Page 63 of Hardline Torque
Hands were on him again, this time controlled and sure, keeping him upright as his legs protested the sudden demand.His muscles screamed after days of restraint, but adrenaline carried him through.
“On your feet,” Luca said close to his ear.“I’ve got you.”
They moved fast.
Victor stumbled once, caught immediately, steadied without comment.Corridors blurred past—bodies down, doors hanging off hinges, smoke hanging low and acrid, alarms screaming into nothing as systems failed in sequence.
He counted breaths to stay vertical.In.Out.In.Out.
He was alive.
They burst out into open air, night slamming into him like cold water.The sky felt too wide after concrete and artificial light, stars smeared by motion and exhaustion.The extraction van waited ahead, engines already screaming, exhaust sharp in the air.
“Rear clear,” Drew called.
“Move,” Tane ordered.
As they closed the distance, Kael keyed his comm.“Reef.Status.”
Nothing.
“Reef,” Kael repeated, sharper now, head turning as if he could see through distance and dark.
Silence.
Victor felt it then—not fear, not panic, but absence.Reef was always there.Always watching, always anchoring the team from the shadows.
They didn’t stop.
Hands guided Victor into the back of the van, bodies piling in around him as the doors slammed shut.The engine roared and they tore away from the site, gravel spitting against the undercarriage as speed replaced caution.
The van rocked violently over uneven ground, suspension groaning.The smell of oil, gunpowder, and sweat filled the enclosed space.Victor braced himself against the wall as the adrenaline began to ebb, leaving pain behind in its wake.
Tane pressed a canteen into his hands.“Drink,ku?u aloha.Slowly.”
The endearment hit harder than the water.
Victor obeyed, swallowing carefully as the van bounced, water spilling down his chin.His hands shook now that they were free.
Tane stayed close, one knee braced on the floor, one hand steady at Victor’s back.“Talk to me,” he said quietly.“Where are you hurting?”
The question cracked something open.
Victor drew in a breath—and for the first time since the door had blown inward, it went all the way to the bottom of his lungs.He sagged forward until their foreheads touched, letting the contact anchor him.
“Shoulder’s strained,” he said after a moment.“Wrists will swell.Bruising everywhere.No breaks.No concussion.They kept me awake on purpose.”
Tane’s breath warmed his skin.“You stayed conscious.”
“Mostly.”Victor huffed out something like a laugh.“Didn’t give them anything useful.”
“I know.”
Two words.Absolute certainty.
Victor closed his eyes, the vibration of the van humming through both of them.For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to breath and contact and the knowledge that he was no longer alone.
Kael leaned forward.“Get to Reef’s position.Now.”
