Page 57 of Hardline Torque
The Directorate loved noise.It gave them cover.It burned time.
The truck they had taken Victor away in was found just after dawn.Not far from their compound.Another fuck you from the Directorate.Kael and Drew had gone to collect it, and now it sat outside their garage
They opened it carefully.
Engine cold.No blood.No trackers.No residue that hadn’t been scrubbed twice.
Abandoned deliberately.
This message was clear as well.
You were too late.
Keanu broke the silence.“They want us angry.”
“Yes,” Tane said.“Which means we don’t give it to them.”
No shouting, no raging against the world, no slammed fists or broken equipment.
Just a recalibration.
They stripped the van anyway.Panels off.Wiring exposed.Luca ran deep signal sweeps that turned up nothing but ghosts—false pings, decoys designed to pull them sideways.Torch cursed once under his breath, then went quiet.
It didn’t rattle Tane.
It just gave him more reason to focus.
Then the secure line chimed.
Once.Twice.
“Put it through,” Kael said.
Kai’s face filled the main screen, sharp-eyed even through compression, the background behind him unmistakably Pathfinders territory.
“I’m coming home,” Kai said without preamble.“Hogan and I can be wheels up in under an hour.Victor’s our brother, too.The others can come if you need them.”
The words landed heavy.
Tane felt them—but he didn’t let them move him.
“No,” he said.
Kai blinked.“No?”
“Too many people,” Tane replied evenly.“Too much noise.A force that size will light us up from three days out.Not to mention, they will clock you as soon as you enter a flight plan, and fuck knows what happens to you on your way here.These bastards are resource rich, but morally bankrupt.”
A beat passed.
Kai exhaled once, sharp.Then nodded.“All right.But when you find him—”
“We’ll need precision,” Tane said.“Not a war.”
Respect passed between them without ceremony.
The call ended with promises to stay in touch, and assurances that both the Pathfinders and Bravo were searching too.
Minutes later, Luca straightened slowly, like someone afraid to jinx what he was seeing.
