Chapter 100 Carter
Carter
The ridge was a war zone. Smoke curled through shattered trees, gunfire rolling like thunder, the air thick with blood and iron. My pulse hammered with every squeeze of the trigger, every enemy that dropped in the dirt below.
But they just kept coming.
Redwood’s men swarmed up the slope, relentless, their shouts echoing through the valley. One charged the boulder where Sable was bound—too close, too fast. I swung, fired point-blank. The man crumpled at Sable’s feet, blood soaking into the ground.
Sable’s laugh rasped, dark and low. “You can’t protect her forever, soldier. When they break you, she’s mine.”
The fury that ripped through me was volcanic. I slammed the rifle muzzle under his chin, my voice a deadly whisper. “You’ll never touch her. Never.”
“Carter!” River barked. “Focus!”
I forced myself back to the fight, rage folding into precision. Cyclone’s rifle thundered again, Gideon’s pistol cracked sharp, and River’s bursts cut clean across the left flank. But ammo was burning fast. Too fast.
“Ten minutes!” Gideon shouted, eyes glued to his laptop, comms buzzing. “Bird is inbound!”
Ten minutes. That was the difference between Harper seeing me again—or not.
A grenade sailed overhead, landing just short. The blast rocked the ridge, dirt and stone slamming into my back. My ears rang, but I didn’t falter. I pressed tighter against the rocks, reloaded, and leaned out again.
One target. Two. Three. Each one a vow. Each one a promise.
Because I wasn’t fighting for orders. I wasn’t fighting for a mission.
I was fighting to get back to her.
And if Redwood wanted to stop me, they were going to drown in their own blood trying.