Page 42 of Hardline Torque
They hadn’t been fleeing fire.
They’d been stepping out of a scanner.Mud sucked at Victor’s boots as they slid, bodies colliding hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.
A second later, light washed over the ridge they’d just abandoned.
“Contact possible,” Niko hissed.
“No,” Victor said, breath sharp, controlled.“They won’t shoot yet.”
“You sure?”Keanu asked.
“Yes,” Victor replied.“They’re watching who panics.”
Silence followed—tense, coiled.
Victor crouched, pulse hammering not from fear, but from the unfamiliar sensation of not directing the outcome.
“Mano,” Kael said.“Your call.”
Tane didn’t look at Victor.Didn’t seek confirmation.
“Breaker, spoof retreat patterns east,” Tane said.“Make it sloppy.Let them think we’re bleeding cohesion.”
Victor sucked in a breath.
That was risky.Bold.Exactly wrong by Directorate doctrine.Which meant it was exactly the right move.
“On it,” Luca replied, and then a few moments later.“They’re biting.”
The pressure shifted again—lighter now, curiosity levels increasing.
Victor felt the moment the Directorate cell reoriented, attention sliding away from the ravine toward the manufactured chaos to the east.
“Now,” Tane said.
They moved as one.
Tane led them through the ravine at a brutal pace, choosing paths that made no sense to doctrine—too steep, too wet, too tangled—but perfect for avoiding prediction.Victor stayed glued to his shoulder, tracking angles and listening to the rhythm of Tane’s breathing instead of the map burning itself into his mind.
They burst from the ravine into denser bush, fern fronds slapping against Victor’s face as he ducked and pivoted.Somewhere behind them, branches snapped—too heavy, too careless.The Directorate cell was adjusting, but they were already a step behind.
A suppressed crack split the air.
Bark exploded a meter from Victor’s shoulder, splinters biting into his cheek.Another round followed, closer this time, snapping past where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.
Victor didn’t flinch.He matched Tane’s pace step for step, trusting angles he hadn’t personally cleared, relying on a man whose instincts were different—but no less lethal.
A near-miss crackled through the trees as a suppressed round chewed bark a meter from Victor’s shoulder.A second shot taken just moments later.
“Sniper,” Wraith advised.“I hit him but he’s not out.Wasn’t sure we were playing for keeps yet.”
“Not yet,” Tane said.“But if he makes another move, put him down for good.”
They cleared the danger zone in a blur of motion and breath, slipping through a seam the Directorate hadn’t expected because it wasn’t optimal.
It was human.
They regrouped hard south, comms flaring back to life as interference dropped.
