Chapter 29 – Logic’s Field

Number One’s car passed between two rows of containers and turned toward an old warehouse. A gray van was already parked against the wall. Four men in black tactical gear waited beside it, weapons lowered, faces covered. Number One got out first. One of them gave him a short nod. Two. Then he pointed to the others. Three. Four. Five. German climbed out next, and Gobby came around the other side of the car. That was the entire introduction. Two was already opening a side door to the warehouse. We have the feeds. Number One went straight inside.

The control room was a small space against the warehouse wall. Several monitors showed the entrances, the lanes between buildings, and the access roads outside the docks. Two switched on the last screen, and Number One stopped in front of them. At the main exit, a black car slowly turned sideways across the road. A few seconds later, another pulled in beside it. On a second monitor, an SUV blocked one of the side routes. German stepped closer. They’re closing us in. No one answered. On the far camera, two police cars pulled up to an intersection outside the docks. One blocked the road, the other stopped across the neighboring entrance. An officer set out a portable barrier. A civilian car approaching the docks was turned around. Then a black SUV appeared. The officer checked his phone, moved the barrier, let the SUV through, and closed the road again.

Gobby watched the screen. Are the police with them too? German shook his head. No. Number One looked at him. Why? They’re not watching the docks. They’re watching the road. On the monitor, one officer was already stopping another car while a second spoke to the driver. No one had drawn a weapon. Looks like they were given the outer perimeter. Who comes in, who goes out. They probably don’t know what’s happening inside. Number One watched for a few more seconds, then took out his phone.

Giselle answered immediately. We’re at the docks. They’re blocking the internal exits. At least three vehicles inside, more coming in. Police on every access road. Authorized vehicles are being let through. No one is being allowed out. He listened. Are the police part of the operation? The pause was brief. Understood. He listened for several more seconds without taking his eyes off the screens. Copy. He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Two looked at him. Well? Number One shifted his eyes from one monitor to another. The police haven’t been briefed. Their orders are to hold the outer perimeter. We do not engage them under any circumstances. On the main camera, the doors of one SUV opened. Men began getting out. Mark’s order is to hold out. We do not break through the perimeter. Decisions inside are ours. Three asked, How long? Until we get another order. No one asked anything else. On one screen, the officer lowered the barrier again. On another, the first team was already entering the docks.

Two was pulling two gear bags off a rack when Number One came back from the control room. He tossed one to German and set the other in front of Gobby. Get changed. German caught the bag. Why? In a few minutes people are going to start shooting. I don’t need our side wasting time figuring out who you are. Gobby unzipped the bag and pulled out black pants, protective gear, and a ballistic vest. All of this is supposed to fit me? Number One looked at him. Whatever still fits.

German finished first. Black uniform, forearm protection, load-bearing gear, gloves, high collar, balaclava. The changes had already begun, but the gear concealed almost all of them. Only his movements were becoming more precise, his eyes lingering longer on doorways, stairways, passages, and the distances between buildings. Gobby managed to get into the pants and boots. By the time he reached the vest, his shoulders were already widening and the skin on his arms was growing darker and denser. He tried to push one arm through. The fabric stretched and stopped. Gobby looked at Two. Not happening. Two silently took the vest back. I can see that. Gobby shrugged with his enlarged shoulders. I tried.

A few minutes later they gathered between the warehouse and the van. Two, Three, Four, and Five stood together. German barely looked different from them now. Gobby could no longer be mistaken for anyone in the unit. Number One gave the group a quick look. The outer perimeter is sealed. We leave the police alone. We are not breaking out. More teams are entering the docks. We don’t know how many. Mark gave us one order: hold out until the next command. Two asked, Where do we hold? Nowhere.

Number One looked at German. When we move, you follow him. German raised his head. Me? You. I’ve never commanded a team. You don’t need to command them. Tell them where to be and when to move. German looked at the four grown men standing in front of him. None objected. Gobby stepped closer. We’re counting on you. German looked at him. Gobby… You’re the reason we’ve made it this far. So we’ll make it through this too. German said nothing. He took a slow breath, looked across the docks again, and the space around him began to assemble itself into a system.

Two, Three, Four, Five stay with me. No one goes off alone. If I say move, move immediately. If I say stop, stop exactly where you hear it. We don’t hold ground. If we can leave without contact, we leave. Two gave a short nod. The others followed. German turned to Gobby. You don’t stay with us. Then where do I stay? Wherever they go after you. But if they start falling back too easily, don’t follow. They’ll try to pull you away from us. Gobby studied him for a few seconds. Got it.

German looked at Number One. You? Number One checked his weapon. Don’t factor me in. I need to know where everyone is. You don’t need to know where I am. He seated the magazine and looked toward the far warehouses. You deal with the ones coming at you. I deal with the ones who stay back. Commanders. Runners. Observers. Shooters. German held his gaze for a moment, then nodded.

Somewhere between the containers, a car door slammed. Then another. Footsteps followed. German turned his head. Logic was already laying out directions, distances, possible exits. We leave now. Two moved first. The others followed. Within seconds, the space between the van and the warehouse was empty.

They left through a narrow lane between the warehouse and two rows of containers. German led, with Two and Three behind him, Four and Five at the rear. Gobby moved farther left, almost brushing the metal wall with his shoulder. Number One disappeared before the first turn. German did not see him again and did not look for him. Ahead, the lane split three ways. To the right was an open loading yard. Straight ahead ran a corridor between containers. To the left, a service stairway followed the warehouse wall. German slowed slightly. Voices came from the center passage. Too clearly. An engine was running to the right, but the vehicle was not moving. The left side was quiet. Logic assembled distance, direction, timing. The central route was being shown to them deliberately. The vehicle on the right was waiting for anyone who tried to avoid it. That left the left sector. Not safe. Simply the route they wanted them seen taking. Left. Two changed direction at once.

They had gone maybe sixty feet along the wall when German raised a hand. Everyone stopped. Above them, a metal walkway gave a faint creak. A shadow moved across the upper level. One above us. Don’t look. Two kept his head straight. Take him? No. Let him report where we’re going. German moved again. A few seconds later the figure above withdrew from the edge. A hand rose toward his face. Comms. Logic recalculated the routes. If the observer reported the left sector, the people in the center passage would shift to intercept farther ahead. To do that, they would first have to clear the nearest crossing. Faster.

They reached the corner just as two men in dark gear were moving out of the adjoining passage toward the observer’s position. The first saw German too late. His hand went for his weapon. Quiet. Two closed the distance before the barrel came up. A short strike to the wrist, one step inside, and the man was on the concrete. The other turned toward the movement and exposed his side to Three. One move. He dropped beside the first. German never stopped. Take the radio. Leave the weapons. Five stripped the radio and was back in formation seconds later.

The speaker came alive almost immediately. Team Three, confirm position. They kept moving. A few seconds later the request came again. German held out his hand, and Five passed him the radio. He did not answer. He listened. The request came a third time, now in a different voice. German switched the unit off. Less than a minute. Two looked at him. How do you know? They’re not asking anymore. They’re checking. German gave the radio back to Five. Next they’ll send someone to look.

Metal crashed somewhere to the right. Then again. German turned his head. Gobby was no longer beside them. He was moving higher, along the edge of a low service building. He crossed a narrow gap, landed hard on top of a container, and the metal buckled under his weight. Heads snapped upward below. One man brought up his weapon. Gobby dropped before the motion was complete. His palm struck the side of another container and his body cut sharply sideways. The first man took the hit from the side and slammed into a vehicle. Another backed away. One more tried to escape into the passage. Gobby was already there. Within seconds, the entire sector was looking at him.

German watched the movement around them change. The men who were supposed to close the crossing turned toward the noise. The vehicle on the right started moving toward Gobby. The open section ahead of German’s group was almost empty. Right. Now. Two looked toward the renewed crash of metal. Gobby? He opened the route for us. They crossed the open ground without slowing. At the far end, a man with a radio stepped out from behind a container. No weapon in his hands. He saw them and raised the radio toward his mouth. German was about to stop the group when the man vanished sharply back behind the container. No shout. No gunshot. Just one short impact and silence.

Two looked that way. Number One? German did not answer. A few seconds later, a radio appeared on the ground at the edge of the passage. Nothing else. German kept moving.

An engine started ahead. Then another. The first vehicle moved parallel to their route while the second came in from the opposite side. Neither was coming directly at them. Both were trying to get ahead. German slowed for half a step. Logic rebuilt the pattern. The people from the sector they had just left had already been pulled forward. Fewer remained behind them than a minute ago. Turn around. Back through the warehouse. Five looked at him. We just came from there. German was already moving. Exactly. The people who were waiting for us there are coming here now.

No one asked again. Seconds later the group vanished between the containers while the two vehicles continued converging on a place where they no longer were.

They came back to the warehouse from the opposite side. A narrow service lane ran between the wall and the containers, almost invisible from the main yard. German led and stopped several yards before a side entrance. Both doors had been open when they passed earlier. Now the farther one was shut while the nearer one had been left wide open. An emergency light burned above it. Two was already taking a step toward the entrance when German raised a hand. Stop. He looked farther down the wall. Another door was closed. The loading gate was down. Only this entrance had been left open. Behind them, a vehicle appeared and stopped across the lane. Three men got out but did not advance. Two more appeared between containers on the other side and stopped there as well. Two looked at German. They boxed us in. No. German kept his eyes on the open door. They’re letting us in.

No one moved. The men by the vehicle waited too. One raised a radio. German slowly looked up toward the warehouse roof. One ventilation unit started. A few seconds later, another. Then the lights came on inside. Everything was happening in sequence. Closed exits. One open entrance. People behind them who were not advancing. Back away from the door. Two stepped back first. Gas? I don’t know. German was already looking at a fire escape farther down the wall. And we’re not going to find out.

The first canister landed in the lane behind them a few seconds later, bounced off the concrete, rolled beneath a vehicle, and stopped by the wall. Another landed closer. White smoke began spilling from it. Four raised his weapon, but there was no one to shoot. The other side stayed behind the vehicle and containers. Up. Fast. Three reached the ladder first. Five and Four followed. German let Two go ahead and climbed behind him. Smoke was already filling the lower passage. The opposing team still did not advance. German looked down and understood the purpose completely. They were not trying to take them here. They were forcing them to choose the next route.

On the metal walkway, Two turned toward the walkway leading to the neighboring building. German caught him by the shoulder. Not that way. Why? German looked ahead. It was the only obvious continuation. That was exactly why they could not use it. Because they know where it leads. He looked up. A short maintenance ladder climbed from the walkway to the roof. Up.

It’s exposed. Three seconds.

Three was already climbing. German came onto the roof last, crouched at the edge, and looked over. Four men were moving below near the neighboring building. Not toward the warehouse. Toward the exit from the walkway. Two more were taking the stairwell on the opposite side. Two saw them too. Waiting for us. German was already looking for another route. The gap to the next roof was less than six feet. A narrow service lane ran between the buildings below. Three first. Then Four, Five. Two after them. And you? Last.

Three jumped. Four followed immediately. Five landed hard on the edge of the next roof, but Two caught him by the harness. Someone below spotted the movement. A command rang out. German let Two cross and was about to jump when metal crashed somewhere across the docks.

Every head below turned toward the sound.

Gobby emerged onto the roof of a container almost at the other end of the yard. He did not stop. He dropped onto a side ladder, used it only as a point of contact, pushed off, and cut away before the two men below could adjust. One raised a weapon. Gobby was beside him first. One hit, and the man slammed into the side of a vehicle. Another backed away. Three more were already moving toward the noise. Gobby crossed a hood, struck the side of a container with one hand, turned his body, and went higher. Within seconds, half the sector was looking only at him.

German jumped.

They descended on the far side of the building before the men by the walkway realized the roof was empty. Below, Five glanced back at the white smoke now covering the entire service lane. They wanted to drive us inside. German looked back quickly. The opposing team was already moving onto the walkway the group had just abandoned. They wanted us to go where they were ready for us. Two checked the route ahead. Difference? German kept moving. A big one.

A minute later they were already leaving the sector. Behind them, the opposition was occupying the warehouse, the walkway, and the roof where no one remained.

Almost forty minutes later, the pursuit changed. German noticed it in the sudden lack of pressure. Vehicles stopped following them into every sector. Men no longer appeared at the next intersection seconds after the group changed direction. Two sectors in a row were empty. Two glanced behind them. Did they lose us? German said nothing. To Logic, emptiness was not safety. It was missing data. He stopped the group against a warehouse wall and watched the open yard ahead for several seconds. Three exits. No people, no vehicles, no movement on the roofs. Too open. Back. Two turned his head. Why? They stopped chasing us. And? German was already stepping away from the corner. So they decided to wait where we’re going.

Almost immediately, a line of spilled fuel ignited to the left. Not an explosion, just a sharp flare followed by fire racing across the concrete. A few seconds later, a second stretch caught closer to the warehouse. Two directions disappeared. The right passage remained open, and so did the center route, but that one ran between two long buildings with no side exits. German did not move. Neither did anyone else. The fire spread slowly, but no one came after them. Then two men appeared near the containers to the right. One had a weapon, the other a radio. Another figure moved farther back. They did not approach. They simply watched the open passage. Five asked quietly, We can’t go that way? We can. That’s why they’re there. Then between the warehouses? German looked at the long corridor ahead. If they wanted that closed too, it would already be closed. Two understood first. They want us to choose. Yes. German looked up. An old loading-crane structure ran along the wall above them. A lower service beam crossed the yard and reached a platform on the far side of the fire. So we don’t choose.

Two looked up. Across that? Across that. German climbed the service ladder first. The beam was narrow, but wide enough to cross single file. Two came up behind him while the others waited below. The moment German reached the top, a bullet struck the metal ahead of him. He dropped flat. Two went down beside him. Another shot came from a different direction. Not a burst. Not an attempt to blanket the area. Two shooters testing the crossing. German kept his head down. Logic was already tying the impact angles to rooftops and distance. Shooter on the right. Another farther back, higher. Two asked quietly, Go down? No. Then they get exactly what they want. German signaled for the others below to hold. The shooters stopped firing. They needed movement. Several seconds passed, then a single shot cracked from the right. After that, one sector went silent. German did not see Number One, but no explanation was needed. The other shooter shifted position and appeared for an instant at the edge of a distant roof. Another short shot. The figure disappeared. German rose. Now. One at a time. Don’t run.

They moved across the beam quickly but without rushing. Two first, then German, Three, Four, and Five. The men on the right broke toward the ladder, but now they had to move around their own fire. Several shots came from below, one striking the metal behind Five. No one stopped. By the time Two jumped down onto the opposite platform, a man stepped out from behind a lower container and raised his weapon. He never completed the motion. Gobby dropped from above, used the edge of a container as a point of contact, changed direction, and drove his full weight into the man from the side. The man hit the concrete. Gobby was already moving again. Two more turned toward him, another began backing away, and within seconds the entire lower yard was watching Gobby instead of German’s group. German sent the others down. Through the loading area. Don’t stop. Two landed beside him and glanced back while moving. Two routes were still burning, the third remained under observation, and the firing positions had gone quiet. They had used none of the routes prepared for them.

A few minutes later the fire and warehouses were behind them. Four caught up with German. Is this how it’s going to be now? German kept walking. No. Why? Because now they know it doesn’t work. He said it calmly. Logic was already rebuilding the model. The next attempt would be different.

Almost another hour passed. During that time, the opposition stopped building one large pattern. Lights went out in several sectors at once. A truck started somewhere. A door slammed at the far end of the docks. A short call came over the internal channel, but no visible movement followed. Two looked at German. Trying to confuse us? German did not answer immediately. Before, every action had direction: block, push, force a choice. Now the separate movements no longer converged on one point. Logic tried to assemble them and found no overall structure. German understood first. They stopped operating as one unit. Is that worse? Harder for us. Harder for them too. He looked at the others. Stop looking for the overall plan. From now on we work only with what we can confirm.

They entered a dark passage between two buildings. Two moved slightly ahead, Three and Four held the sides, Five covered the rear. German stayed in the middle and listened. Footsteps to the right. Two people. One heavier, the other almost silent except for the faint movement of equipment. An engine idled behind them. Ahead, a metal door swung slightly and stopped. Someone had just gone through it. German raised a hand. The group froze. Two men on the right. One was ahead. Vehicle behind us is still stationary. Two asked quietly, Was? He’s already moving away.

The first man appeared from the right almost immediately. He moved slowly, weapon held low, far too exposed for someone genuinely searching for an enemy. German caught the reflection of the second man in the side window of a truck. Leave the first one. Two stayed still. The man continued forward, deliberately exposing the sector. The one waiting around the corner began to emerge, expecting the group to react. Three met him first. Hand on the weapon, one short step inside, body strike. The man was against the wall before the first could turn. Two was already there. Within seconds both men were on the concrete. Not a single shot. German looked toward the door ahead. The one ahead is gone. Five glanced that way. After him? No.

They backed up several yards and went around the building through the neighboring service passage. Two minutes later, the man they had refused to chase came out almost exactly where he expected to find their backs. Instead, five figures were waiting in front of him. He had time only to stop. Four pushed the barrel aside, Two struck below the knee, Three finished the contact. Five took the radio. A voice came through almost at once. Sector Seven, confirm. German took the unit and listened. A few seconds later another request came through on a different channel. Different voice. Different procedure. He handed the radio back to Five. That’s how they did it. Two looked at him. Did what? They split command. Each team gets its own assignment and sector. Only command has the full picture.

Now the movement of one group told them nothing about the next. But the system depended more heavily on communication. Radios came alive more often, vehicles waited for confirmation, people paused at the edges of their assigned sectors. Logic had lost the larger pattern, but gained new timing gaps.

A short burst came from the far end of the docks, followed by the crash of metal. Gobby was still holding most of their attention. Two teams were closing on him from opposite sides, but the formation broke apart again the moment he moved between them. One man lost his line of fire because of his own people, another turned toward movement above. German saw the passage on the left opening. Left sector. Now.

Three empty vehicles stood in the next yard. Not abandoned at random. The first blocked visibility on the right, the second sat at an angle to the warehouse, the third left a convenient corridor between itself and the wall. German stopped everyone before they entered the yard. Boots were visible beneath the first vehicle. Behind the second, a shadow fell across the metal warehouse door. The third man was not visible, but the position of the vehicles left him only one useful position. We don’t go in. Four asked quietly, Go around? No. German took several steps back. We leave like we never saw anything.

No one accelerated. They calmly disappeared back around the corner. No shot followed. Only a few seconds later, one of the vehicles started. German immediately changed pace. Now faster. The group passed through an open workshop, crossed the next building, and changed sectors before the vehicle completed its loop. Two looked at German as they moved. They went to check the route we left them. Yes. And we’re already gone. German nodded.

A private channel clicked once in German’s earpiece, the one used only by Number One. His voice came through once. They’re changing team leaders and radio channels. Commanders are staying farther back. Shooters too. The connection cut immediately.

A light came on ahead. Not the whole sector, just one passage. German stopped. Earlier, light would have indicated direction. Now it could be an instruction to one team, a diversion for another, or something unrelated to them entirely. Logic ran through the possibilities and selected none without confirmation.

Ignore the light. Through the repair building.

Two moved first. German followed, and only when they reached the doorway did he notice that his breathing had grown heavier. It was hot beneath the balaclava, his mouth dry. He ran his tongue over his lips, drew one deep breath, and raised his eyes. The space assembled again. Correct. Still correct.

The group kept moving.

By then they had been inside the docks for several hours. The opposition kept changing teams, vehicles, and directions. German’s people remained the same. Earlier, the gaps between attacks had been long enough to clear several sectors. Now new teams were entering before the previous ones had fully withdrawn. Engines ran almost constantly. Lights came on ahead, routes closed behind them, observers appeared on rooftops. German no longer tried to identify the enemy’s main group. There was no main group anymore. They were simply filling the space with people. Two looked through a broken window in the repair building. Another vehicle on the right. Almost at the same time, Five added, Two men ahead. German moved to the wall and looked only as far as the angle allowed. The vehicle on the right stopped. The men inside did not move toward the building. They spread out. The same thing was happening ahead. Two figures appeared on the roof across from them. One stayed by the stairwell, the other moved toward the edge. Logic assembled the directions. This time no one was trying to push them anywhere. The sector was simply closing from every side. They’re not trying to outplay us anymore. Two looked at him. Then what are they doing? Waiting until there’s nowhere left to go.

A service passage on the left was still open, but the men moving along the far warehouse would close it within minutes. German looked at his people. Two kept his left arm close to his body but still handled his weapon normally. Dried blood streaked Three’s temple. Four was favoring his right leg. Five was breathing through his mouth but still covering the door. They could all move. That was enough. We go now. Two and Three first. Four with me. Five last. Left, then up. Two glanced toward the opposite roof. Two men on the roof. Not that roof.

They moved immediately. The first man appeared from the adjoining passage almost at the same time as Two and never got his weapon up. Two closed the distance, redirected the barrel, and put him on the concrete in one motion. Three was already covering the next corner. German did not slow. A searchlight began rotating from the far yard. The beam was moving too steadily. A team would be following it. Five seconds. They crossed the open ground before the light reached the wall. The first burst struck behind them, spraying concrete fragments. No one stopped. Four reached the service ladder first. German pointed up. You first. My leg’s fine. That’s why you’re first. Four understood and started climbing.

Gobby appeared above them while Five was still on the ladder. The dark, massive figure crossed the roof of a container, leaped onto an awning, then climbed onto a metal support frame. Several men below raised their weapons almost at once. Gobby had already changed direction. The routes everyone else used simply did not exist for him. The side of a container, a railing, the roof of a vehicle, a vertical support, the edge of an awning were all usable if they let him push away, bleed off momentum, or break a line of fire. One man climbed toward the platform, trying to meet him above. Gobby dropped beneath the walkway, hung by his hands, and struck upward. The man vanished behind the railing. Another fired from the roof. Gobby used a metal beam as cover and appeared a moment later lower and to the side. Three more men changed direction. Then two more. German was not watching the hits. He was watching empty spaces appear.

Right. Two looked down. Four of them. Not anymore. On the opposite roof, one shooter suddenly jerked backward and disappeared. The other turned toward him, then vanished almost immediately as well. No nearby gunshot. No visible movement. Just two points Logic had marked as dangerous disappearing from the model. Number One. Now.

They crossed the upper walkway and entered the adjoining building. A fresh team was coming in below. Another was appearing on the level behind them. For the first time in hours, the opposition had blocked above, below, and behind at the same time. German stopped on the stair landing. The direct exit led onto an open loading gallery visible almost end to end from the neighboring warehouse. Two looked toward it and immediately shook his head. They’re waiting for us there. German did not answer. Logic ran through movement below, rooftop positions, lights, vehicles, the distance to the water. Earlier the answer would have come immediately. Now it took a little longer. But when the space finally assembled, the solution was clean.

Gobby appeared again far to the right, on the top row of containers. German opened the channel. Gobby. For several seconds there was only heavy breathing. Then Gobby’s low voice came back. Yeah. See the yard by the water? A pause. I see it. I need everyone looking there. Another pause. Everyone? Something close to a smile crossed German’s face for the first time in a long while. As many as you can.

Gobby disappeared from the roof.

A few seconds later metal thundered near the water. Then again, much louder. Gobby struck an empty container and sent it scraping across the concrete into a parked vehicle. An alarm went off. He was already moving. He jumped onto the back of another vehicle, from there onto a railing, then dropped directly in front of a team entering the yard. The first man instinctively stepped back, the second raised his weapon, but Gobby was already inside their formation. Firing now meant shooting through their own people. He never stayed still. A strike, a push off the vehicle roof, a change of direction, higher again. The first searchlight swung away from the gallery. Then the second. Men on the neighboring roof turned toward the yard. A vehicle below changed course. Another team began moving toward the water.

German looked at Two. Go.

They stepped onto the gallery. They did not run. Two in front, German behind him, then Three, Four, and Five with space between them. Halfway across, one man on the distant roof finally noticed the movement and began bringing his weapon around. German saw it before the barrel reached them. Down. All five dropped at once. One shot passed over the railing. There was no second. The figure on the roof disappeared before German raised his head again. No one asked why.

Three men appeared at the far end of the gallery. There was no route around them. Contact. Two went in first. One strike knocked the weapon aside. A shift of body weight, and the man hit the wall. Three met the next one. Four, despite his leg, did not move to help. He covered the side passage instead. Correct. Another man came from exactly there. Five met him first. A few seconds later, the route was clear again. German was already moving. Don’t stop.

They tried to close them in again behind the next building. Men came from the left, a vehicle blocked the far lane, a searchlight came on above. German changed routes before each new sector could become a trap. Workshop. Two left. Three with me. Five on the door. Four last. They moved through the repair area, climbed an interior staircase, descended on the other side, and crossed another warehouse. Where contact could be avoided, they were gone before the opposition arrived. Where a route had to be opened, it took seconds. They never stayed anywhere.

German lost his balance for the first time after the next crossing. No one touched him. He rose too quickly after passing beneath a window, his vision darkened for an instant, and his hand found the metal wall on its own. He stayed upright. His balaclava was soaked. He had to pull air through his mouth. Logic kept calculating. Two people on the right. One a floor above. A vehicle on the far road would close the next passage in thirty seconds. Everything was correct. The answer had simply taken longer. Two stopped beside him. German. Left door. That’s not what I mean. German pushed away from the wall. It’s what I mean. Left door.

They were gone before the vehicle closed the lane.

Another sector. Then another. The opposition kept replacing people. German had no one to replace. Two still held his arm close to his body. Four’s limp had worsened. Five missed a door handle once and caught it on the second try. Three had almost stopped wiping away the blood beginning to run again at his temple. No one asked to stop. Neither did German.

When they finally got several seconds of silence behind the wall of an old warehouse, German looked at people instead of routes for the first time in a long while. Two. Three. Four. Five. All here. He keyed Number One’s channel once. A second later, a single click came through his earpiece. That was enough.

German looked up. Gobby appeared on the roof of the neighboring building. His clothes were torn, his body marked with dirt, blood, and soot, the transformation still holding. He sat heavily on the edge and looked down. More coming? Two leaned back against the wall and gave a short, exhausted laugh. You haven’t had enough? Gobby thought about it seriously. No. I’m just asking.

For several seconds, no one said anything else.

German rested the back of his head against the metal and closed his eyes. Only now did he feel how heavy his own head had become. Logic had not disappeared. Had not made a mistake. Holding the same picture simply took more time now. German opened his eyes before anyone could suggest resting.

The silence continued.

No engines. No doors slamming. No new searchlights. Nothing on the radios either.

Five was the first to turn toward the passage. Why did they stop? German straightened. For hours, the other side had never given them silence for free. Because the next attempt has already started.

And still nothing happened. Their opponents remained in their sectors, vehicles held their positions, observers stayed on the rooftops, but no one pushed inward anymore. German waited for a position change, a new route, even a radio command. Nothing. Logic searched the space and, for the first time in hours, found no continuation of the attack. Two listened. They’re waiting. Yes. For what? German did not answer.

The private channel clicked. The outer checkpoint just opened the way, Number One said. German raised his head at once. Who did they let through? One car. A short pause. Coming in.

Two straightened. Three pushed away from the wall. Four shifted his weight onto both legs despite the pain. Five checked the passage. Gobby stood on top of the container. German remained silent for several seconds. Until now, vehicles had passed through the outer checkpoint one after another. Now everything inside had stopped for one.

An engine sounded in the distance.

A black car moved between the warehouses without an escort. Men at the first intersection stepped aside. The same thing happened at the next. No visible commands were given. The road simply opened in front of it. German watched through the gap between two containers. Stay together. Two looked at him. Fall back? No. If they wanted to keep going, they already would have.

Gobby came down from the container, first onto the roof of a vehicle, then onto the concrete. The transformation still held. Dirt, blood, and soot covered his skin, his breathing heavy. He stopped beside German. Who is it? I don’t know.

The car stopped about fifty yards away. For several seconds, the doors remained closed. Then the front door opened.

Henry got out first. He looked over the passages, the roofs, the men beside the vehicles. No weapon in his hands. No hurry. He walked around the car and opened the rear door.

Viktor stepped out.

German’s private channel clicked again. Viktor Voss. Henry’s with him. German watched in silence. Logic began recalculating the space. The answer came more slowly than before. German straightened.

Viktor had come himself.