The smile disappears immediately.
Good.
“But you’re wrong about what happens when they get here.”
Silence thickens inside the room.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
I lean back slowly against the wall again and let the next words land carefully.
“They won’t negotiate.”
His jaw flexes.
“They won’t hesitate either.”
Outside the room, voices drift faintly through the hall.
Somebody laughs.
A vehicle door slams.
Normal sounds.
Ordinary sounds.
And suddenly I wonder if any of them realize how close they are to dying.
“They’ll burn this place to the ground,” I say softly. “And they won’t care who’s standing inside when they do.”
The room goes completely still.
Because now he’s imagining it.
The attack.
The blood.
The chaos.
Doubt slides quietly into his expression before he buries it.
Too late.
I already saw it.
And doubt?
Doubt gets people killed.
25
Russ
We move under cover of darkness.
