The atmosphere in the room was suffocatingly dark, thick with stale smoke, exhaustion, and the kind of silence that made every second feel heavier than the last. Nobody knew how much time had passed anymore. Hours, maybe longer. Rain hit the windows outside in an uneven rhythm while the dim lights above flickered softly against the concrete walls of the briefing room. Then the door slammed open.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the silence as Soap stormed inside, breathing hard, panic and anger already written all over his face. His eyes searched the room frantically before locking onto Laswell.

“Where is she?!” he barked, his voice rough enough to shake the room itself. “Laswell— where the hell is she?!” Price entered right behind him, slower, but somehow far more terrifying. He didn’t yell. Didn’t need to. The look on his face alone was enough to make the air feel razor sharp. “Kate” he said quietly, his voice low and dangerously controlled. “Tell us where she is.”

Laswell slowly lifted her gaze from the files spread across the table. For once, she didn’t look composed. She looked exhausted. Uneasy “I don’t know, John.” The silence afterward was deafening. Soap stared at her as if his brain refused to process the words. “What?” “I lost contact with her two days ago” Laswell admitted. “No check-ins. No signal. Nothing.” Soap let out a dry, disbelieving laugh and took a step back. “No signal?”

His voice cracked under the weight of panic. “What the fuck do you mean no signal?” Laswell hesitated. And that hesitation changed everything. Price’s eyes locked onto her immediately, cold enough to cut straight through bone. “When” he asked slowly “were you planning on telling us that?”

“We believed her cover may have been compromised” Laswell answered carefully. “We were trying to locate—”

“Trying?” Soap snapped violently. “You LOST her!” Nobody corrected him.