x: Burn th
hbang detonate
light. Leo was already moving-silent, practiced, a phantom in the
eaching!" s
ice calm, deadly.
d. Two bodies dropped fast-blac
fired
t. He crumpled. Leo pivoted, shot the second c
ame th
knock them out-just to make t
they did
h, clearing the haze, and ya
yet," he muttered. "They want
ff her cheek. "We'
inst the walls. Leo laid down cover fire. Zara flanked left, sliding behind a
ng with gunfi
ze, but she didn't stop moving. This was musc
ast men trie
m with a shot
n coll
flipped the atta
n f
joine
e, maybe twenty-had a SIRS insig
her. "They s
felt
she whispered. "It's a training o
tood
ch them what wa
ed like gunmetal
his throat. Still breathing-barely. Blood pooled from a should
agents," she muttered.
ne. His face was unreadable, but his hands shook
meant to fa
distraction. O
ked up
r does
that they'd rather bury us q
rom his sleeves like dust.
ext hour wiping
bleach. The young attacker still breathing was sedated and locked in t
ise. The city buzzed in the distance, unawa
icle twice before settling into a stole
ipped the steer
. "You're think
king of s
thing,
dn't r
toward the broken skyline. "They'll come
ch means we have
smile. "And burn
ches, long abandoned and off-grid. Rats scurried in the co
elt
r
ns within reach. Zara patched the burn on her side w
g to end clean,"
he a
im. "Do you sti
I want clarity. Tha
laugh. "Clarity ge
ce quiet. "So does lov
dn't f
n't ba
oment, they
e, barely abo
come for
kno
ll lose
ready
r his hand. He
it's over?
jaw ti
breathing... w
rest of the mor
old coffee and newer blood. On it: a network of storage units, safe hou
para
to a facility near Abuja. "It
til I turned it
's in
o recordings. All the leverage I've ever collected.
u've been preparing for t
was preparing for
. No apology. No
at the map agai
a brow. "
uilt on silence and shadows. You
ou're suggesting we
ggesting we
, the plan w
l contact inside SIRS. A message, coded an
dy. Standby f
ed only on
eiv
o and Zara arriv
rded only by dust and time. Leo unlocked it manually, disabling booby traps and old surveilla
it was a termina
d the encry
e to back o
him. "Last chance to
tly. "We passe
t the fi
fer e
t Operations Command, and allied privat
d. "Three.
hit
en flick
h
UTION C
ODES. NON-
ANNOT B
afterward wa
sn't
s fal
a hand through his hair. Zara sat across
e," she w
id. "It's o
lert came a
ng of red-flag names
reign defense liaisons. A w
miss
n hi
d
a as the messages
have w
red at t
hanged t
nod
ves will com
d for his
e stay
d cracked glass and new ruins, the first
Black Ops Across Africa – W
h it, the
cent when secre