The storm did not calm.
Even after the helicopter's burning wreckage hissed against the rocks, even after the detonations stopped beneath the collapsed facility—
Something colder and sharper hung in the air.
A silence that felt planned.
Manufactured.
Dangerous.
Rhea and Adrian stood at the cliff edge, drenched, exhausted, still clutching the encrypted drive as the wind howled around them.
Adrian's breath was uneven, a mixture of relief and rage.
Not because Mikael was dead—
but because someone else had orchestrated all this.
Someone smarter.
Someone who wanted Adrian dead… but not the drive destroyed.
Because the drive was the real target.
Not Mikael.
Not the facility.
Not even Adrian.
Rhea.
She felt it too.
A prickle under her skin.
A warning that the real enemy wasn't gone.
"Adrian…" she whispered, her fingers gripping his sleeve. "This wasn't Mikael's plan."
"No," he answered, voice hardening. "He was just a pawn."
The wind whipped around them, but Adrian didn't flinch. His eyes, cold and sharp, scanned the cliffside as if expecting someone else to emerge from the shadows.
Rhea stepped closer.
"Then who?"
His jaw clenched.
"I have one name. But I prayed it wasn't true."
He turned to her.
"But now… it is."
Thunder cracked overhead, shaking the ground.
"Who?" Rhea pressed.
Adrian met her eyes with a stare that chilled her blood.
"Soren Valerius."
The name hit her like a blow.
"You mean—your mentor? The man who taught you everything?"
Adrian nodded slowly.
"And the man who disappeared three years ago… right before half our enemies suddenly grew stronger."
Rhea's throat tightened.
"So he's alive."
"Alive," Adrian said. "And hunting."
Lightning split the sky, illuminating his expression—
hard, unreadable, but undeniably shaken.
Rhea had never seen him shaken.
Not even when he had almost slipped off the cliff moments ago.
"Soren is brilliant," Adrian continued, voice steady but edged with fury. "He knows how I think. How I move. How I plan. He knows what matters to me."
Rhea's breath trembled.
"And that makes me…"
Adrian stepped forward, cupping her jaw with cold, rain-wet fingers.
"In danger," he whispered.
"Because you matter the most."
Her heart lurched.
But before she could speak—
A sudden beeping noise broke the moment.
The drive.
Adrian snapped his head down.
A red light blinked in the corner of the metal casing—
something he had never seen before.
A signal.
A transmission.
A countdown, so faint it barely registered.
Rhea's eyes widened.
"Adrian… that wasn't there earlier."
"No," he growled, flipping the casing open. "Because it activated when Mikael dropped it."
"What does it mean?"
Adrian looked up, expression darkening dangerously.
"It means—
Someone is tracking us."
Rhea's heartbeat stopped.
"T-Tracking… right now?"
"Yes."
His voice dropped to a deadly whisper.
"Soren isn't waiting for us to come after him."
He snapped the casing shut.
"He's coming for us."
THE HUNT BEGINS
Adrian grabbed Rhea's hand.
"Move."
"But where—"
"To the ridge. We need higher ground and a safe extraction point."
The storm thrashed around them as they climbed the rocky slope. Adrian kept her close, shielding her from loose stones, his hand a firm anchor on her back.
Every rumble of thunder felt like footsteps closing in.
Every flash of lightning looked like a shadow moving.
Rhea's pulse hammered.
"Adrian… What if he's already on his way?"
"He is," Adrian said bluntly. "He always stays ten steps ahead. But I stay eleven."
She nodded, trusting him.
Because the way he moved—swift, sharp, always scanning—
proved he was preparing for a battle he never wanted.
Once they reached the ridge, Adrian pulled out a small emergency beacon from his jacket.
He clicked it—
Nothing.
He tried again. —
Dead.
He froze.
Rhea's stomach dropped.
"Adrian…?"
His voice came out low, horrified.
"He jammed it."
Rhea's breath left her lungs.
No communication.
No extraction.
No backup.
"We're cut off," Adrian said. "Completely."
Rhea's voice cracked.
"Adrian… he planned this. Every part of it."
He didn't deny it.
Instead, he took a slow breath—
the kind he used before making a deadly decision.
"Rhea," he said quietly. "I need you to listen to me very carefully."
Her hands tightened.
"Don't say it," she whispered.
But he continued.
"If he gets close… you run."
"No."
"You run," he repeated, harder this time. "He won't kill you. He needs you alive."
Her voice broke.
"And you?"
A faint, bitter smile touched his mouth.
"He doesn't need me at all."
Something shattered inside her.
Before she could speak, he stepped closer, placing his forehead against hers, rain dripping between them.
"I will never let him take you," he whispered.
"Even if I have to trade myself to stop him."
Her eyes filled with panic.
She grabbed his jacket, her voice shaking.
"No. Adrian, I'm not losing you. Not for me. Not for him. Not for anyone."
He closed his eyes.
But then—
The wind shifted.
The air changed.
And a new sound sliced through the storm—
A faint, rhythmic hum.
Not thunder.
Not wind.
Rotors.
A helicopter.
Approaching fast.
Adrian snapped his eyes open, his expression turning deadly.
"They're here."
Rhea's blood turned to ice.
"Adrian—what do we do?"
He pulled her behind a rock formation, shielding her body with his.
"We fight," he said.
"But we do it my way."
The sound grew closer.
Louder.
Unavoidable.
Through the fog and rain, a black helicopter descended—
sleek, unmarked, predatory.
Rhea's heart pounded painfully.
"Is it Soren?" she whispered.
Adrian inhaled sharply.
"No," he said.
"It's worse."
A spotlight cut through the storm—
blinding, white, searching.
A voice boomed from the loudspeaker.
"Adrian Knight."
Rhea stiffened.
The voice was cold.
Smooth.
Commanding.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Come out," the voice continued.
"Your time is up."
Rhea swallowed, terrified.
"Who is that?"
Adrian looked at her with a darkness she had never seen before.
"That," he said,
"is the man Soren works for."
Lightning flashed as the helicopter hovered over them.
Adrian whispered:
"The real enemy has arrived."