Page 412 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘—but let me take control of counter-observation.’

Riley studies him. ‘Why?’

‘Because you need marksmen on the upper floors, two protected positions per face, rotating after every shot so they can’t fix locations. You need tactical destruction of their command vehicles, relays, drone operators and observers. I’m really good at long-range fuckery.’

‘Pretty good at close quarters too,’ Riley quips. ‘Fine. Kade, give him whatever he needs. Sorrenko, can your people help?’

‘They would be bored otherwise.’

‘What time is it?’

Lachlan says, ‘Eight seventeen.’

‘By nine, let’s see some carnage.’

Kade grins. ‘All right. Let’s go make some mess.’

✴

By nine PM, Lachlan has turned the upper floors into a weapon.

Eight marksmen work across four faces of the Tower. Every position is protected, every retreat mapped. They fire once and move, passing through rooms and service corridors before the enemy can establish where the shot originated. They don’t waste ammunition on infantry.

Relay dishes fracture.

Drone operators drop beside open cases.

Bullets punch through command vehicles, destroying equipment and forcing personnel into the open.

Vasily’s people follow Lachlan’s directions without question.

So do Iron Star’s.

Kade coordinates from the fourth floor, authorising targets as Cole and Finn identify them through Lighthouse. Lachlan moves constantly, appearing beside Kade only long enough to confirm a change in position or quietly redirect a shooter.

Within half an hour, the encirclement has lost three relay points, two drone teams and its clearest western sightline.

Nobody fires back.

The PMCs drag away their injured, abandon compromised positions and reform farther out. Fresh vehicles replace the damaged ones. New equipment is unloaded.

Still, they don’t advance.

Not one shot touches the Tower.

At nine forty, Lee sends another encrypted burst from inside the Estate grounds, which Cole relays through dark band.

Her team has confirmed several heat signatures beneath the western wing. One is motionless inside what appears to be a biostatic suspension tank matching her original design: the Knot body. She estimates they can enter within the hour without triggering the internal alarms.

Moonrise is around eleven PM.

It’s cutting close, but Kade trusts Lee to get it done.

They found the body.

All they need to do is kill it.

Outside, the ring continues rebuilding itself around Iron Star, and the absence of Resets becomes harder to ignore. Kade expected an opening wave by now, bodies thrown against the Tower to expose its defences, but there’s no movement between the PMCs and the clearance radius.