Page 60 of Crossfire Creek Siege

For a beat she didn’t answer. Then the mask of composure cracked into something colder. The voice that came back was flat, venomous.

“Collateral damage,” Corrine sneered, every syllable a deliberate knife. “They weren’t the target.”

Rena felt the words like a slap. “Collateral?” she spat out. “You used children as collateral.”

“Crossfire Ops is bigger than any one man,” Corrine snarled back, her voice cold as steel. “Bigger than your little compound. Bury it, and you bury him. I’m not talking small moves…” Her eyes glinted through the haze. “I have a team on the way.”

Chapter Eighteen

Hell.

The words tore through Gage’s head as Corrine’s last sentence sank in. A team on the way. He felt it like a punch, sharp and cold, cutting through the chaos around them.

He pressed a hand to his comm. “Noah, you heard that?” His voice was steady, but his pulse was hammering. “Corrine just said she’s got a team headed for Crossfire Ops.”

There was a beat of static before Noah came back, his tone clipped. “Copy. I’m relaying it to headquarters now.” He barked out orders in the background. “Bravo’s site’s clear. They’re moving back to base. All on-site operatives are gearing up for defense.”

The sounds around Gage were a blur. Cal and Garrett still trading fire, the thud of boots against concrete, the hiss of gas venting from somewhere unseen. Rena shifted beside him, eyes fierce behind her mask, waiting for his cue.

Noah’s voice came back through the comm, harder now. “Team One, you end this now. We need to secure the scene and get medical help to Chase. Isla’s got an ambulance standing by.”

Gage’s jaw clenched. End this. Easy to say. But Corrine wasn’t retreating. She was stalling, buying time for the reinforcements she’d just bragged about.

He checked his weapon, eyes locking on the spot where Corrine and her guards had taken cover. “Roger that,” he said, low and firm. Then, to Rena, “We take her alive if we can. But we end it.”

Because if Corrine was telling the truth, the next fight was already racing toward Crossfire Ops, and this one had to be over before that one began.

Corrine’s voice sliced the smoke like a blade, soaked in contempt. “You’ll watch it burn, Noah,” she called out, loud enough to carry across the hangar. “Your precious Crossfire Ops will be gone. That’ll be the real justice.”

The words landed harder than a punch in Gage’s chest. He could imagine the compound, rattling under another assault. He swallowed the surge of fury and pushed it down into action. Fury was useful for one thing. Focus.

Cal’s voice cut through, clipped and hard. “We’re moving. Garrett, watch the north wall. Gage, you and Rena take the east aisle. Suppress and push. Sheriff, we’ll get you out when this is clear.”

Gage answered with a one-word acknowledgment and shifted forward on his heels. Every rhythm was ritual now. Breath, sight, squeeze. They advanced, using the crates and shadows as cover, closing the distance toward Corrine’s position.

She barked another order behind her mask, and four sets of feet scrambled into position like a response to a conductor’s baton. The sound of her voice, confident, unrepentant, was a promise that this wasn’t some shitstorm vendetta. This was organized.

Calculated. Dangerous.

Gunfire cracked across the hangar. Short, sharp bursts echoing off steel and concrete. Gage’s pulse jumped. Then Cal’s voice came through the comm, tight with control but underscored by the raw edge of adrenaline.

“Four men down.”

Gage exhaled, relief and tension mixing in one harsh breath. That was something. One less wave between them and Corrine.

Garrett’s scanner hummed faintly over the comm. “Reading four heat signatures left, three hostiles and Corrine. That’s it.”

Perfect. Gage let his voice carry, loud and cutting through the chaos. “Corrine, your army’s nearly dead. You’re out of men and out of time.”

Silence answered him for a heartbeat, long enough to hope that the remaining thugs might stand down. He wanted them to surrender. Hell, he needed them to. They had to get the sheriff out, had to get that ambulance in here before the blood loss got worse.

But the silence broke with the metallic click of safeties being released. The three remaining men moved to flank Corrine, crouched low behind crates, their rifles trained toward Gage’s position.

“So much for smart choices,” he muttered under his breath.

Rena met his gaze, her eyes steady under her mask. She didn’t need to say it. They were out of time. The thugs weren’t going to surrender.

Corrine wasn’t going to stop.