10. Jonah
Jonah
T he quiet doesn’t last.
It never does.
I’m in the kitchen running a quick check on comms when I catch it first—a flicker across the monitor.
Small.
Subtle.
A hesitation in the signal that shouldn’t be there.
Then it stabilizes.
Too fast.
Too clean.
My jaw tightens instantly.
“Ronan.”
Footsteps sound behind me a second later. Ronan steps into the kitchen already reading my expression.
“What is it?”
“We’ve got eyes.”
He moves to the window without another word, scanning the perimeter through the trees. “I don’t see—”
“They’re not outside yet,” I cut in. “They’re probing the network.”
A beat.
Then his head turns sharply.
“HELIOS.”
“Yeah.”
I don’t wait.
I yank the power cord free and kill the system hard before they can piggyback anything useful.
Too late for zero trace.
But not too late to slow them down.
“Time?” Ronan asks.
“Minutes.”
“Love that for us.”
I turn—
And Sienna’s already standing in the doorway.
Awake.
Dressed.
Focused.
Like the last few hours never happened.
Except they did.
I can still see it in her eyes.
The exhaustion.
The fear she keeps shoving behind control.
“You felt it,” she says.
“Yeah.”
“How close?”
“Close enough.”
Her jaw tightens immediately.
“I shouldn’t have stayed here.”
“No,” I say, grabbing my gear off the counter. “You should’ve.”
Her gaze snaps to mine.
“You don’t understand—”
“I understand we’re moving.”
I cross the room and stop directly in front of her.
“Now.”
She hesitates.
Not long.
But long enough to matter.
“Give me thirty seconds,” she says.
“For what?”
“To make sure they can’t track us from here.”
Ronan snorts behind me. “Pretty sure that ship sailed.”
She doesn’t look at him.
Just me.
“Thirty seconds,” she repeats.
I hold her gaze.
Measure.
Weigh.
Then finally—
“You’ve got twenty.”
That almost earns me a look.
Almost.
She slips past me into the main room, already pulling the laptop from her case while her fingers move across the keyboard fast enough to blur.
I watch her.
Not the screen.
Her.
The way everything around her disappears when she locks in.
This is where she’s strongest.
Most dangerous.
Most herself.
“Ten seconds,” I warn.
“I heard you.”
“Five.”
“Jonah—”
“Now.”
She kills the system instantly, yanking the drive free and shoving it into her jacket before turning back toward me.
“Done.”
“Good.”
We move.
Fast.
Ronan’s already at the door, rifle up as he scans the perimeter.
“Two vehicles this time?” he asks.
“Split up and we die,” I say. “We stay together.”
Sienna falls into step behind me.
Closer than before.
Not crowding.
But not keeping distance either.
That’s new.
The second we step outside, the air feels wrong.
Charged.
Heavy.
Like the mountain already knows something’s coming.
“South route’s exposed,” Ronan mutters after checking the ridge line. “We take higher ground.”
“Agreed.”
We move uphill immediately, boots sliding through wet dirt and loose rock while the forest closes around us.
No gunfire yet.
That’s worse.
“They’re herding us,” Sienna says quietly beside me.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
I glance back toward her.
She’s keeping pace.
Barely.
But she isn’t falling behind this time.
“They’re not reacting,” she continues. “They’re positioning.”
“Then we move faster.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“It does today.”
Frustration flashes across her face.
“You can’t just outrun something like this.”
“No,” I say, catching her arm lightly when loose gravel shifts beneath her boot. “But we can outthink it.”
Her eyes flash.
“And you think that’s you?”
“No.” I steady her until she finds her footing again. “I think it’s you.”
That stops her cold for half a second.
Long enough to throw off her rhythm.
“Then listen to me,” she says.
“I am.”
“No, you’re reacting.”
“Because reacting keeps you alive.”
“And thinking keeps us from getting trapped.”
Silence stretches tight between us as we keep moving uphill.
Then Ronan throws up a fist.
We stop instantly.
Every sense sharpens.
Listening.
Nothing.
Then—
A low mechanical hum cuts through the trees overhead.
Drone.
I look up just as the black silhouette sweeps across the cloud cover above us.
Controlled.
Scanning.
Tracking.
“There it is,” Ronan mutters. “They brought toys.”
Sienna’s breathing tightens slightly beside me.
“They’re not guessing anymore.”
“Good.”
Both of them look at me.
Ronan frowns. “Why exactly is that good?”
“Because now we know where they are.”
I pull Sienna behind a rock outcropping as the drone circles overhead again.
She stumbles against me slightly, shoulder pressing hard into mine while we crouch beneath cover.
Neither of us moves away.
“They’re locking onto your signal,” I say quietly.
“I masked it.”
“Not enough.”
Her jaw tightens instantly.
“I need a minute.”
“You’ve got seconds.”
She closes her eyes briefly.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Then she looks back at me.
“There’s a relay point half a mile east. If I can access it, I can reroute the signal and make them think we’re moving the opposite direction.”
Ronan glances toward me immediately. “That sounds exactly like a trap.”
“It does,” I admit.
Sienna glares at both of us.
“It’s not a trap. It’s math.”
“Math gets people killed all the time,” Ronan mutters.
“I don’t think we should trust this,” he adds.
I look at Sienna then.
Really look.
She isn’t guessing.
Isn’t hoping.
She knows.
“You’re sure?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Jonah,” Ronan growls.
“I trust her.”
No hesitation.
No doubt.
That alone surprises all three of us.
Sienna goes very still beside me.
Ronan exhales sharply. “Of course you do.”
I ignore him.
“Then we go east.”
We move again immediately.
Faster now.
More exposed.
More dangerous.
But it’s the only play we’ve got.
“You trust me,” Sienna says quietly beside me.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I don’t slow.
Don’t hesitate.
“Because you haven’t been wrong yet.”
A beat passes.
Then—
“That’s not a good enough reason.”
“It is when the alternative is dying.”
That almost pulls a smile from her.
Almost.
We crest the ridge twenty minutes later.
The relay point comes into view through the trees.
Small.
Unprotected.
Too easy.
Ronan mutters, “I really hate this.”
“Yeah,” I say quietly. “Me too.”
I glance toward Sienna.
“This gets you what you need?”
“Yes.”
“Then we make it fast.”
We move in tight formation, weapons up while we clear angles and sweep the perimeter.
Nothing.
Still nothing.
That’s the problem.
Sienna drops beside the console immediately, fingers flying across the controls.
“Thirty seconds,” she says.
“You’ve got twenty.”
She almost snaps back—
But doesn’t.
Because now she knows I mean it.
Above us, the drone circles again.
Lower this time.
Closer.
“They’re locking again,” Ronan says.
“Ten seconds,” Sienna calls.
I move directly in front of her without thinking.
Blocking.
Covering.
Not optional.
Not negotiable.
“Five.”
The drone hum sharpens overhead.
“Three—”
“Done!”
Sienna rips the connection free and jumps to her feet.
“Go!”
We don’t hesitate.
We run hard back toward the tree line—
And the first explosion detonates behind us.
The relay point erupts into flames.
Fire tears through the structure while debris rains across the ridge.
I yank Sienna against me instantly, shielding her body as the shockwave slams through us.
Her hand grabs onto my jacket hard.
Instinct.
Trust.
Something more.
“Did it work?” I ask.
She looks up at me.
Breathless.
Alive.
“Yes.”
I nod once.
“Good.”
Then I take her hand.
Not her wrist.
Not control.
Choice.
“Stay with me,” I say.
And this time—
She does.