Chapter 16
Russ
The gunfire changes.
That’s how I know we’re in trouble.
Not wild anymore.
Not desperate.
Controlled bursts.
Disciplined movement.
They’ve stopped chasing and started hunting.
“Left ridge!” Clay shouts.
I pivot instantly and fire toward the flash of movement along the rocks.
Two men duck back behind cover.
Not retreating.
Repositioning.
Damn it.
“They’re spreading!” Lucas calls from ahead.
Yeah.
I see it now.
One team pushing pressure from below while another circles wide along the upper ridge.
Slowly tightening.
Boxing us in.
I scan hard across the terrain while bullets snap overhead.
There.
A narrow cut through the rocks thirty yards east.
Steep drop.
Tight choke point.
Ugly as hell.
Perfect.
“Lucas!” I bark. “Pass on the right!”
He spots it immediately and nods once.
“Move!”
Everything explodes into motion again.
Clay lays down cover fire while Miles pushes the civilians toward the opening. Dust erupts beneath pounding boots as gunfire cracks across the canyon walls.
I fire twice toward movement uphill.
A man drops behind cover.
Another immediately takes his place.
Too organized.
“Go!” I shout at the first group reaching the pass.
The opening barely fits one person at a time. Jagged rock scrapes shoulders as they squeeze through.
Perfect funnel point.
For us and for them.
I stay at the rear, firing short controlled bursts to keep heads down while Lucas helps shove the civilians through faster.
A bullet slams into the rocks inches from my face.
Stone explodes across my cheek.
Ignore it.
“Move!” I roar again.
Children cry somewhere behind me.
Mothers scramble through the rocks.
Miles drags one terrified teenager through the gap while Clay fires overhead cover.
Then—
“Russ!”
Olivia.
Even through gunfire, I know her voice instantly.
I don’t turn.
Can’t afford to.
“What?”
“Be careful.”
The words hit somewhere low and dangerous in my chest.
Almost enough to make me look back.
Almost.
Instead I reload fast and fire again.
“Always am.”
Lie.
Biggest one I’ve told all day.
Behind me, I hear the last civilians squeezing through the pass.
“Final group moving!” Lucas shouts.
Good.
Clay falls back first.
Then Miles.
Lucas next.
I stay last automatically, covering the choke point while bullets hammer the rocks around me.
One of the enemy fighters rushes forward below.
Too aggressive.
I drop him before he makes five steps.
The others slow immediately after that.
Smart.
They know charging this pass gets them killed.
Which buys us seconds.
Maybe minutes if we’re lucky.
I back through the opening finally, boots sliding against loose rock as Lucas grabs my vest and yanks me fully behind cover.
Gunfire follows us into the pass—
Then slows.
The canyon suddenly goes unnaturally quiet except for rough breathing and distant echoes.
I hate quiet more than bullets.
Clay crouches beside the rocks, scanning the entrance. “They stopped pushing.”
“No,” I say immediately.
Because something feels wrong.
Too easy.
Too sudden.
I reload automatically while listening hard to the silence.
Then I hear it.
Low at first.
Faint.
A vibration more than a sound.
Engines.
Cold settles hard in my stomach.
“Lucas.”
“I hear it.”
Miles looks up sharply. “Drone?”
Lucas shakes his head once.
“No.”
I already know before he says it.
Vehicles.
Which means they didn’t stop pushing.
They got ahead of us.
“They’re cutting us off,” I mutter.
The realization lands hard across the group.
Clay swears quietly.
Miles drags a hand down his face. “Fantastic.”
Yeah.
This just became a whole different kind of problem.
I glance back automatically.
Olivia’s helping one of the mothers tighten a sling around a little boy’s shoulders. Her movements are slower now, careful around the injury at her side, but she keeps going anyway.
Still standing.
Still fighting.
Still here.
Relief hits harder than it should.
Her eyes lift suddenly like she feels me looking.
For one second, everything else fades again.
The gunfire.
The canyon.
The enemy.
Just her watching me across the narrow pass with that same look from the shelter still lingering in her eyes.
Too much feeling.
Too much trust.
Too late to stop any of it now.
I force myself back into focus.
“New plan.”
Everybody looks toward me immediately.
“We keep moving.”
Lucas nods once without hesitation.
“Agreed.”
“We push through before they close the road ahead,” I continue. “Fast, controlled, no panic.”
Clay checks his magazine. “And if they’re already blocking the pass?”
“Then we punch through.”
Miles sighs dramatically. “Love that for us.”
A few exhausted laughs break through the tension.
Good.
Keeps people moving.
I step toward the front of the formation and scan the narrow trail ahead winding deeper through the canyon.
Dangerous terrain.
Minimal cover.
No choice.
“Stay tight,” I call quietly.
Then my eyes flick back toward Olivia one more time.
Just once.
She’s already watching me.
And somehow I know she understands exactly what I’m not saying.
I’m getting her out of these mountains alive.
No matter what it costs me.