29. Jonah
Jonah
T hey timed it perfectly.
Hit Sienna with Elizabeth’s voice right as the perimeter collapsed.
Distraction.
Emotional destabilization.
Classic pressure-point strategy.
Except this isn’t strategy to Sienna.
It’s torture.
“Contact left!” Ronan shouts from the corridor.
I pivot instantly and fire twice toward movement outside the bunker entrance.
One hostile drops.
Another ducks behind cover and changes angle immediately.
Adaptive movement again.
ORACLE’s still feeding them live response modeling.
Great.
Beside me, Sienna’s shaking hard enough I can feel it every time our shoulders brush.
The comm crackles again.
“Please…”
Elizabeth’s voice breaks softly through the static.
“I don’t want to die here.”
Sienna’s knees nearly buckle beneath her.
I catch her instantly before she hits the concrete.
One arm braces around her waist while I drag us both behind partial cover as rounds slam into the bunker wall.
“You do not get to fall apart right now.”
The words leave me low and hard beside her ear.
Focused.
Certain.
Her breathing fractures sharply.
“I can’t—”
She grips my shirt tightly.
“What if that’s really her?”
“It’s not.”
Pain flashes across her face immediately.
“How do you know?”
Another burst of gunfire tears through the corridor.
Ronan fires back fast and controlled.
“Because if HELIOS had her physically,” I snap, “they wouldn’t ask for your attention.”
That gets through.
I see the exact second logic cuts through the panic.
“They’d use her,” I continue. “Quietly. Efficiently. Without warning us first.”
Sienna’s breathing stutters hard.
Focus starts clawing its way back into her eyes.
Good.
That’s what I need.
That’s what she needs.
Another round punches through the bunker wall inches above us.
Concrete sprays across my shoulder.
Too close.
Way too close.
I rise partially from cover and fire toward movement at the entrance again.
One operative drops.
Another advances immediately behind him.
“They’re pushing center!” Ronan shouts.
“I see it.”
I move toward the corridor entrance fast—
And something slams violently into my side.
For one disorienting second, I don’t even understand what happened.
Just impact.
Brutal force.
Like getting hit by a truck moving full speed.
The sound comes after.
A sharp crack echoing through the bunker.
Then heat explodes through my ribs.
I stagger hard into the wall.
“Sienna!” I say.
Her name, coming from me, sounds distorted and distant.
Wrong somehow.
I glance down automatically.
Blood pours dark and fast between my fingers where my hand instinctively clamped against my side.
A lot of blood.
Well.
That’s unfortunate.
“Well…”
I suck in a rough breath through clenched teeth.
“That’s not ideal.”
Pain crashes through me hard enough my knees threaten to fold instantly.
Not now.
Not here.
I force my legs to lock.
Force myself upright.
Across the bunker, Sienna’s face has gone completely white.
Fear flashes across it so openly it nearly hurts worse than the bullet.
“Jonah—”
“I’m fine.”
Lie.
Bad one.
The room tilts slightly around the edges while I shove myself back toward cover before another round tears through the entrance.
Still breathing.
Still standing.
That’s enough for now.
Has to be.