4. Jonah
Jonah
G unfire shatters the night.
Not wild.
Not panicked.
Controlled bursts cut through the trees with terrifying precision, chewing into the side of the abandoned structure as I shove Sienna behind the remains of a crumbling concrete wall.
“Left side!” Ronan barks.
I already see them.
Dark movement between the trees.
Disciplined positioning.
Three shooters minimum.
Maybe more.
HELIOS didn’t send amateurs.
I lean out just enough to fire.
Two sharp shots crack through the rain.
One silhouette drops instantly behind the brush.
The second disappears deeper into cover.
“Move!”
My hand locks around Sienna’s wrist again, pulling her forward before the enemy can reposition.
Bullets tear through the wall behind us.
Concrete explodes across my shoulder as fragments spray through the air.
Sienna ducks instinctively beside me, breath coming harder now as we sprint into the trees.
Branches slap against my jacket while mud slides beneath our boots. Rain soaks through everything instantly, turning the mountain terrain slick and dangerous.
Behind us, more gunfire erupts.
Closer this time.
Too close.
“They’re pushing right!” Ronan shouts from somewhere ahead.
I swear under my breath.
Flanking maneuver.
Fast and coordinated.
Professional.
Sienna stumbles beside me.
Just enough for her balance to break.
I catch her immediately, one arm wrapping around her waist before she can hit the ground.
The contact tells me everything I need to know.
Too light.
Too tense.
Her body’s running on exhaustion and adrenaline alone.
“You’re fading,” I mutter.
“I’m fine.”
The words come sharp.
Breathless.
A lie she’s too stubborn to stop telling.
I adjust my grip without slowing, pulling her tighter against my side as we push downhill through the trees.
“Yeah,” I say grimly. “We’ll discuss that later.”
Another burst of gunfire rips through the forest.
A round strikes a tree inches from Sienna’s head, bark exploding outward.
She flinches hard.
Just once.
But I feel it.
Feel the way her fingers tighten instinctively against my jacket.
Something deep inside me locks into place right then.
Cold.
Final.
Protective in a way that bypasses thought completely.
Ronan appears ahead near the edge of the tree line, rifle raised as he fires twice toward the ridge behind us.
One body drops.
Then another.
“Vehicle’s thirty yards!” he yells. “Move your ass!”
Headlights glow faintly through the rain ahead.
Almost there.
I tighten my hold on Sienna and push faster.
Her breathing breaks unevenly now, shoulders trembling with effort.
“They won’t stop,” she says quietly between breaths. “Not once they confirm it’s me.”
“I know.”
“You don’t understand what HELIOS actually is.”
Another round slams into the ground near us, spraying mud across my boots.
I shove Sienna lower automatically, shielding her body with my own as we keep moving.
“I understand enough.”
Her head snaps toward me slightly, rain dripping from loose strands of dark hair plastered against her face.
“You should’ve left me there.”
I look at her then.
Really look at her.
At the exhaustion hollowing out her eyes.
At the fear she keeps burying beneath control.
At the way she still keeps moving despite all of it.
“No.”
One word.
Absolute.
Sienna stares at me for half a second longer before another burst of gunfire snaps through the trees.
“Contact left!” Ronan shouts.
I spin, firing twice without breaking stride.
A muzzle flash vanishes behind the rocks uphill.
Hit.
The vehicle comes into view fully now—the black SUV idling hard near the edge of the road.
Ronan yanks open the driver’s side door. “Get in!”
I practically lift Sienna the last few feet, shoving her toward the back seat just as bullets shatter the rear window.
Glass explodes across the interior.
Sienna ducks hard with a curse.
I climb in behind her and slam the door shut.
“Go!”
Ronan punches the accelerator instantly.
The SUV fishtails hard on wet gravel before catching traction and launching down the mountain road.
More shots crack behind us.
Metal pings.
One round punches through the rear quarter panel.
Too damn close.
I twist in my seat, rifle raised toward the shattered back window while the forest blurs behind us in streaks of black and rain.
No headlights follow yet.
But they will.
HELIOS won’t let this go.
Not now.
Not after they took her.
Beside me, Sienna presses one hand against the seat, breathing hard as she fights to steady herself.
I reach over without thinking, gripping the back of her jacket to keep her anchored when Ronan takes a sharp turn.
Her eyes lift to mine briefly in the dim interior lighting.
Too much emotion moves there at once.
Shock.
Adrenaline.
Disbelief.
And underneath all of it—
Trust.
Dangerous.
Far too dangerous.
Ronan glances into the rearview mirror. “Everybody alive back there?”
“For now,” I mutter.
Thunder rolls across the mountains as the SUV tears down the winding road, leaving the burning structure and gunfire behind us.
For the moment—
We’re still breathing.
And I intend to keep it that way.