The audio track filled the room.
“My people are still here!”
Claire’s own voice.
Then another voice from the encrypted receiver.
Richard.
“Captain Vance, the asset takes priority. Board the aircraft.”
“Evacuate my soldiers.”
“Negative.”
“Then I stay.”
A pause.
“You are carrying mission authentication. You do not have that option.”
Claire watched herself fight the operators who dragged her toward the helicopter.
The image shook under mortar impact.
Miller fired toward the eastern wall.
Hayes ran ammunition.
Jenkins pulled a wounded soldier behind cover.
Then Richard’s voice came again.
“Get her on the aircraft. Operational exposure is unacceptable.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
The next file was the command log.
It showed Claire’s reinforcement requests.
Denied by theater control.
Evacuation request.
Denied.
Emergency extraction for remaining personnel.
Held without action.
The final file showed something Claire had not known.
A routing authorization bearing Richard Vance’s digital certificate had suppressed her distress traffic from being forwarded to a nearby quick-reaction force for eleven minutes.
Eleven minutes.
