Page 44 of Wraith: Lethal Impact

"Status." Rook drops the empty magazine from his weapon and reloads in under a second. His eyes stay locked down the smoke-filled corridor.

"No casualties." I push myself off the concrete and pull Lily to her feet. "The holding block is empty. The target was moved."

"We know." Bronco fires short bursts down the hallway, pinning the remaining mercenaries in the darkness. "Ivy relayed the decrypted metadata. It's a dead drop. Staging area. We're Oscar Mike to the extraction point."

"Move." Rook's command is sharp.

I grab the back of Lily's vest and steer her toward the hole in the wall.

We sprint into the pouring rain. The courtyard is dark, the floodlights dead. Confusion echoes through the compound. The Task Force 9 assault has paralyzed the Consortium's defenses and shattered their coordination.

Two armored SUVs wait near the tree line, engines running.

Cipher sits in the driver's seat of the lead vehicle—calm, focused, in his element in the middle of a war zone.

"Get in." He shouts it over the engines and the distant gunfire.

I push Lily into the backseat, slide in behind her, and slam the door. Rook dives into the vehicle. Bronco and Hammer cover from the tree line, retreating before piling into the second truck.

Cipher slams the transmission into gear. The tires spin in the deep mud, fighting for traction, then launch the vehicle forward.

We crash through the secondary perimeter gate, tearing the chain-link off its hinges. The truck slams onto the muddy jungle road and accelerates into the darkness, headlights cutting a path through the storm.

I sit back against the seat in the bouncing vehicle.

The sharp edge of the firefight dulls, bleeding away into a bone-deep exhaustion that threatens to pull me under.

I look around the crowded cab. Rook checks the chambers of his weapons. Cipher navigates the winding mountain road, his military tablet glowing on the center console.

I look at Lily.

She sits beside me, covered head to toe in fine gray concrete dust. Her hands shake in her lap, fingers curling into fists that fail to suppress the tremors. The night is catching up to her. Her father's betrayal. The firefight. The rescue.

She slowly looks up at me.

The silence between us in the back of the SUV is heavy with the understanding that everything has changed. The walls I built to keep her safe and at a distance are rubble, torn down along with the Consortium holding block. The tension vibrating in the cramped cab isn't leftover fear anymore.

It's a vow. A dark, inescapable promise that the collision we've been fighting since Bangkok is finally going to find its resolution.

12

The Anchor

LILY

The SUV grinds to a halt.

Tires kick up a spray of mud against the rusted siding of the abandoned logging facility. The structure sits deep in the mountains, a forgotten ghost in the wilderness.

Julian cuts the engine. The sudden silence of the mountain air is jarring, ringing in my ears after the roar of the firefight and the escape through the jungle.

Dax doesn't wait for orders. He pushes his door open, drops into the mud, and sweeps the tree line, weapon raised.

"Secure." He gives a curt nod toward the facility. "Bronco, Hammer—gear inside."

I remain frozen in the backseat.

The strength that carried me through the firefight vanishes all at once, leaving me shivering against the upholstery. The concrete dust covering my clothes feels like a shroud.