14. Sienna
Sienna
“ N o—NO!”
I twist hard against Ronan’s grip, boots sliding across loose rock as another explosion tears through the ravine behind us.
Smoke rolls through the trees.
Gunfire echoes off the canyon walls.
And somewhere inside all of it—
Jonah.
“He’s going to die!”
Ronan drags me forward before I can break free. “He’s buying you time. Don’t waste it.”
“I’m not leaving him!”
“You already did.”
The words hit like a physical blow.
Because they’re true.
My breath catches painfully as I look back over my shoulder.
Just once.
Through smoke and drifting debris, I see him.
Running straight into gunfire.
Not retreating.
Not surviving.
Fighting.
Every drone above the ravine tracks his movement now. Every rifle barrel shifts toward him instead of us.
He did it.
He broke the pattern.
My stomach twists violently.
“He changed the algorithm,” I whisper.
Ronan glances toward me sharply. “What?”
“They can’t predict him anymore.”
Because Jonah stopped acting tactically.
Stopped acting logically.
He chose me over the mission.
And ORACLE never accounted for that.
Ronan doesn’t answer.
He doesn’t need to.
We both understand what that means.
It makes Jonah harder to track.
Harder to control.
Harder to kill.
But not impossible.
“We need to move.”
“I know.”
But my body won’t follow.
For one impossible second, all I want to do is run back toward him.
Toward the gunfire.
Toward the man who looked me in the eye and decided I mattered more than the system.
My chest tightens so hard it hurts.
Because that’s the exact thing I spent years running from.
Attachment.
Need.
Love.
The kind of feeling that gets people killed.
My eyes squeeze shut briefly while another explosion shakes the ravine behind us.
Jonah.
The way he said trust me.
The way he looked at me like I wasn’t broken beyond repair.
Like I was still human.
Something inside me fractures quietly.
Clean.
Sharp.
Permanent.
Decision settles in right after.
Cold.
Final.
I open my eyes.
“I need a system.”
Ronan stops moving immediately.
“No.”
“It’s the only way.”
“No,” he snaps harder this time. “Jonah made it real damn clear he doesn’t want you inside ORACLE.”
I turn toward him fully.
“Jonah isn’t here.”
Silence crashes between us.
Heavy enough to choke on.
Gunfire still echoes somewhere behind us, but it feels farther away now.
Too far.
Because Jonah’s pulling them deeper into the mountains alone.
“And if we don’t stop HELIOS,” I say quietly, “he dies anyway.”
Ronan’s jaw tightens instantly.
Because he knows I’m right.
I hate that I’m right.
The wind shifts through the ravine, carrying the distant crack of rifle fire.
My stomach twists again.
Still fighting.
Still alive.
For now.
“What do you need?” Ronan finally asks.
I swallow hard once before forcing myself fully back into focus.
Back into the thing I built to survive.
“Everything.”
I shove my hair back with shaking fingers and force my breathing steady.
“Power source. Signal access. A hardline if you can find one.”
Ronan stares at me for a long second.
Like he’s trying to decide whether helping me is saving Jonah…
Or losing me.
“You go under,” he says quietly, “and I don’t know if he gets you back.”
Neither do I.
That truth sits cold and heavy in my chest.
But Jonah’s out there bleeding time for me right now.
Running straight into death because he believed I was worth saving.
I can’t let that end with him dying alone in those mountains.
My voice lowers when I answer.
“Then make sure he does.”
Ronan exhales slowly, tension cutting hard across his face before he finally nods once.
“Come on,” he mutters. “I know a place.”
Another explosion echoes through the ridge behind us.
I flinch instinctively toward the sound before I can stop myself.
Jonah.
Please still be breathing.
Then I force my feet to move.
One step.
Then another.
Deeper into the mountains.
Toward ORACLE.
Toward the thing I swore I’d never become again.
Because Jonah’s out there changing the future for me.
Now it’s my turn to do the same for him.