Page 40 of Danger Close
Chapter Eight
“You heard him,” Batemansaid, voice sharp enough to cut through concrete.“They’re not just holding her.They’re grooming her.They’re trafficking kids.That changes our playbook.”
No one argued.
Hogan stood, fists clenched at his sides.Marsh froze mid-keystroke, the cursor blinking on a feed frozen over Sophia’s fragile, rehearsed smile.
Ezra didn’t move.Just stared at the waveform on the monitor, the one tied to Ricky’s comms, still open, still transmitting.
Bateman dropped a new set of printed maps and tactical overlays on the table.“We go in hard.Fast.No soft edges.Primary objective is Sophia, secondary is anyone else we can safely extract.But let’s be clear—this compound goes down.”
“You want burn protocol?”Hogan asked, eyes sparking.
“I want cleansing fire,” Bateman growled.“We hit them with precision and speed.No friendly fire, no unnecessary casualties—but we make damn sure no one walks out of that place with a kid in their arms ever again.”
Bateman’s hand hovered over the comms terminal.
“We’ll need backup,” he muttered.
He tapped a few keys, and Marsh slid a monitor around with a knowing grunt.The secure video link flared to life, then blinked into clarity.Kai’s face appeared, scowling and shirtless, a half-eaten protein bar hanging from his mouth.
“You’re late,” Kai said around a bite.“Someone better be bleeding.”
“We’ve got a girl in a cage and a pedophile network behind it,” Bateman said flatly.“How’s that for bleeding?”
Kai stopped chewing.Swallowed.“You’ve got my attention.”
Bateman outlined it fast—Ricky embedded, confirmation on Sophia, the traffickers, the need for speed and destruction.
When he was done, Kai leaned back, arms folded across his chest.“You want to burn it down?”
“I want to erase it,” Bateman said.“Every file.Every fingerprint.Every name.This thing’s global.We start the purge here.”
Kai arched a brow.“You’re calling in the dragon.”
“I need fire.”
A pause.
Then a smile.Slow.Dark.“I’ll be there in an hour.”
Hogan, who’d been listening quietly, finally spoke.“Won’t this ruin your career?”
