Chapter 17 Ronan
Ronan
Location: Northern Alps, Extraction Route
Gunfire cracks through the frozen air, bullets slicing into the trees, into the earth, too damn close to where I keep Lena sheltered against me.
The Delta Five Team forms a rolling defensive line, firing, advancing, pulling back — all precision, all instinct. But Ascendancy’s numbers are growing. They’re pouring out of hidden access tunnels in the mountain like ants.
Roscov planned this.
He set the trap.
And I walked straight into it.
“Ronan!” River shouts over the gunfire. “We need to move her now! Cyclone’s rerouting us to the ridge!”
“The ridge? That’s a thousand feet up!” Beckett snarls as he drops two more hostiles. “What are we doing, free climbing with a wounded civilian?!”
“She’s not a civilian, she’s one of us,” Jase grunts, firing off rounds.
Lena presses closer to me as another explosion shakes the ground. Her fingers dig into the back of my vest. She’s terrified — but still aware, still fighting to stay with me.
I tilt her chin up gently, forcing her eyes to mine. “You okay?”
“No,” she whispers honestly. “But I’m not letting go.”
A muscle jumps in my jaw.
Good.
Because I’m not letting her go either.
“Move!” River orders.
We begin pushing toward the tree line. I keep Lena tight against my side, half-carrying her. Every time she flinches at a nearby impact, my vision goes hot and narrow.
Two Ascendancy soldiers break through the flank, sprinting toward us.
I twist, fire twice, drop them both.
Lena gasps softly against my shoulder. “Ronan—”
“I told you,” I say, voice low and lethal, “nothing gets near you.”
Aaron’s voice shouts from ahead, “We’ve got movement on the ridge! Rifle nests!”
Of course.
Roscov isn’t just trying to take her back.
He’s trying to crush us here. The entire team.
A shot zooms past, grazing my arm. Pain flares hot. Lena cries out, reaching for me.
“I’m fine,” I say sharply.
“You’re bleeding!”
“I’ve bled worse.”
Another crack — closer this time. Beckett dives in, slamming into me, shoving Lena out of the bullet’s path. The round hits a tree behind us, exploding bark.
“Pierce!” Beckett snaps. “Focus!”
“I am focused!” I growl back.
“Not on her safety,” he fires back. “On your emotions.”
My glare could kill a man.
Beckett grabs my vest, yanking me close. “She doesn’t need a martyr. She needs you alive.”
A breath I didn’t know I was holding shudders out of me.
He’s right.
I shift Lena behind a rock outcropping, shielding her as Aaron tosses smoke canisters toward the advancing soldiers.
A gray wall of cover blossoms across the trees.
“Move through it!” River commands. “They’ll be blind for ten seconds!”
I scoop Lena into my arms. “Hold on.”
Her arms wrap around my neck instantly — not out of fear, but trust.
I run.
Fast.
Low.
Dodging debris and branches as bullets cut through the smoke.
We burst out on the far side of the haze, and for the first time since this started, I get a clear view of the ridge we’re heading toward.
It’s steep.
Icy.
And exposed.
“No way we climb that before they reach us,” Miles mutters behind me.
“We don’t have to climb all of it,” Aaron says, checking his watch. “We just have to survive for two minutes.”
Lena stiffens in my arms. “Ronan… what happens in two minutes?”
I look up.
Past the treetops.
Toward the sky.
Another aircraft.
A big one.
Aaron grins — a dangerous, feral edge. “Cyclone called in the cavalry.”
A SEAL Security heavy escort dropship is barreling toward us.
But Ascendancy sees it too.
Roscov’s voice suddenly crackles through the comm line — hijacking our frequency.
It’s smooth. Calm. Mocking.
“Pierce… You’re becoming quite predictable.”
My blood turns to ice.
Lena’s fingers tighten around my jacket.
I raise the comm to my mouth. “If you touch this channel again, I swear—”
“Oh, I won’t need to,” Roscov interrupts. “Because I already have what I came for.”
A cold chill slices straight down my spine.
“No,” Lena whispers. “No… he can’t…”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Aaron growls.
Roscov laughs softly. “Look around, Pierce. You’re so desperate to protect her… you didn’t think to check what she was carrying.”
My heart stops.
I whirl, scanning Lena, her expression draining of color.
“Ronan,” she whispers, shaking her head, “I don’t know what he means—”
“Don’t move,” I say gently, lifting her chin.
My hands sweep carefully over her — her pockets, the blanket under my coat, the thin fabric of her medical shirt.
Nothing.
Until—
A small, hard lump beneath the edge of her sleeve.
A tracking node.
Sewn into the fabric.
Roscov’s voice purrs through the comm.
“Did you really think I would let my most valuable asset stroll off the mountain?”
Lena’s face crumples in horror. “I didn’t know. Ronan, I didn’t—”
“I know.”
My voice is rough, raw.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I rip the tracker free and throw it as far as I can across the ravine.
Aaron fires three shots into it until it sparks and dies.
But it’s too late.
Because the forest behind us erupts with movement — dozens of Ascendancy soldiers rushing through the smoke, their shouts growing louder.
They know exactly where we are.
Roscov’s last message hangs in the air:
“You can’t protect her forever, Pierce.”
I tuck Lena behind me, aiming my rifle as the enemy closes in.
My voice is low. Controlled. Deadly.