Page 176 of The ARC Unit: Breach

“From Eberhardt?”

She nodded.

“Are they all alive?”

Tara looked toward the corridor.

“I don’t know.”

Keller’s jaw tightened before he turned away to call another ambulance forward. A German officer appeared at the end of the corridor and waved to him.

“We found a third room,” the officer said. “Rear section. Door open. More people.”

Keller looked at me. “Stay with her.”

“Go Keller,” I responded.

He moved with the officer toward the rear.

I stayed where I was for almost three minutes before Hawk’s voice cut across the channel so sharply that I barely recognized him.

“Viper, get the fuck down.”

Viper dropped without answering. The shot from the north embankment reached my headset a fraction before the actual crack rolled through the building, followed by glass breaking somewhere in the rear loading area.

Viper swore.

Raven said, “Shooter upper catwalk. Hawk got him.”

Wolf came over the channel. “You hit, Viper?”

“No.”

Hawk keyed his mic. “Viper.”

There was nothing flat or measured in his voice now.

“I said I’m good,” Viper replied.

A rough breath came through Hawk’s mic before he spoke again. “He had you.”

“I know.”

Wolf cut in. “Move.”

“Moving.”

Viper was back on his feet before the last word finished. Hawk shifted to cover the broken catwalk window, but his next call came faster than his usual measured pace, the adrenaline still audible beneath the words.

“East door. Movement.”

Raven said, “Kade crossing. Hard case still with him.”

Tara’s hand was still wrapped around mine, and I held on while my attention pulled toward the corridor.

“You’re okay,” I told her in Serbian.

The reassurance sounded ridiculous with gunfire traveling through the walls, but Tara nodded anyway. The paramedic lifted her onto a stretcher, and once she was moving, I stepped into the corridor to clear space.