Page 58 of Echo: Line
I do not have a response to that. So I leave the command center and head to the briefing room where the rest of the team is waiting.
Stryker and Rourke are already there. Two men I have known for years. Brothers in every way that matters. They stand when I enter, and I see the concern in their faces before they hide it behind operational masks.
"Good to see you upright," Stryker says. "Four days with Kessler's people. Hell of a thing."
"Tell me about it."
"What did they want?" Rourke asks. "What were they fishing for?"
I sit at the head of the table. They take seats around me. This is the part I have been dreading. Not because they will question whether I broke—they won't. But because of what it means that Kessler knew enough to ask the right questions.
"They were fishing for location," I say. "Kessler wanted coordinates. Access routes. Vulnerabilities in our defenses."
"How close did he get?" Stryker asks.
"Not close enough. But he had good intel to start with. Knew about our command structure. Knew Kane was running operations. Had details about my deployment that are classified above Top Secret." I lean forward. "The Committee has access at levels we didn't anticipate."
Stryker curses under his breath. "That means they could know about our safe houses. Contacts."
"Possibly. Which is why Kane is implementing full lockdown protocol. No external communications. No movement outside Echo Base unless mission critical. We go dark until we assess the threat."
"What about the FBI agent?" Rourke asks. "She connected to this?"
"No. The Committee orchestrated having the FBI send her to arrest me. They told her I was a domestic terrorist. Set us both up. They wanted her to find me at that Wyoming safe house, then planned to kill us both." I keep my voice even. Professional. "She figured it out when the kill team showed up. Saved my life. Got us both out. She's burned now. Has federal charges against her. But she's also a resource. Profiler with eight years FBI experience."
"Kane trusts her?" Stryker asks.
"Kane is evaluating her."
"But you trust her." It's not a question. Stryker is watching me with the kind of attention that misses nothing.
"I do."
"That's personal, not tactical," Stryker says.
"Maybe. But she saved my life. Multiple times. She walked away from her career to get us both out. That counts for something."
Stryker nods slowly. "Fair enough. What do we need to know about the facility? Does the Committee even know about it, or is it Kessler's personal operation?"
I spend the next hour walking them through everything. The facility layout. Guard rotations. Security protocols. Kessler's interrogation methods. The tech they used. Every detail I remember from those four days.
They listen. Ask questions. Take notes. This is what we do. Debrief. Analyze. Plan. Turn bad situations into actionable intelligence.
When I finish, Stryker stands. "Get some rest. You look like hell."
"Thanks."
"I mean it." He grips my shoulder. "You've been through it. Take time to process before you go operational again."
They file out. Rourke lingers at the door. "The FBI agent. Delaney. She's more than just a resource, right?"
I do not answer immediately.
"Thought so," he says. "Just be careful. This life doesn't mix well with relationships. Trust me on that."
He leaves before I can respond.
I sit alone in the briefing room for a long time. The walls feel like they are closing in. The air tastes stale. I need to move. Need to work the tension out of my system before it consumes me.
