Page 36 of Hardline Torque
Tane felt that land through the room like a pressure drop.
Victor didn’t blink.
No hesitation.No caveats.
Tane’s chest tightened—not with worry, but with something sharp and proud.
Victor stepped forward, eyes tracking the data with ease.“They’re running a phased escalation,” he said, voice even.“Phase one is signal correction—cleaning bad assumptions.Phase two is proximity confirmation.Phase three is pressure.”
“Pressure how?”Luca asked.
Victor glanced at him.“They squeeze everything near the asset until something bleeds information.”
Niko’s jaw tightened.“Civilians?”
“If useful,” Victor said without hesitation.“But they prefer deniability.Contractors.Locals.Anyone who can disappear without noise.”
Tane muttered, “That’s pretty fucked up, and it will definitely draw the eyes of the feds.”
“Yes,” Victor agreed.“Which is why they’re testing it now.The cell’s running a layered sweep,” he said calmly.“They’re not hunting blind.This is triangulation—communications spikes, resource repositioning, secondary cutouts activated to mask primary movement.”
Kael whistled low.“You’re saying they’ve got a scent.”
Victor nodded once.“Yes.But it’s old.They’re correcting for time lag.”He pointed to the outer ring of activity.“This is noise.The real move will come from here.”
He tapped a location Tane hadn’t clocked yet.
The room went very still.
“Fuck,” Keanu muttered.“That’s inside our operational buffer.”
“Yes, it is, and that is not by accident,” Victor replied.“They’ve adjusted their assumptions to put themselves close to Black Tide.”
Niko’s gaze sharpened.“Because of you?”
Victor didn’t dodge it.“Probably.My guess is because I stopped moving.”
“All right,” Keanu said slowly.“Say they confirm you.What’s their endgame?”
Victor didn’t answer immediately.He studied the map, then looked up.“Reacquisition if possible.Termination if not.”
“And Black Tide?”Niko asked.
Victor’s gaze was steady.“Collateral, if you interfere.”
Tane felt something hot and sharp settle in his chest at that word.
Interfere.
That did it.
Tane stepped forward, placing himself half a pace ahead of Victor without even thinking about it.“Then let’s be clear,” he said, voice steady, carrying easily, “Victor’s inside the perimeter.He’s part of this team.”
No qualifiers.No softening.
“There is no Tane without Victor now,” he continued.“If they’re clocking him, they’re clocking us.”
The silence that followed wasn’t resistance.
