“You’re not broken.”
The little girl starts crying instantly.
Silent tears.
Like she doesn’t know how to cry out loud.
That almost kills me right there.
Russ looks away sharply.
Lucas swears under his breath.
Even Mason’s hardened operators look shaken.
Wu did this.
Wu built this place.
Wu taught children they needed permission to exist.
Gabriel suddenly stiffens at the terminal.
“Movement.”
Everybody snaps back to combat instantly.
Multiple heat signatures moving fast through lower corridors.
Armed teams.
A lot of them.
Russ checks ammo.
“How long?”
Gabriel’s fingers fly across the keyboard.
“Two minutes. Maybe less.”
Perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Mason chambers a round.
“Then we make this hurt.”
Now we’re talking.
Russ immediately starts assigning positions around the checkpoint while Gabriel uploads emergency route data to handhelds.
Lucas moves beside me, checking his rifle.
“You good?”
“No.”
