wouldn't last. Nadia had the stairs covered, weapon up, tracking sounds from above. The gunfire had intensified. Delta was meeting resistance. The building was turning into a war zone.
They reached the stairs. Steele looked up at them like they were a mountain he didn't have the strength to climb. His breathing was labored. His face was pale under the bruising. He was running on empty.
"Can you make it?" Mara asked.
"Don't have a choice."
Fair point.
They started up. One step at a time. Steele's weight heavy between Mara and Kira. His leg dragging. His breathing getting worse with each step. But he kept moving. Kept pushing. Kept refusing to quit.
Halfway up, his leg gave out completely. He went down, taking Mara with him. They hit the stairs hard. Steele grunted in pain. Mara felt something in his chest shift. Broken ribs. Had to be. Moving wrong and making everything worse.
"We need to carry him," Kira said. "He's not making it up these stairs on his own."
Mara keyed her radio. "Shadow Veil to Delta Six. We have the package. He's alive but non-ambulatory. We need exfil support."
Hawk's voice came back immediately, the sound of gunfire loud behind his words. "Delta Six copies. We're engaged on the second floor. Can't break off. You'll have to get him out on your own."
Of course they would.
Nadia came down the stairs and between the three of them they got Steele upright again. This time Mara took most of his weight, one arm around his waist, his arm around her shoulders. Kira supported his injured leg. Nadia took point with her weapon.
They made it to the top of the stairs. Through the emergency exit. Into the Iraqi night.
The exterior guards had abandoned their patrol to respond to the breach. The south side was clear. For now. But that would change the moment someone realized their prisoner was escaping.
Sloane's voice crackled over the radio. "Extraction vehicles are sixty seconds out. Get to the rally point."
The rally point was a hundred meters west of the building. Might as well have been a hundred kilometers with Steele barely able to walk and guards about to realize what was happening.
They moved. Fast as they could. Which wasn't fast enough. Steele's breathing was getting worse. His weight was getting heavier. He was fading.
Fifty meters from the building, gunfire erupted behind them. Guards pouring out of the north entrance. Responding to Delta's breach and finding Shadow Veil escaping with their prisoner.
Rounds snapped past. Too close. Nadia returned fire, controlled bursts that kept the guards from rushing them but didn't stop the pursuit.
Thirty meters to the rally point. Mara could see the vehicles now. Headlights off. Engines running. Winter behind the wheel of the lead vehicle, ready to move.
Twenty meters.
More gunfire. This time from a different direction. Delta engaging guards on the upper levels. Covering fire that gave Shadow Veil the seconds they needed.
Ten meters.
Steele stumbled. His leg gave out completely. He went down and this time Mara couldn't hold him. They both hit the ground. He rolled onto his back, gasping for air, his face twisted in pain.
"I can't," he said. The words came out broken. Defeated. Like he'd finally hit the wall and there was nothing left. "Can't do it."
Mara looked at him. At the man who'd stayed behind so she could escape. At the operator who'd bought her time with his own blood. At the person whose face had haunted her for three days.
"Yes, you can," she said. She grabbed his vest and pulled him close. Their faces inches apart. His eyes unfocused with pain. Hers burning with determination. "You told me to run threedays ago. Now I'm telling you. You don't get to quit. Not when we came all this way to get you."
Something flickered in his eyes. Recognition. Understanding. Maybe something else.
Kira and Nadia got him upright again. Together they dragged him the last ten meters to the vehicle. Winter had the door open. They shoved Steele into the back seat. Kira climbed in after him, already pulling medical supplies.
Mara turned back to cover their retreat. Saw guards pouring out of the building. Saw muzzle flashes in the darkness. Saw Delta's team extracting from the north side, moving toward their own vehicles.
