Page 67 of Hardline Torque
“That’s a warehouse district,” Drew added, his feed splitting to show aerial views of the port-side industrial sprawl.“Low visibility, high traffic.Easy to disappear.”
Victor watched the footage frame by frame as Luca tracked the van’s progress—entering a narrow corridor between shipping containers, disappearing beneath a camera blind.
“Here’s the thing,” Luca said.“We lost them on CCTV for nine minutes, which I am sure was their doing.”
Nine minutes was an eternity.
“But,” Luca continued, voice gaining strength, “they didn’t count on the fact that our man is smart as fuck, and shifty as hell.”
Another feed popped up.This one was different—higher elevation and resolution, sharper angles.Drone footage.
Victor’s breath caught.
“That’s your rig, isn’t it, Luca?”Kael said.
“Yeah,” Luca confirmed.“Before they took him, he launched a pair of my silent micro-drones.Autonomous loop on him with a delayed start.They followed the van once he left, so we have footage of those nine minutes.”
On-screen, the view tilted and adjusted, tracking the logistics vehicle as it rolled into a warehouse complex near the port.The doors opened.Figures moved.
Niko.
Restrained but upright, and no one was surprised that his head was high.
Victor closed his eyes for half a second, steadying himself.
“They didn’t have him out of sight for long,” Victor said.
Luca nodded.“Eight minutes, twenty-six seconds.”
The footage jumped ahead.The warehouse interior emptied quickly.Another vehicle arrived—unmarked, sleek, clearly not meant for cargo.
“Transfer vehicle,” Kael said.“They moved him.”
Victor watched Niko being moved with efficient brutality.No hesitation.No wasted time.
The drone images followed and froze on the outside of a private airport with a jet at the edge of the tarmac, engines already spooling.Not even Black Tide would allow one of their drones in a commercial or private airspace.
“They flew him out,” Luca said.“Less than an hour after taking him.”Luca sped up the imagery until the plane began to taxi to the runway.
Silence settled over the room.
Victor felt it land in his chest—not as panic, but as cold clarity.
“They want him isolated,” Victor said.“And they didn’t want us anywhere near where we might get him out.”
Kael’s voice cut in.“Which means they expected us to find this.Maybe not as fast as we have, but they would want us to know how easy it was to get to one of us and take them.”
Victor nodded.“And they expect us to follow.”
The drone feed cut out as the jet lifted off.
Victor straightened slowly, pain radiating through his shoulder but failing to slow him.He met Tane’s gaze across the room.No words passed between them, but the understanding did.
Wherever they’d taken Niko, Black Tide would follow.
Victor set his hands flat on the table, anchoring himself in the present.
“Tell me we know where the jet landed,” he said.
