Chapter 17 Ava
Ava
Ifind it faster than I want to.
My fingers press along Petrov’s wrist, feeling beneath the skin—searching for something that shouldn’t be there.
A slight ridge.
Too smooth.
Too deliberate.
“There,” I murmur.
Ethan’s already beside me.
Of course he is.
“Hold him.”
He shifts without hesitation, bracing Petrov’s shoulders, keeping him steady as I reach for the blade.
No questions.
Never questions.
I make the incision clean.
Precise.
Petrov groans low in his throat, body tightening under Ethan’s grip—
—but he doesn’t fight.
Good.
I work quickly, easing through tissue, following the line I felt.
Then—
I see it.
Small.
Too small.
“That’s it?” Ethan mutters.
Something twists in my gut.
“No.”
I slide it free carefully, lifting it out into my palm.
It barely weighs anything.
Smooth.
Dark.
Silent.
It looks harmless.
Like it shouldn’t matter.
But it does.
I feel it.
Jonah steps in beside me, scanner already raised.
He doesn’t speak at first.
Just watches the readings.
Then his posture changes.
Subtle.
But sharp.
“That’s not just a tracker.”
I glance at him. “What is it?”
His jaw tightens.
“It’s transmitting.”
“Yeah,” I say. “We know—”
“No.”
That one word cuts through everything.
His eyes lift to mine.
“It’s sending data.”
A cold pulse hits my chest.
“What kind of data?”
He hesitates—just long enough to matter.
“Vitals,” he says. “Movement.”
The scanner beeps softly in his hand.
Then—
“Proximity.”
My grip tightens around the implant.
“And?”
Jonah exhales slowly.
“Voice patterns.”
Silence slams into the room.
I feel it before I think it.
Every word.
Every plan.
Every conversation—
They heard it.
I look at Ethan.
He’s already there.
Already connecting it.
“They weren’t just tracking him,” he says quietly.
“They were listening.”
My stomach drops.
Aaron lets out a low breath behind us.
“Well,” he mutters, “that’s a problem.”
Ronan steps forward, voice cutting clean through the tension.
Cold.
Controlled.
“Then we change the game.”
I look up at him.
“How?”
His gaze locks onto mine.
Sharp.
Decisive.
“We stop reacting.”
A beat.
Then—
“We make them come to us.”
The words settle deep.
Heavy.
Final.
And just like that—
everything shifts.
Because this isn’t a rescue anymore.
This isn’t even damage control.
This is war.
And for the first time—
we’re not behind.