Chapter 5 Jase
Jase
Location: Concrete Structure — Exit to Ridge
Time: Night
“…don’t,” she whispers.
Yeah.
Too late for that.
I feel it—that shift.
That moment where everything narrows down to one thing.
Her.
The way she’s looking at me.
The way neither of us is moving.
The way moving would be the smart choice—
So of course neither of us does it.
My hand shifts—barely.
Closer.
Her breath catches.
Mine isn’t exactly steady either.
And then—
Gunfire explodes outside.
Reality slams back in.
Hard.
I pull away instantly, grabbing her hand.
“Move.”
No hesitation this time.
We break out of the recessed space just as the door bursts open again—bullets tearing through the interior.
Concrete chips fly.
“Back exit!” Mila snaps.
I don’t question it.
She’s already moving, already scanning, already ahead of me in a way I don’t like admitting.
There—
A narrow break in the wall I missed on entry.
Good catch.
We dive through it just as another round of gunfire shreds the space we were just standing in.
We hit the slope outside running.
Not controlled.
Not careful.
Fast.
They’re done herding.
Now they’re closing.
“Two on the left!” I call.
“I see them!”
She pivots mid-run—fires twice.
Clean.
Efficient.
One drops.
The second ducks—
I take him before he can recover.
We don’t slow down.
Can’t.
The ridge line is ahead—but so are they.
More movement.
More shadows.
“They’re tightening the perimeter,” Mila says, breath even, mind sharp.
“Yeah,” I reply. “Which means we break it.”
“How?”
I glance at her.
Grin.
“We go through them.”
She shakes her head.
“…of course we do…”
But there’s something else there now.
Not doubt.
Not exactly.
Something closer to—
Trust.
That’s new.
We hit the tree line.
Darkness swallows us again.
Better.
But not safe.
Never safe.
A sharp crack cuts through the air—
Too clean.
Too precise.
Sniper.
“Down!” I shout.
We hit the ground hard as a round slams into the tree behind us.
Not warning fire.
Not suppression.
That was meant to kill.
And it almost did.
My body is already over hers before I think about it.
Covering.
Shielding.
Instinct.
Her hands press against my chest.
Not pushing me away.
Holding me there.
“Jase—” she starts.
“Stay down,” I cut in.
Another shot.
Closer.
Too close.
I scan fast.
Angle.
Elevation.
“There,” I mutter. “Ridge, twelve o’clock.”
“I can’t get a clear shot,” she says.
“I can.”
I shift slightly—
Expose just enough—
Wait—
There.
Flash.
I fire.
Once.
Silence.
Then—
Nothing.
No return shot.
Target down.
I roll off her.
And yeah—
That was a mistake.
Because now I’m looking at her again.
And she’s looking at me.
Same as before.
Only worse.
Because now we both know exactly how close that just got.
Not just the sniper.
Us.
“You good?” I ask.
She nods.
Too quick.
“I told you to stay out of this,” she says.
I almost laugh.
“Yeah,” I reply. “You keep saying that.”
Her jaw tightens.
Because we both know—
That ship sailed the second I saw her on that dock.
Mila
This is getting worse.
Not the mission.
Not the danger.
Not even the fact that someone just tried to put a bullet through his head.
No.
This.
Us.
Lord, I am asking for clarity.
Not… this.
I push up onto my elbows as he rolls off me, and for a second—
Just one—
I miss the weight of him.
Absolutely not.
Nope.
We are not doing that.
I sit up fast, putting space between us.
Breathing.
Thinking.
Reset.
Focus.
“They brought a sniper,” I say. “That means they’re done playing.”
“They were done playing the second you let yourself get taken,” he shoots back.
I glare at him.
“I had a plan.”
“You had a death wish.”
“I had control.”
“You had luck.”
Oh.
Oh, he did not.
I step toward him.
“Excuse me?”
He doesn’t move.
Of course he doesn’t.
“You walked straight into a kill zone,” he says. “That’s not control, Mila.”
I laugh once.
Sharp.
“You think I didn’t know that?” I snap. “You think I didn’t calculate every single move before I let them take me?”
“Then explain it,” he fires back. “Because from where I’m standing, you almost got yourself killed.”
“I needed them to come out into the open!”
“And now they have,” he says. “And they’re trying to kill you. So congratulations—that part of your plan worked.”
I stop.
Because—
He’s not wrong.
I hate that.
“…Lord, give me strength…” I mutter.
“What are you not telling me?” he presses.
I look away.
Bad move.
He steps closer.
Worse.
“What are you carrying?” he asks again, quieter this time.
Not demanding.
Not aggressive.
Focused.
That’s the problem with him.
He doesn’t let things go.
I exhale slowly.
Because this is the part where everything changes.
“This isn’t about me,” I say finally.
“It is when people are shooting at you,” he replies.
“It’s not just me,” I correct. “It’s what I have.”
His eyes sharpen.
There it is.
“That convoy wasn’t protection,” I continue. “It was bait.”
“I figured.”
“They wanted whoever’s hunting me to show themselves,” I say. “And they did.”
“Who are they?” he asks.
I meet his gaze.
And this time—
I don’t look away.
“They’re not just a network,” I say quietly. “They’re a system. Embedded. Funded. Protected.”
His expression goes still.
Understanding.
Danger.
Recognition.
“They don’t want me,” I add.
“They want what I took from them.”
A beat.
Then—
“What did you take?” he asks.
I hesitate.
Because saying it out loud makes it real.
Makes it worse.
“A list,” I say.
His jaw tightens.
“What kind of list?”
I hold his gaze.
“The kind people kill for.”
Silence stretches between us.
Heavy.
Loaded.
And now—
He’s in it.
Fully.
No way out.
I warned him.
I really did.
“You still think you should’ve stayed out of this?” I ask quietly.
He looks at me.
Steady.
Certain.
Not even a flicker of doubt.
“No,” he says.
And that—
That might be the most dangerous thing of all.