Page 35 of Hardline Torque
Victor exhaled slowly, the weight of it settling into his bones.He’d lived his life moving forward because retreat wasn’t an option.But this—this was different.This was choosing to stand still when every instinct screamed to keep moving.
He reached out, brushing his thumb along Tane’s jaw.The stubble there was familiar now.Grounding.
“Staying means I draw fire,” Victor said quietly.“Again.”
Tane leaned into the touch.“Then we deal with it.Together.”
Victor almost laughed.Almost argued.
Instead, he nodded once.
The Directorate was escalating.The past was waking up.And Victor Dane had just tied himself to something that mattered.
Consequences, indeed.
He pulled Tane closer, and placed his mouth against his, not out of fear, but resolve.Whatever came next, he wouldn’t pretend this hadn’t changed him.
Anchored didn’t mean weak.
It meant he’d chosen what was worth fighting for.
****
Tane had learned toread rooms long before he ever learned to read threats.
This one came up tight the moment Kael started talking.
Black Tide’s briefing space wasn’t fancy—steel table, wall screens, the faint hum of power running through reinforced concrete—but it was theirs.Controlled.Familiar.Normally, that meant a baseline calm, even when the news was bad.
Today, the air carried an edge.
Kael stood at the head of the table, arms braced, gaze flicking between the team as data scrolled behind him.Surge leaned back against the wall, arms crossed.Reef sat forward, elbows on his knees.Malek hovered near the screen controls, fingers restless.Every one of them was tuned in.
And Victor stood beside Tane.
Not behind him.Not outside the perimeter.
Beside him.
“That intel you pushed last night?”Kael said, eyes cutting briefly to Victor before returning to the room.“It stirred something.Directorate cell we’ve been watching just went active.”
The screen shifted.Red markers bloomed across a coastal map—logistics hubs, safehouses, dead drops lighting up like a constellation Tane didn’t like the look of.
“Talk to me,” Niko said.“That’s not random movement.”
“It’s not,” Kael agreed.“Pattern suggests reacquisition behavior.Asset-adjacent.”
Tane felt Victor shift slightly beside him—not tension, not nerves.Recognition.
Kael noticed.“Victor flagged this first.I want him to confirm what we’re seeing.”
Luca pushed off the wall.“Before he does, what is the timeline?How fast does this go from posturing to boots on the ground?”
Kael’s mouth flattened.“Short answer?Too fast.”
“Define fast,” Keanu said.
“Forty-eight hours, maybe less,” Kael replied.“If they confirm identity overlap.”
