Chapter 96 Carter
Carter
By the time we reached the ridge, every muscle in my body burned. The forest opened up to jagged rock and a sweep of sky, the valley sprawled below like a trap waiting to be sprung.
River set Sable down hard against a boulder, his zip ties cutting deeper into raw skin. The bastard hissed in pain but still smirked like he’d already won. I didn’t bother hiding my disgust.
Gideon collapsed onto his pack, flipping his laptop open, the glow of the screen painting his face. “Signal’s weak. I’ll need a few minutes to piggyback off a secure channel.”
“Minutes we don’t have,” Cyclone muttered, sweeping the treeline with his scope. “They’ll be tracking us. Might already be circling.”
I stayed standing, rifle up, scanning the shadows.
My body screamed for rest, but my mind wouldn’t let me stop.
Not until I knew she was safe. Harper’s face haunted me with every breath—her whispered always, the brush of her hand against mine before I left.
That was the fuel keeping me sharp, keeping me lethal.
Sable tilted his head, voice smooth despite the blood drying on his suit. “You can run up every hill in this country, soldier. Redwood will still find you. And when they do, you’ll wish you’d killed me.”
I turned on him, pressing the rifle muzzle into his chest, close enough he felt the heat of my breath.
“When they come, you’ll be the first one I throw in the line of fire.
Redwood wants you? They’ll have to kill you to get to me.
And if they kill me—” my voice dropped to a growl—“they’ll never get to her. ”
For the first time, his smirk flickered.
“Signal’s up!” Gideon snapped. His fingers flew, eyes narrowing as the channel locked. “Sending coordinates now. Extraction window in forty-five minutes.”
Too long. Forty-five minutes was a lifetime in Redwood’s world.
I crouched low, checking my ammo, my eyes never leaving the dark edge of trees below. “Then we hold the ridge. No one gets through.”
River’s voice was steady, resolute. “We make our stand here.”
And as I chambered the next round, the vow carved deeper into my chest:
I was getting back to Harper. No matter how many bodies I had to drop to make it happen.