Chapter 6 - The Second Extraction
Hayes transmitted a rescue request on a secure emergency channel.
No aircraft responded.
Then his radio received a direct message.
Mission status?
Kane wanted confirmation.
Hayes understood that if he reported Evelyn alive, another team might be sent to finish the job.
He answered with two words.
Target down.
Less than a minute later, Kane replied.
Recover all materials. No survivors beyond mission personnel.
The message gave Hayes the final proof he needed.
He forwarded it through an independent special-operations command channel Walker trusted, along with a fragment of the recording from Evelyn’s capsule.
This time, a helicopter came.
Its crew arrived under authorization from outside Kane’s chain of command.
Hayes stood in the snow holding a signal light while Walker protected Evelyn beneath his coat.
When the rescue cable descended, nobody turned away.
Evelyn was evacuated with Talon Team.
Blackglass’s position was later searched. His equipment contained targeting files on American personnel, including every member of Talon Team and the helicopter crew that had abandoned Evelyn.
The aircraft crew was detained after landing.
They admitted Kane told them Evelyn was carrying a device that could compromise the helicopter if they attempted rescue.
They had seen a wounded woman in the snow and still obeyed an order that made no tactical sense.
The investigation would later describe that moment as a failure of judgment.
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Evelyn called it what it was.
A choice.
