9:14 p.m.

City outskirts.

Lights—

thin.

Places like this—

don’t belong to ordinary people.

But tonight—

they belong to us.

SID Mobile Command.

One point.

Alone.

Surrounded by nothing.

“Deliberate void,” said Kim Min Jung.

“They don’t want to be seen.”

“And they don’t mind being found,” said Yim Bing.

“Confirm target.”

Tan Chih Lin:

“KARAM forward base.”

Not temporary.

A nest.

“Heat signatures?”

“Masked.”

“Numbers?”

“At least thirty.”

“Weapons?”

“Heavy.”

“Then we clear it.”

9:27 p.m.

Perimeter.

Silent.

Too silent.

Yim Bing—

in position.

“Two outside.”

“Clearing.”

Two seconds.

“Clear.”

“Move.”

Lee Wai Hing leads.

Not fastest.

Safest.

“Stop.”

Tripwire.

He disarms.

“Clear.”

9:33 p.m.

Entry.

Dark.

We go in.

Colder inside.

Drone online.

“Multi-level structure.”

“Core below.”

“Mark paths.”

“Movement east side.”

“Clear.”

Descending.

Slow.

Controlled.

Then—

gunfire.

“Contact!”

I move.

Return fire.

“Left side!”

Yim Bing—

already firing.

Enemy drops.

“Push!”

Close combat.

Fast.

No distance.

Only kill zones.

“Core detected.”

Two targets.

Abu Bakr Mughniyah

‘Imad al-Laqis’

They appear.

Blocking.

“You’re fast,” Abu Bakr says.

“You’re slower,” Lee Wai Hing replies.

Gunfire erupts.

Yim Bing suppresses.

We close.

Abu Bakr engages.

Heavy.

I counter.

Exploit gap.

Strike.

End.

He drops.

‘Imad’ retreats.

Controlled.

Still commanding.

“Stop him!”

Shot fired.

Hit.

He disappears.

“Lower level,” Kim says.

But structure—

breaks.

Command—

fractures.

System—

collapses.

9:58 p.m.

Clear.

KARAM forces—

scattered.

Some dead.

Some fleeing.

Some surrender.

Irrelevant.

The nest—

is ours.

SID Operations Room.

Data floods in.

Network.

Paths.

Nodes.

Clearer.

“They’re breaking,” said Tan Chih Lin.

“Not all,” said Chang Hsin-Yan.

“Outer layer,” I said.

I look at the map.

More nodes.

“Core remains.”

Silence.

“Tonight we broke a nest.”

Pause.

“Next—”

“We break them all.”

No one spoke.

This wasn’t an operation.

This was—

eradication.