Page 80 of The ARC Unit: Breach

His grip loosened immediately without releasing me.

“Service route,” he said. “Now.”

I turned back and looked through the hedges, mere feet from where Kade was standing with Luca and Sofia right now.

Wolf followed my attention.

“Don’t.”

“He’s right there.”

“And you’re done.”

“We finally have him in front of us.”

“You had him. Then you ignored two extraction orders and vanished off comms.”

“For less than a minute.”

Wolf stepped close enough that the front of his carrier almost touched me.

“You think the clock matters when I can’t fucking hear you?”

The question came out so quietly that it felt worse than shouting. I stopped walking and his eyes held mine for one second longer. Then the operator in him returned over whatever had just broken through.

“Move, Mercer.”

I did.

We cut through the service path where Viper waited near a maintenance gate in plain dark clothes with a compact weapon concealed beneath a light jacket. He looked at Wolf once, then at me, and apparently decided questions could wait.

Raven’s voice burst back into my ear as soon as we cleared the dead area.

“Oh my God.”

The relief in it was obvious enough that I felt guilty for approximately half a second.

“Hi.”

“Do not hi me.”

Jackal came onto the channel. “Mercer alive?”

“Yes.”

“Great. I had twenty on Bear carrying her out, so this is financially disappointing.”

Bear said, “Shut the fuck up.”

Viper muttered, “Focus.”

We reached the vehicle behind the service road where Bear had positioned it beyond the estate cameras. Wolf opened the rear door and pointed inside without speaking. I climbed in because arguing on the road would have proved every terrible thing he thought about me. He followed and shut the door.

Raven was in the front passenger seat now, tablet balanced against the dash. The moment the vehicle moved, he began reading back what the system had captured.

“Morgenstern clean. Ulm clean. Driver replacement. Thursday movement. Südweg Transport is clean enough that I’ve already got the corporate registration. We lost the second property reference.”

I looked at Wolf.