The cabin exploded into chaos.
Bullets tore through wood and glass, splinters raining over Emma as she shielded Darrick with her body.
Adrian fired back with terrifying precision, every shot clean and controlled.
"MOVE!" Emma yelled, dragging Darrick behind the overturned table as another barrage shredded the walls.
Red laser dots crawled across the floorboards like hungry creatures searching for them.
Adrian ducked beside them, reloading.
"They brought a full strike team—ten men, minimum."
"Ten?" Emma snapped. "You said sunrise!"
"They moved faster. Probably because you broke the tracker."
Emma glared. "You left that on us!"
"Not me," Adrian corrected calmly. "Victor did."
Darrick trembled beside her—but he wasn't panicking.
Not anymore. Not with Emma right next to him.
"What do we do?" he whispered.
Emma checked her ammo. One magazine and three knives left.
"We break out," she said. "Through the back."
Adrian raised a brow. "The back is covered too."
"Yeah," Emma said, smirking grimly. "But not by me."
Another round of bullets shredded the front door.
Adrian peeked up. "Three snipers outside. Two on the ground. More approaching."
Emma's grin sharpened.
"Good."
Darrick stared at her.
"Emma, this isn't a time to smile!"
"It is," she said, tying her hair back.
"It means I'm warmed up."
She slid a knife into each boot, and one into her belt.
Adrian watched her with something like respect.
"You're either suicidal or a genius."
"Sometimes both," she replied. "You handle long-range. I'll clear ground."
"Agreed."
Darrick grabbed her wrist suddenly.
"Emma—wait."
She turned.
"Don't go out there alone."
Her voice softened for just a moment.
"I'm not alone. You're right behind me."
He held her gaze—fear, admiration, something deeper swirling inside him.
Adrian cleared his throat. "Touching. Now can we not die?"
Emma kicked open the back door.
Gunfire exploded instantly.
She rolled behind a rain-soaked boulder and sprinted toward the trees with two attackers charging at her.
One raised his rifle—
Emma launched her knife.
It buried into his throat. He collapsed silently into the mud.
The second lunged with a blade, fast and trained.
Emma was faster.
She grabbed his wrist, twisted hard—SNAP—then slammed his own knife into his chest.
Two down.
She turned back to the cabin.
"Adrian! Snipers!"
Adrian stepped out, firing three shots without blinking.
Three bodies dropped from the trees.
"Show-off!" Emma yelled.
"Professional," Adrian corrected.
Inside the cabin, Darrick watched with a mix of terror and awe.
This wasn't just fighting.
This was Emma in her element—deadly, fluid, terrifyingly alive.
But the forest quieted too quickly.
Emma felt it instantly.
"Something's wrong," she whispered.
The remaining attackers hadn't fired back. They were falling back—deliberately.
Adrian cursed under his breath.
"They're clearing space."
"For what?" Darrick shouted from behind the tree line.
Emma's stomach dropped.
A heavy metallic clicking echoed through the forest.
The kind she'd heard before.
In a different life.
On a battlefield she never talked about.
She turned to Adrian sharply.
"Is that—"
"Yes," Adrian said grimly. "A tactical drone."
Darrick's eyes widened.
"They sent a drone to kill us?!"
Emma grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the trees.
"They didn't send it to kill us," she said breathlessly.
The forest lit up with a low, red glow.
"They sent it to erase everything."
A bright targeting laser swept across the clearing—
—and locked directly onto the cabin.
Adrian shouted, "GET DOWN!"
Emma tackled Darrick to the ground just as—
BOOM.
The cabin erupted into a massive fireball, heat blasting through the trees, debris raining around them.
Darrick lay stunned, ears ringing, staring at the burning remains of the place they'd sheltered minutes earlier.
"They… they were going to vaporize us," he whispered.
Emma lifted his chin, forcing him to meet her eyes.
"You're alive because you listened."
He swallowed, trembling.
"Emma… I—"
But before he could finish, Adrian jogged toward them, smoke drifting off his coat.
"We need to move. Now. Victor will send the next wave within minutes."
Emma nodded.
But then—
A sound cut through the smoke-filled air.
A phone.
Buzzing.
Darrick's pocket.
He froze, dread washing over him.
He pulled it out.
One message.
One sender.
Victor Kane.
Emma snatched the phone and read the text aloud.
> "You can run, Darrick.
But I'm coming for her first."
Emma's blood turned to ice.
Darrick's expression twisted in horror.
"Emma—he means YOU."
Emma's eyes narrowed, her voice turning to steel.
"Let him try."