The silence that followed contained multitudes. I watched it move through the room like weather. Raphael's jaw working. Marco's hand finding Malachi's shoulder. Hikari's smile flickering out like a candle. Soomin hugging her knees. Jacob's fingers frozen above his datapad.
Natalia broke it.
"We have six days to build a plan for infiltrating the most secure facility in the nation." She walked to the center of the room and stood beside me, close enough that her shoulder touched my arm. The cold of the Cryo-Lich Ring bled through my combat suit. Each breath she took synchronized with mine—we had spent enough time entangled that our rhythms had aligned without conscious effort. "We will build that plan. We will refine that plan. We will run drills on that plan until every person in this room can execute their role unconscious."
