Page 53 of Hardline Torque
The man gestured and two others surged in, hauling Victor up with practiced efficiency.
“Specter is down!”Niko yelled
Rage detonated in Tane’s chest, and he slammed his fist into the last man he was fighting’s face, and he felt bone give way to force.Then he was running toward where they had taken Victor.Tane fired, dropping one of them, but it was already too late.Smoke bloomed at the far end of the corridor, thick and disorienting.When it thinned, Victor was gone.
“Luca!”Tane roared into comms.
“I’ve got them,” Luca answered instantly.“Black van, west drive.I’m painting it now.”
The team moved as one, sweep abandoned without need for discussion.
They ran.
Tane tore through the estate, breath ripping from his lungs, vision narrowed to the open night beyond the doors.He could already hear the engine, see the taillights flaring as the van peeled away.
“I’m not letting this happen,” he snarled.“I will not lose him!”
Kael was right behind him.“You won’t.And you sure as hell won’t be alone.”
They spilled into the darkness, weapons up, fury leashed just tightly enough to keep them lethal.
Somewhere ahead, Victor was being taken.
And Black Tide was coming.
Chapter Ten
Time did not pass normallyin rooms like this.Victor knew that from experience, but also because his body kept trying to measure it—and failing.
There was no window.No clock.No sound that belonged to the outside world.The lights hummed softly overhead, sometimes too bright, sometimes dipped just low enough to make his vision blur at the edges.He could not tell if that change was deliberate or if his eyes were simply losing the argument with focus.
Pain was present, but manageable.
That was the first thing he understood clearly.
They were not trying to hurt him for its own sake.Nothing was broken that could not be used again.The bruises were layered carefully, but nothing debilitating.The cuts shallow.The shocks precisely timed to keep his nervous system awake but not overloaded.When his muscles trembled, someone adjusted a dial.When his head lolled, a voice brought him back.
