“Your man is dying.” I meet his gaze evenly. “I’ve got supplies that might stabilize him, but I need to know what field training he’s had, what medications he’s on, and his blood type. Right now.”
A flicker of uncertainty crosses Drake’s face—the first crack in his armor.
“Harris is our medic,” the young one supplies, earning a venomous glare from Drake. “But he’s the one you killed by the snowmobile.”
Jackson moves to the wounded man, medical kit already open. “I can help him, but he needs evac ASAP.”
I nod, a decision crystallizing. “Martinez, contact the chopper. We’re moving up extraction. Weather’s clearing enough for a medical evac.”
Drake laughs, an ugly sound that scrapes against the walls. “Softening already? Judge Reynolds will be disappointed.”
I turn to him, letting my expression go flat.
Empty.
It’s a look that made hardened terrorists in Afghanistan piss themselves.
“Don’t mistake mercy for weakness. Your man gets medical attention because I’m not like you. The rest of you…” I let the sentence hang.
“Your boyfriend’s a pussy,” Drake spits at Ryan. “Reynolds would’ve let him bleed out and used the corpse to send a message.”
Ryan doesn’t take the bait. Just checks his watch with exaggerated casualness. “I’m thinking we’ve got about four hours before that chopper arrives. Lots of time for a chat.”
I move to the center of the shed, positioning myself whereall four men can see me. “Here’s how this works. I ask questions. You give answers. The quality of those answers determines how comfortable, or uncomfortable, the next few hours become.”
“Fuck you.” Drake strains against his restraints. “You got no idea what’s coming. Reynolds owns half the state. He’s got teams mobilizing from three directions.”
Jackson steps back from the wounded man, having administered morphine and replaced the field dressing. “Patient stabilized, but he needs blood and surgery within the next six hours.”
I acknowledge this with a nod, then turn back to Drake. “Let’s start simple. How many teams, where are they staging, and what’s their timetable?”
“I’m not telling you shit.” Drake’s sneer is pure bravado. “Reynolds will find her. And when he does, what he’ll do to her will make the last three years seem like a honeymoon.”
Something snaps inside me—a thin tether of control I’ve maintained since Syria. I’m across the room before I realize I’ve moved, my hand wrapped around Drake’s throat, thumb pressing precisely into the pressure point beneath his jaw.
“Wrong answer.” My voice emerges strange even to my ears—flat, emotionless, yet somehow charged with lethal intent. “Let’s try again.”
Ryan steps forward. “Mason.” A single word of caution. He knows what happened in Syria. Knows what I’m capable of when that control slips.
I release Drake, stepping back while he gasps for air.
“You think this is about Reynolds?” Drake manages when he can speak again. “You’ve stumbled into something so much bigger. The judge has connections you can’t imagine—cartels, foreign governments, people who make rendition flights when problems need to disappear.”
“Names,” I demand. “Locations. Timeframes.”
Drake spits blood near my boots. “Like I said, fuck you.”
I exchange glances with Ryan. We both know Drake’s training. Delta operators are taught to resist interrogation techniques that would break most people. Physical intimidation won’t work—not quickly enough, anyway.
“We’ve got time,” Ryan says casually. “Lots of time to work with.”
I crouch down to Drake’s eye level. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to step outside with my team to discuss our options. While we’re gone, you’re going to think about something.” I lean closer. “I’m not military anymore. I’m not bound by rules of engagement, Geneva Convention, or operational protocols. You hurt someone who matters to me. So, I’m pissed and not in a forgiving mood.”
Something flickers in Drake’s eyes—not fear exactly, but calculation.
“Five minutes,” I tell him, then signal my team to follow me outside.
Once we’re in the clear, Ryan speaks low. “He won’t break with standard approaches. Not in our timeframe.”
