Chapter 30
Jase
Location: Safehouse — Undisclosed
The room is quiet.
Too quiet.
Screens glow in the darkness.
Maps.
Satellite feeds.
Thermal sweeps.
All of it pointing to one thing.
Nothing.
“She’s off-grid,” Ethan says.
Voice tight.
Controlled.
I don’t respond.
Because I already know.
I stand at the center of the room.
Hands braced against the table.
Head down.
Breathing slow.
Measured.
If I lose control now—
We lose her.
And that’s not happening.
“She didn’t just disappear,” Cal says.
“She was taken.”
My jaw tightens.
“I know.”
Ronan leans back in his chair.
Arms crossed.
Watching everything.
Missing nothing.
“They moved fast,” he says.
“Clean extraction. No digital footprint.”
That narrows it down.
“Ford,” I say.
Ethan nods.
“We’re pulling everything we can on him.”
Jonah steps closer to the table.
Points to a map.
“These are known black sites within a two-hour radius,” he says.
“Off-books. No oversight.”
My eyes track each location.
Locking them in.
Lance exhales slowly.
“If it’s him, she’s not in any of those.”
I look up.
“Why?”
“Because Ford doesn’t use predictable,” Lance says.
“He uses leverage.”
That hits.
Because Mila?
She’s leverage.
My hands curl into fists.
“No,” I say.
Low.
Certain.
“She’s not leverage.”
She’s a weapon.
And they have no idea what they’re holding.
Jason steps forward.
“Then what is she?”
I lift my head.
Meet his eyes.
“She’s the one thing they can’t control.”
Silence.
Because they feel it.
They know it.
She’s a fighter.
She’s flown bombers into places a lot of people don’t about.
She’s important.
But she stole something, which has a lot of people scared that it will get out.
Ethan taps the screen again.
Brings up a new set of data.
“We intercepted something,” he says.
“Encrypted channel. Partial trace.”
My focus sharpens instantly.
“Where?”
He zooms in.
Rural.
Isolated.
Buried deep in terrain most people wouldn’t even notice.
“Here,” he says.
Ronan leans forward slightly.
Eyes narrowing.
“That’s not on any map,” he says.
“No,” Ethan replies.
“It wouldn’t be.”
Cal looks at me.
“That’s our best shot.”
Not a question.
A fact.
I stare at the coordinates.
Burn them into my mind.
That’s where she is.
I feel it.
Every instinct I have—
Every part of me that knows her—
That’s where she is.
I straighten slowly.
Pain flares hard. I took some antibiotics that should start working soon.
My body is reminding me I shouldn’t be doing this.
I ignore it.
“We go now,” I say.
Jonah exhales.
“You’re not cleared—”
I look at him.
And that’s all it takes.
He stops.
Because he sees it.
This isn’t optional.
“This isn’t a recovery op,” I continue.
Voice low.
Deadly.
“This is an extraction. If we don’t find her, they will kill her.”
Cal nods once.
Already moving.
“I’ll get the gear.”
Lance grabs weapons.
Checks ammo.
Jason moves to comms.
“Running interference. If anyone comes looking—we were never here.”
Ronan stands.
Slow.
Controlled.
“This won’t be clean,” he says.
I meet his eyes.
“It doesn’t need to be.”
Silence settles over the room.
Because they all understand now.
Rules?
Gone.
Protocol?
Irrelevant.
This is about one thing.
Getting her back.
Alive.
Ethan steps closer.
Low voice.
“If we’re wrong—”
“We’re not,” I cut in.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
Because I know her.
And I know this.
She’s still fighting.
Even now.
Especially now.
I grab my weapon.
Check it once.
Then again.
Because this?
This matters.
More than anything.
I turn toward the door.
The team falling in behind me.
And for a split second—
everything goes quiet.
Because I see her.
Not here.
Not real.
But in my head.
The way she looked when we were running.
The way she thought she was protecting me.
My chest tightens.
Hard.
“She’s not doing this alone,” I say quietly.
Then louder—
“Move.”
The door swings open.
Night waiting on the other side.
And this time—
We’re not chasing.
We’re coming for her.