Page 81 of Cold Ignition

Alexios stepped forward slightly, gaze sharpening. “So, this looks like a distributed command model.”

“Yes,” Luca said. “Redundancy built in. If one falls, the others compensate.”

Rangi’s jaw tightened.

“Then we don’t hit one,” he said. “We hit all of them.”

Luca glanced at him. “Exactly.”

The screen shifted again—this time showing a layered map, routes branching outward like veins, each one marked with points of contact.

“What’s their endgame?” Kael asked.

Luca paused for a fraction of a second.

“Control,” he said. “Not just of routes, but of people. Of movement. Of systems that operate outside traditional oversight.”

Victor’s voice cut in, quiet but solid. “A shadow logistics network.”

Luca nodded. “Exactly.”

Rangi huffed a breath. “Yeah, well. Not for long.”

The screen shifted again.

“We hit all three leaders simultaneously at their meeting tonight,” Luca said. “We don’t give them time to redistribute command. We cut the head off completely.”

Alexios folded his arms. “Simultaneous execution? That will be loud.”

“Yes.”

“Extraction?”

“Flexible,” Luca replied.

Rangi snorted. “That’s not comforting.”

“It’s accurate.”

Keanu huffed quietly beside him. “Fair enough.”

Luca continued like nothing had interrupted him.

“We go in with call signs live,” he said. “No ambiguity. No blending.”

That got Rangi’s attention.

“Loud,” he said.

“Deliberate,” Luca corrected.

Kael’s gaze flicked to him. “Why?”

Luca didn’t hesitate. “Because this isn’t a disruption, it’s the complete obliteration of the Crucible.”

Rangi’s mouth curved slightly.

“Yeah,” he said. “I like that.”