“Sword One, keep your stick clear of the center hangar door. Blowing it in three . . . two . . . one . . .”

Jed squeezed his eyes shut a moment to protect his vision from the blast, but the charge was perfect, with precious little visible explosion inside the hangar. Then the door pulled open, daylight streaming in and backlighting the silhouettes of Eli and his stick spreading out as they entered and cleared corners.

A double tap echoed from the north corner, where Eli’s team had just breached.

Two tangos appeared though the hazy smoke ahead, both with rifles. Jed spun left, trusting Carl with the tango to the right. Carl fired first, two thumps of suppressed fire. Jed was about to squeeze his own trigger when the fighter in his sights dropped his weapon, threw his hands up, and dropped to his knees in surrender.

Jed circled, his red dot still floating on the man’s head. He’d never seen a Dark One surrender, and his pulse pounded in his temples, fully expecting the flash of a suicide vest detonation any moment. Dark Ones weren’t conventional jihadists, but they were fanatics with demons inside coercing their every move.

“Clear,” Eli hollered, loud enough for Jed to hear a beat before the voice reached him in his Peltors.

“Six is clear,” Grayson echoed.

“Three is clear,” Carl confirmed.

“One is clear, but I have a crow,” Jed announced, advancing slowly toward the man kneeling in front of him. “Show me inside your jacket.”

The man did, his face and eyes showing more fear than evil. He pulled open his jacket in both directions, then shot his hands back up into the air.

“On the ground, legs spread, and arms out at your sides,” Jed commanded next.

While Jed held his targeting dot on the man’s head, Carl surged forward, placing a knee in the center of the man’s back, flex-cuffing the tango’s hands in the small of his back, and then patting him down with the back of a gloved hand. When he was satisfied, Carl gave Jed a nod.

“Three deceased tangos confirmed inside the hangar,” Eli announced.

“One down outside at the rear,” Hyeon added, since Eli had not been on that side for the breach.

“And one crow secured,” Carl said.

“Any other signatures, Variable?” Jed asked into his boom mic.

“Negative, Sword One,” Ben answered. “Show just you and the tangos you’ve accounted for. What’ve you got?”

Jed turned in a slow circle, chest tightening as the smoke thinned to reveal his worst fear. “No plane,” he said. “We’ve got an empty hangar.”

“One, we have a large crate at the south end of the hangar,” Nisha called from across the room. “It appears to be the right dimensions.”

“Is that a jackpot call?” Jed said, hope rising as he watched her move to peek inside the open crate.