Chapter Eleven
Eli watched the screen as Oren squared off against two figures near the northeast perimeter.
The overhead drone feed zoomed in, showing the fight playing out in stark infrared.
Even in grainy heat signatures, Oren moved with precision—grappling, twisting, and taking one down with a brutal throw that left the attacker motionless.
“Damn,” Ty muttered beside him, eyes narrowed. “He’s still got it.”
Then it happened fast.
A second attacker emerged from the trees, lunging low. Oren pivoted to meet him—but not fast enough. The blade sank into his shoulder, and Oren staggered. Ty bolted upright.
“Oren!” Ty called out.
Pfft.
The harsh hiss of compressed air barely registered before Blake crumpled against the wall beside the monitors. Eli turned in time to see him slide, unconscious, a dart protruding from his neck.
“What the—?” Eli started, but Ty was already turning, too, reaching for his sidearm.
Another hiss. Pfft.
Ty grunted, stumbling as a dart slammed into his shoulder. He kept moving, powered by sheer force of will, until a second dart struck him in the neck.
“Big bastard,” the man said with a sigh, covered from head to toe in black tactical gear. “Always gotta shoot the tank twice.”
Ty dropped to his knees then keeled over.
“Marsh?” Eli said as he backed toward the center console. His comms that had been humming with activity was now oddly silent. Something was jamming them.
The man turned to him. “It’s your turn, Eli. We have to go.”
Eli’s blood went cold.
The man removed his mask. Never a good sign for the one being taken if Hollywood was anything to go by.
“Who are you?” Eli whispered, dread beginning to settle within him even more. “What the hell do you want with me!”
The man winced. “Look, Eli—please, just let me explain. My name is Kai and I—”
“Explain? You drugged them! You’re working for him! The Colonel! You’re—God, you disgust me!”
Kai’s voice was raw. “The Colonel has my sister. He’s going to kill her if I don’t bring you to him.”
Eli’s mouth opened, but no words came. The man really was explaining why he was working with that psychopath.
“I used what I knew about the Ridge and the team. I helped the rest of those mercenary bastards get into the Ridge.” Kai’s voice was low, and there was no missing the self-loathing tone in it.
Before he knew it, Eli stepped forward and punched the other man in the face. “You know them? The Pathfinders? You know who they are and what they do, and you fucking betrayed them!”
Kai stepped back. “I know I did! And it is fucking killing me, but I had no choice, Eli. I know what this is going to do to the team, to H— well, to everyone. I know, and you cannot hate me more than I hate myself, but I will stop at nothing to get my sister out of this mess and home with her family. Now, you have to come with me, I’m leaving the mercs for the Pathfinders—they can handle it.
I also broke into Marsh’s network, pulled your plans.
I knew that man couldn’t resist pulling the plan together so he could run scenarios on his laptop.
I didn’t give that information to the mercs, only I knew what you were up to.
But, Eli, I need to walk you out through the construction site.
Get to the Colonel. Then once my sister is safe, I’ll get you out. I swear.”
“And if I refuse?” Eli asked, wanting to know how far Kai would go.
Kai’s expression turned bleak. “Then I will walk out of this lab and try to find her on my own. I would never take you by force, Eli. I’m an asshole, I know that, but I’m not a complete fucking asshole. Besides, he’d never forgive me.”
Eli frowned. “Marsh?”
Kai jolted then turned his gaze away from Eli. “Yeah, sure.”
Eli’s chest heaved. He stared at the man who was connected to the Pathfinders somehow, and now stood here as their betrayer, begging Eli to help him save his sister. But there was no deceit in his eyes. Only fear ... and hope.
Eli swallowed hard. “Okay.”
Kai blinked. “Okay? Really?”
Eli looked him dead in the eyes. “I can’t let someone else fall into his hands. If you are here for that man, then you know him and know how he likes to hurt people. I can’t stand by and let that happen—not when I can stop it.”
Kai flinched, guilt washing over his features. “I’m sorry. I fucking hate that I am asking you to put yourself back in that bastard’s hands. I learned a little of what he put you through but I’m so scared for her. I didn’t know what else to—”
“Stop,” Eli cut him off sharply. “Don’t do that. Don’t make me feel for you right now or I won’t be able to do what you need me to do.” He took a breath and added, bitter and resolute, “So, go ahead. Lead your sacrificial lamb to slaughter.”
Kai’s jaw tightened, voice low and sincere. “I’ll get you out. I swear to you, Eli—I will get you back to Marsh. And as a thank you, I will send Colonel Adrian White to hell.”
They crept to the exit, hiding in the shadows.
Eli heard Marsh, Dale, and Bateman charging through the Ridge.
Marsh’s voice rang out among them, commanding, urgent—and terrified.
Eli caught a glimpse through the shadows, and it nearly undid him.
Marsh was moving fast, scanning every angle, eyes wild with fear, like a man hunting for the piece of his soul that had just been torn away.
Eli’s breath hitched. His heart clenched. Seeing Marsh like that—so desperate, so raw—shattered something in him. He wanted to run to him, to scream and stop this madness, to tell him it wasn’t goodbye. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
They waited until the moment passed—then moved out, walking casually through the east path.
They crossed the open dirt of the construction zone. Ahead, Hogan appeared, gun raised.
“Let him go! If you don’t then I will end you!” Hogan shouted.
Eli raised his hands. “Hogan, don’t. It’s okay.”
“Not a chance,” Hogan said. “You don’t get to be the one bleeding for us again.”
Marsh appeared beside them. “You hear me, Eli. You stay with me. You do everything you can, anything it takes. Because I’m not fucking letting you go.”
Eli’s voice cracked. “Kaore nga mea katoa e rite ana ki te ahua. Kei te haere au, ehara mō taku anake, engari mō tētahi atu e tika ana kia ora. Not everything is as it seems. I love you. I’ll be waiting for you to come get me.”
Two figures moved in the shadows behind Hogan. Mercenaries, guns raised.
“Hogan—duck!” Kai barked.
Hogan did. Kai shot both mercs, clean headshots. Then, returned his pistol to Eli’s temple.
A black SUV pulled to a stop just at the entrance to the building site. Eli’s stomach churned at the sight.
Hogan slowly rose. “You son of a bitch,” he said, voice tight. “We trusted you.”
Marsh took a step closer, frowning. “Who is it?”
Eli saw pure rage, and what looked like pain, radiate from Hogan’s face. “We fucking trusted you. You were supposed to have our backs. You said you understood what we were building here. You said you stood with us.” His voice cracked. “And this is what you do?”
“Who the hell is it, Hogan!” Marsh yelled, moving toward them and Eli’s heart broke at the desperation he heard in his voice.
Hogan took a step forward, his whole body trembling with barely contained fury. He yanked his gun higher, jaw tight, emotion flaring in his eyes. “Answer him. Don’t be a fucking coward, Kai.”
Kai hesitated, Eli could feel how tense his body was, breath stuttering like he’d taken a punch to the chest. Kai pulled the mask from his face, leaving it to fall at their feet like the last shred of whatever trust they’d had in him.
Eli could practically feel the weight of that moment anchoring them all. Hogan’s expression cracked with rage and something deeper—something like grief.
“And after everything you’ve done to help us, you pull this shit?” Hogan continued. “We trusted you. Hell, I trusted you.”
Kai’s voice was low. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“The hell you didn’t!” Hogan snapped. “You had every choice. And you made this one.”
Eli could feel the tension radiating from Kai, his shoulders tight, jaw clenched.
But he didn’t look away. Didn’t try to defend himself further.
Whatever weight he carried—it was crushing him, too.
He simply moved them, gun still pressed to Eli’s temple, and it should have scared him, and it did a little, but staring into Marsh’s wild eyes, keeping them both grounded helped.
As they reached the SUV, Dev’s voice crackled through comms. “Glenn has eyes. You want him to take the shot on the Colonel?”
Eli spoke softly in Māori. “Kāore. Me mawehe ia i konei me ahau.” No. He has to leave here with me.
Marsh spoke so quietly, that Eli couldn’t hear him in the real world, but heard him clearly in the comms piece as he translated what Eli had said.
The Colonel opened the SUV door. “If you don’t want this man shot before you, drop your weapons.” Eli watched as, with varying looks of blood lust and disgust, the Pathfinders all dropped their weapons to the ground.
“Now, you men,” the Colonel barked to his remaining men—eight total. “Keep your weapons locked on these assholes until we have left.”
They nodded, gazes locked on the Pathfinders, fingers on their triggers as they waited.
Hogan locked eyes with Kai. Fury still burning.
The Colonel pulled Eli close, gun tight under his jaw. As they disappeared into the SUV, Eli offered one last silent prayer:
Let me see the Ridge again. Let me come back to Marsh.
****
Marsh watched, breath caught in his throat, as the black SUV pulled away from the construction site. The Colonel’s hand lashed out inside the vehicle, cracking across Eli’s cheek with brutal force. Marsh swore violently, the sound ripping from his chest like a thunderclap.
One of the mercenaries still on-site turned, smirking. “Pathfinders ain’t shit. We just beat your best.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Hogan growled, stepping forward.
The merc tilted his head mockingly. “You talk big for a guy without a weapon.”
“Who said I don’t have a weapon, asshole?” Hogan asked calmly, raising two fingers like a mock pistol and pointing it at the man. “Glenn?”
“Go for it,” Glenn replied through comms.
“Pew,” Hogan whispered.
The merc dropped like a marionette with its strings cut—a single, clean shot between the eyes, the sound of the suppressed rifle echoing a beat after the body hit the dirt.
Chaos erupted.
Ricky, Sam, Dev, Ezra, Maddox, and Bateman fired simultaneously. The rest of the mercs barely had time to flinch before their bodies crumpled one by one.
Dale stepped out of the shadows behind, casually brushing his knuckles. “Damn, guys, you left none for me.”
“Try being faster,” Glenn replied.
“We’re gonna need wheels,” Bateman snapped. “Now.”
They sprinted toward the nearest vehicles.
“Where the hell are they headed?” Ricky yelled.
Hogan’s phone pinged. He skidded to a stop, yanking it from his pocket. “Shit. It’s from Kai. A file. GPS location ... extraction site. Bastard had it planned.”
Marsh slammed into the driver’s seat. “Anything else?”
Hogan climbed in beside him, swiping through the message. “Yeah. One line. Says he’ll explain when he sees me. Might be a while.”
Engines roared to life.
They drove like hell, taking back roads, staying off the main perimeter to avoid tipping their hand. Glenn called in from overwatch, tracking the SUV’s path and the chopper inbound.
When they reached the extraction zone, they parked out of sight and moved on foot. Marsh led the charge, cutting through trees and scrub like a man possessed.
They found the clearing.
The helicopter was a speck in the distance, growing larger, louder. Below it, near the transport crates, the Colonel stood flanked by his driver and final guard. And in his arms—unmoving, bloody, beaten to unconsciousness—was Eli.
Marsh’s vision narrowed to red.
“He’s hurt bad,” Ricky whispered behind him.
Bateman touched Marsh’s shoulder. “Hold. Let Glenn set the shot.”
“Just get that bird out of the air,” Marsh growled.
“On it,” Glenn said. “Thirty seconds. Distract them.”
Marsh stepped out just enough for the Colonel to see him. “You have something that belongs to me.”
The Colonel sneered, tightening his grip on Eli. “This little rabbit? He was always mine.”
Marsh’s voice was cold steel. “He was never yours. He was waiting for me. He was always meant to be mine.”
The Colonel’s face twisted into fury, the tirade spilling from his mouth. “You think love can fix what he is? What I made him? You think your soft little touches and whispered promises can erase what I did to him? He was forged in fire, my fire—”
“God, does this guy ever shut up?” Glenn’s voice crackled over comms. “I’m in position. Got eyes on the chopper. Ready on your go.”
“Go,” Bateman ordered.
Boom!
The chopper exploded mid-air in a storm of flame and debris, diverted just enough to draw eyes and fire away from the SUV.
Marsh was already sprinting. Straight for Eli. Straight for the monster who dared to put hands on the man he loved.
The Colonel snarled, dragging Eli backward.
“Let. Him. Go!” Marsh roared, voice like rolling thunder.
Shots rang out behind him—Pathfinders handling the last of the resistance.
Marsh didn’t care.
He only had eyes for Eli.
He tackled the Colonel, separating him from Eli with a bone-jarring thud. The man rolled, dazed, and Marsh turned immediately, scooping Eli up, cradling him close.
“You’re okay. I’ve got you,” he whispered, even as his hands trembled.
Eli didn’t respond.
Marsh could feel blood. Could feel heat.
Could feel his heart breaking.
He watched as the Colonel staggered to his feet, gun raised, face twisted with rage. “If I can’t have him, then by God, neither can—”
His words cut off in a sickening choke as an arrow punched clean through his throat. The shaft pierced from front to back, a brutal, efficient kill. A wet, grotesque gurgle escaped him, blood pouring down his chest as he collapsed, lifeless, to the ground.
The light in his eyes flickered before his knees even hit the dirt.
“Fuck you, Colonel. Go to hell,” Marsh rose, Eli in his arms, and walked away from the burning chopper, the bodies, the battlefield.
Because nothing else mattered.
Just him.
Just Eli.