"I won't risk her life on?—"
The rest of my sentence dies as Knox suddenly grabs my shirt, shoving me back against the wall hard enough to rattle my teeth. His face is inches from mine, every line etched with a rage I haven't seen since Echo-13.
"Listen to me very carefully," he growls. "You don't get to play hero this time. You don't get to sacrifice yourself because you think it'll save everyone else. That's not how family works."
The word hits like a punch to the solar plexus.
Family.
Not team. Not unit. Not brothers-in-arms.
Family.
"Knox—"
"Shut up and listen." His grip tightens. "You remember what you told me after Blackout? When I wanted to go back for Jensen's body?"
I swallow hard. Of course I remember. How could I forget?
"I told you we don't leave our own behind."
"Exactly." Knox's voice cracks slightly. "Well, guess what? Sloane's one of our own now. And so are you. So you can either work with us, or we'll knock you out and do this anyway. Your call."
Behind me, Asa appears with his screen flashes. One of his drones picked up movement at a firewatch tower. He zooms in on the feed, revealing Sloane's figure.
My heart jumps as he tilts the screen for Knox and me to see.
His fingers fly across the keyboard as he switches to comms. "Caleb, Ryk, Eli—got eyes on Sloane. Sending coordinates now. Keep a two-mile perimeter. Meet at the marked rally point."
I close my eyes. Let out a slow breath.
Knox is right. He's right, and I'm being an idiot, and somewhere in the back of my mind I hear Sloane's voice:
"You don't have to do this alone."
"I'm sorry," I say quietly. "I just... I can't lose anyone else. Not like this."
Knox's grip softens, but doesn't release. "You know what Caleb would say right now?"
Despite everything, I feel my mouth twitch. "Something inappropriate about group hugs?"
"Probably." Knox steps back, letting me go with a gentle shove that feels more like forgiveness than anger. "But he'd also say you're important to us too. You're not just our leader, Logan. You're... hell, you're practically our father."
The words land like shrapnel, sharp and hot beneath my ribs.
I've never thought of myself that way—as anything more than a commanding officer who failed his men once and built an empire of guilt to make up for it.
But looking at Knox now, at the raw emotion in his usually stoic face, I realize maybe I've been wrong about that too.
Maybe I've been wrong about a lot of things.
"Time check," Knox calls out, already moving toward the door.
"Forty-seven minutes," Asa replies, gathering his mobile command center with quick, precise movements. "I'm sending all three drones to scan the surroundings."
I grab my gear, mind shifting into tactical mode despite the emotion still churning in my gut. "Knox, you drive. Asa, check for traps. I'll coordinate with the second team."
They move without question, falling into formation like we've rehearsed this a thousand times.
