Putain de merde!
Elliot exhaled and dialed again.
This time it declined even faster. The General musthave seen the number and made a decision in under four seconds.
He set the receiver down with steady hands—absurd, considering what his pulse was doing.
Hudson was already crossing the room when he came out of the cubicle.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Hudson said.
“I know.”
“Elliot—”
“It didn’t work anyway.” He kept walking. “It doesn’t matter.”
Hudson caught his arm. “It does and you know it.” He held his gaze. “Come on. You need to sleep. Ferris will call when he has something.”
“We can’t. Reed is out there.” At least he hoped that was still the case. “He’s out there and we’re just…”
“Standing here,” Hudson finished. “Yeah, I know.”
They ended up staying for another three hours. Okafor cycled through what contacts he had. Carver ran fresh aerial imagery from the morning overflight and found nothing conclusive. Elliot drank two cups of terrible coffee and stared at the grid until the lines blurred and his eyes burned.
At 0400 Hudson put a hand on his shoulder. “Come.”
“Not yet.”
“Elliot.” His voice was quiet but certain. “There’s nothing more you can do tonight. You haven’t slept in twenty-two hours.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not. None of us are.” Hudson put himself between Elliot and the screen. “Look at me.”
Elliot’s eyes found Hudson’s reluctantly.
“Let’s go,” Hudson said again. This time he wasn’t asking.
When Elliot steppedinside his quarters, it felt smaller than usual. Everything was exactly where they left it five hours ago, but it was like the room had lost a foot on each side.
He put a hand to his chest, rubbing at it in circles. He crossed the room in four steps. Then turned around. Crossed it again.
“Ferris has two teams on the eastern sector,” he said. “That’s wrong. If Reed pulled north toward the ridge?—”
“Stop…”
“The northern approach is the logical fallback. Any soldier with Reed’s training defaults north under compromise. It’s basic doctrine, and if Ferris doesn't have eyes on that ridge by first light?—”
“Ferris has this covered.”
“Then why hasn’t he called Okafor with an update?” Elliot turned on his heel. “We have aerial imagery from this morning, I need someone to cross-reference Reed’s last known position against the northern terrain features. There might be a pattern?—”
“Elliot. It’s 0400.”
“I know what time it is.”
“There is no one to call at 0400.”
