Home / Mystery/Thriller / A SOLDIER'S CREED / 📖📖 Chapter 6 - Fractures
📖📖 Chapter 6 - Fractures
Author: Talon
last update2025-10-06 22:42:14

Location: CIA Safehouse, Kandahar City

Time: 18:20 Hours

The safehouse felt smaller with each passing hour. The walls pressed in, the air stifled, and the silence between Rockefeller’s team and Kruger’s mercenaries had thickened into something sharper, heavier—something dangerous.

Dinner was spread across the common room table: flatbread, tins of beans, a pot of lukewarm rice. Nobody touched it. The mercenaries smoked instead, their eyes flicking toward the operators with smirks that carried too much meaning.

Naomi broke the silence. “You planning to keep glaring, or do you want to say something?”

One of Kruger’s men—a scar down his cheek, teeth stained from chewing khat—leaned forward. His voice was low, taunting. “Just wondering how many of you walk out of this alive. Odds aren’t great. Pretty sniper won’t help when the bullets start flying.”

Naomi moved before anyone else could. In one fluid motion, she had him by the collar, slammed back against the wall, her forearm pressed to his throat. “Say that again.”

The room erupted—mercenaries stood, chairs scraping, weapons too close at hand. Sarah and Bear were up in an instant, hands on their rifles, ready to snap.

Rockefeller’s voice cut through like a blade. “Enough!”

The command froze the room. Naomi held her glare on the man for a second longer before shoving him back and stepping away. The merc coughed, grinning through it like he’d won something.

Rockefeller stared across the room. “You fight now, you’re already dead. Save it for Qadir.” His voice was calm but iron-hard. The kind of voice that left no room for argument.

---

Later, when the others dispersed, Sarah found him on the balcony. The city lights shimmered in the haze, broken and restless. She stood beside him, arms folded.

“You ever think about her?” she asked quietly.

“Who?”

“Your wife. Lila. The one waiting back home.”

Michael’s jaw tightened. He didn’t answer immediately. “Every minute.”

Sarah nodded. “That’s good. Means you’ve still got something real to go back to.” She glanced toward the common room where Kruger’s men lounged. “Most of those bastards don’t. That makes them dangerous.”

Michael said nothing, but he knew she was right.

---

Location: Safehouse Armory

Time: 22:05 Hours

Bear was cleaning his shotgun, hands moving rough, almost angry. He didn’t look up when Rockefeller entered.

“This waiting’s killing us,” Bear muttered. “We need to move. Sitting here, staring at those jackals across the room—I’d rather take my chances in the desert.”

Michael crouched beside him. “We move when the time is right. Not before.”

Bear slammed a shell into the magazine, harder than he needed to. “We won’t make it to Qadir’s walls if we tear each other apart first.”

Michael placed a steady hand on his shoulder. “Then don’t let it happen. Hold the line.”

Bear’s jaw flexed, but he nodded. Barely.

---

Location: CIA Safehouse Ops Room

Time: 00:45 Hours

The radio crackled to life. Static, then voices speaking in clipped Pashto. Naomi, headphones on, translated under her breath.

“They’re talking about Americans. About…a team. Here. In the city.”

The room went cold. Everyone stopped.

Sarah leaned closer. “Do they know where?”

Naomi’s brow furrowed as she listened. “Not exact. But enough. They say the Americans are preparing for something. They call it…‘the night of fire.’”

Rockefeller’s eyes scanned the team. Half of them were stone. The other half were smiling, thin and sharp.

Kruger lit another cigarette, watching him across the table. His smile didn’t reach his eyes.

And Rockefeller felt the serpent coil tighter.

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