Page 41 of Danger Close
Kai snorted.“Career?Which one?”
Hogan leaned closer to the screen.“I’m serious.”
Now, Kai’s expression changed—something sharper behind the snark.Measured.Earnest.
“Sometimes,” he said, voice low and even, “you don’t get to choose the easy road.You do the hard right.You put your body between a child and a monster.You do it because you can.Because you should.”
The silence that followed was thick and real.
Then Kai added, casually, “Also, if anyone asks, we were never here.”
Marsh gave a small cheer.“Classic.”
Bateman leaned forward.“How many?”
“Bringing a team of ten,” Kai replied.“Ex-military.No paper trail.I’ll split them in two—double insertion.Greater impact.Your playbook, my firepower.”
“You’ll take the east and south walls.We’ll cover north and west.”Bateman must already have the playbook written.
“Done.”
“See you on the ground.”
Kai winked.“Tell Hogan to save me a dance.”
The screen blinked dark.
Bateman turned back to the team, jaw tight.“Game on.”
He pointed to the terrain map.“Insertion route is split.Ricky’s already inside and will mark Sophia’s exact location.Hogan, you’ll take point with Team One—breach through the south wall using the access tunnel Marsh located.”
“Copy that,” Hogan said, already checking his sidearm.
“Team Two will breach the north through the fake aid station—go loud if you have to.Ezra,” he looked up, locking eyes with him, “you take rear flank.Guard the fallback route and hold the evac corridor.If they run, they’ll run that way.No one gets out unless they’re ours.”
Ezra nodded once, low and tight.“Copy that.”
“Extraction zones are here, here, and here,” Bateman continued, jabbing his finger at the map.“Primary pickup will be via drone lift.Marsh already has our ride prepped with the NATO logo stickered on it like we borrowed it from a UN gala.”
“That’s because we did borrow it from a UN gala,” Marsh muttered.
Bateman ignored him.“Secondary route is forest pullback to vehicles.Tertiary is emergency—straight down the river.You don’t want to swim that.Think of it as your ‘shit went sideways’ plan.”
“What about after?”Ezra asked.
Bateman’s jaw set.“We light it up.Document everything.Data dump straight to Interpol.Then, we make it disappear.”
Silence fell.
Then Hogan grinned.“Hell of a Wednesday.”
Bateman’s voice dropped low.“Make it a rescue.Make it righteous.”
****
He’d timed it downto the breath.
Three minutes to impact.
