Carlino’s POV
Blind.
That was the word that stayed in my head as the screens went dark. Not attacked. Not threatened. Blind.
The operations room had a handful of people, but the silence made it feel empty. Phones had no signal. Feeds were gone. Every system we trusted had vanished in under thirty seconds.
Someone in the back cursed under their breath.
“Switch to analog,” I said. My voice sounded calm, which helped. “Runners, radios, physical confirmation. Now.”
Chairs scraped. Orders flew. People moved fast because standing still meant thinking, and thinking meant realizing how exposed we were.
Lina stood near the end of the table, arms crossed, watching me instead of the chaos.
“You always look this relaxed during disasters?” she asked.
“Only when it’s planned,” I replied.
Her b
