Chapter 4
Willis lowered his voice.
“You are too personally invested.”
Cross’s face tightened.
There it was.
The reason he thought he could dismiss her.
Hale had once pulled Cross out of a burning vehicle in Kandahar.
Everyone knew that.
But Willis used it like a weapon.
Cross took one step closer.
“I am invested in not leaving an American soldier to be murdered on camera.”
Nobody breathed.
Maddox set the tablet down on the table.
“Captain Cross has been tracking this cell for six months. She knows their pattern.”
Willis glared at him.
“And I command this operation.”
Maddox’s expression did not change.
“You command it badly.”
A low murmur moved through the room.
Willis’s face turned red.
Before he could respond, the drone operator spoke.
“Movement. Western building. Three armed men. They’re bringing lights into the courtyard.”
On screen, white thermal shapes moved fast.
Then another image appeared from a hacked local camera.
A courtyard.
A chair.
A black flag being fixed to the wall.
A man forced to his knees.
Hale.
Blood on his face.
Hands tied.
Alive.
The young lieutenant behind the radio covered her mouth.
Cross stared at the screen.
For one second, her mask cracked.
Just one.
Then she buried it.
Because Hale did not need her grief.
He needed her mind.
She turned to the map.
“They expect an assault from the north road,” she said. “That’s why they left it open.”
Maddox nodded.
“They want us to hit the obvious route.”
Cross pointed to the small trail behind the compound.
May you like
“We go here. Two teams on foot. No vehicles. No main gate. Cut power first. Breach west wall. Smoke the courtyard. Extract through the irrigation trench.”
Read Part 5 to see how Willis tried to stop the only rescue plan that could work.
