Location; Sigma Station, Brazilian Jungle – Midnight
The hum of drones overhead was masked by the roar of the jungle at night. Sigma Station stood like a forgotten relic—concrete walls half-eaten by vines, floodlights scanning the perimeter with soulless precision. From a nearby ridge, Nora watched the base through thermal goggles while Damien adjusted the comm link in his ear.
"Five patrols, rotating every six minutes. Northeast wall's blind for thirty seconds between shifts," Nora whispered.
Damien nodded. "That's our hole."
They were dressed in tactical black, faces streaked with mud and charcoal. Mateo, despite the bullet wound in his shoulder, insisted on joining the breach team. He lay nearby, sniper rifle steady, sight fixed on the main gate.
"I've got your backs. One shot, one echo," he murmured in Tavaran code.
"Let's move," Damien said.
They descended the ridge in silence, slipping through the shadows. The northeast fence had already been clipped by Mateo's recon unit earlier that afternoon. Damien pried the gap wider, letting Nora slip through first. Then he followed.
They slinked through forgotten tunnels that once transported fuel barrels, now choked with rust and mold. The stench was suffocating, but Nora pressed on. Her sister was somewhere inside—drugged, possibly dying.
As they emerged in the lower chamber of Sigma Station, they could hear footsteps echoing above.
"Diversion?" Nora asked.
Damien held up a detonator. "Five seconds."
He tapped the trigger.
Above them, the east wall exploded into flame. Shouts and alarms rang out as guards scrambled toward the chaos.
Nora and Damien darted through the corridors, weaving through steam pipes and shattered monitors. She paused, eyes scanning the room numbers.
"Room B7… this way."
They turned a corner—and froze.
Three guards blocked the hallway, weapons raised. Before they could speak, Damien hurled a flash pellet. The corridor lit up like daylight, and in that split second of blindness, he moved. One sweep knocked a rifle aside. A sharp jab to the throat silenced the second. Nora lunged low, kicking the third into the wall before jabbing a tranq into his neck.
The path was clear.
Inside Room B7, Leona lay slumped in restraints, pale and barely conscious. A red welt marked the spot where the serum had been injected.
Nora's voice broke. "Leona—Leona, look at me."
Leona stirred weakly, pupils dilated and unfocused. "N-Nora…"
Damien checked the vitals monitor. "She's been dosed with something synthetic—likely neural disruptors. If it reaches her spine, it could paralyze her permanently."
Nora's fists clenched. "We're not letting that happen."
They unstrapped her quickly. Damien injected her with a stabilizer and adrenaline shot.
Alarms blared overhead. Sigma's security was regrouping fast.
"We won't make it out the same way," Damien said.
"Then we find another way," Nora replied. "Mateo—do you copy?"
Static.
Then: "You've got bogeys flooding the lower tunnels. You need a roof lift. Southeast tower has a helipad. Move now!"
Damien hoisted Leona over his shoulder as they sprinted down the passageways. Bullets tore through the air behind them. Nora fired back in short bursts, her accuracy lethal. They reached the elevator shaft, only to find it dead.
Damien ripped open the maintenance hatch. "Climb."
Nora went first, pistol tucked between her teeth as she scaled the narrow service ladder. Damien followed, Leona held tight against him.
Halfway up, an explosion rocked the base.
"Charges planted," Mateo's voice came through. "You've got five minutes before this place collapses."
They reached the rooftop just as the first helicopter crested the horizon—black, unmarked, definitely hostile.
"Sniper!" Damien yelled, diving behind a rusted air duct. A shot cracked beside Nora's head.
"Second chopper—nine o'clock!" she called, pulling Leona behind cover.
Then another chopper appeared—this one familiar.
Tavaran military insignia gleamed on its belly.
"It's Julian!" Nora gasped.
The side doors of the chopper opened as Tavaran special ops agents descended with ropes, rifles blazing. Within seconds, they had covered Damien's team.
Julian jumped down last, landing beside Nora. "Heard you needed an extraction."
Damien smirked. "Took you long enough."
The four of them were airlifted just as Sigma Station detonated in a series of thunderous blasts. From above, it looked like hell itself had swallowed the jungle.
Inside the chopper, Nora held Leona's hand. Her sister's breathing steadied, though her pulse remained weak.
"She's stable," Julian confirmed. "But that injection—whatever it was—needs to be analyzed immediately."
Damien sat across from them, his expression grim.
"This was bigger than we thought. The Carvalhos… they've declared war."