Page 56 of Echo: Line
He hesitates, then nods and leaves.
Lying back on the cot, letting the exhaustion finally win. My shoulder throbs. My body aches. But for the first time since this started, something other than fear or adrenaline fills me.
Purpose.
Voices carry down the tunnel from the command center. Urgent. Raised. Can't make out words, but the tone is clear—something's wrong.
Should rest. Should let them handle whatever crisis just emerged.
Instead, standing. Moving to the door. Because whatever problem Kane just called Alex about, it involves me being here.The new variable. The unknown element that disrupts their careful balance.
If they're going to decide my fate, I’m not going to just stand there behind a closed door, and tell them what I think.
Stepping into the tunnel, the voices get clearer as I approach.
"—Committee assets moving into the region," Tommy's voice. "They're using the BOLO as justification to flood the area with operatives. Fifty, maybe sixty additional personnel deployed in the last six hours."
"How close?" Kane.
"Within a thirty-mile radius. They don't have Echo Base's location, but they're saturating the area. Every road, every town, every checkpoint. They're not searching randomly anymore—they're creating a net."
"Containment protocol," Alex says. "They're boxing us in."
"Exactly. And with that much Committee presence, our operational freedom just went to zero. We move, we risk detection. We stay dark, we're trapped."
My presence brought this. The federal warrant, the BOLO, every law enforcement agency in the region now focused on finding me. And when they find me, they find Echo Base.
As I step into the doorway, everyone stops talking.
Kane's expression hardens. Alex looks torn between pulling me back to quarters and accepting I'm here. Tommy just watches with analytical detachment.
"The BOLO," I say. "The Committee's using it as justification to flood the region with operatives."
Kane doesn't deny it. "Sixty assets in a thirty-mile radius. Checkpoints on every road. We're boxed in."
"Because they think I'm somewhere in the area." Stepping further inside. "So we use it. Give them what they're looking for."
"Explain," Kane says.
"They want to find me. Let them try. But on our terms, not theirs."
13
ALEX
Kane stares at Delaney for three full seconds before he speaks.
"On our terms," he repeats. "You want to elaborate on that?"
We are standing in the command center now. Tommy sits at the main terminal with surveillance feeds cycling across six monitors. Willa leans against the weapons rack, arms crossed. Everyone is watching Delaney, waiting to see if she can back up the bold statement she just made.
I should be the one talking. Should be formulating a tactical response to the Committee's containment protocol. Instead, I am watching her. The way she holds Kane's gaze without flinching. The set of her shoulders. The certainty in her voice when she speaks.
"They are using the BOLO to justify flooding the area with operatives," Delaney says. "Which means they are looking for me specifically. So we give them a sighting. Controlled. At a location we choose. Draw them away from Echo Base."
"A decoy operation," Tommy says, fingers already moving across his keyboard. "Use you as bait to pull Committee assets out of position."
"Exactly."
