Chapter 26
Russ
The compound breathes beneath us.
Guards pacing.
Boots scraping concrete.
Low voices drifting through the dark.
I crouch along the broken roofline with Clay beside me while cold wind slides across the canyon.
Below us, lights cut weakly through cracked windows.
Somewhere inside—
Olivia.
My jaw tightens automatically.
Lucas’s voice crackles softly through comms. “Ground team in position.”
I keep my eyes on the courtyard below.
Two guards crossing paths near the south entrance.
Another smoking near the vehicles.
Patterns.
Timing.
Weak points.
“Copy,” I murmur.
Clay glances sideways at me. “You good?”
No.
“Move.”
That’s all I give him.
Then we drop.
Boots hit fractured concrete with barely a sound. Dust shifts beneath us as we slip through the collapsed roof section into darkness.
Concrete hallway.
Dim emergency lights.
Two guards near the far wall.
One turns slightly—
Too slow.
I cross the distance fast and drive my knife clean beneath his jaw before he can make a sound.
Beside me, Clay catches the second guard from behind and lowers him silently to the floor.
Bodies hit concrete softly.
Quiet.
Efficient.
We keep moving.
No hesitation.
The hallway splits ahead.
Voices drift through an open doorway on the left.
Cards slapping against a table.
Laughter.
Not her.
I keep going.
“Ground clear,” Lucas whispers through comms.
“For now,” Clay mutters.
Yeah.
For now.
The deeper we move into the compound, the harder that pressure builds inside my chest.
Instinct.
Something pulling tighter with every step.
Closer.
She’s close.
A door opens suddenly ahead.
Guard stepping out.
His eyes widen.
I fire once.
Suppressed shot muffles through the hallway while he crumples before he can shout.
No slowing down.
At the end of the corridor—
Metal door.
Locked.
Of course it is.
I don’t waste time checking it.
Don’t pause.
I hit it hard with my shoulder.
Metal screams against the frame as the lock snaps apart and the door slams inward.
And there she is.
Tied to a chair beneath weak overhead light.
Bruised.
Exhausted.
Alive.
Everything inside me stops for one violent second.
Then starts again all at once.