The sky above Outpost Arclight was a pale, washed-out gray, the kind that swallowed shadows and made distances hard to judge. Dawn hadn’t quite settled, but night was already fading, leaving Echo Unit exposed on the ridge with nowhere left to hide.Mercer crouched behind a slab of sandstone, observing the valley floor through his binoculars. Below, Iron Division armored carriers rumbled in formation, their engines vibrating through the ground in steady, bone-deep pulses. A convoy of this size wasn’t a search party.It was a retrieval team.And retrieval meant only one thing: they were transporting Amir and Maeve.“Movement at the rear vehicle,” Lena whispered, lying flat beside him. Her breath puffed softly in the cold morning air. “Two guards. Heavy armor. Could be escorting civilians.”“Not civilians,” Rafe muttered as he crawled up next to them. “Prisoners.”Navarro, still stiff from his injuries but refusing to be left behind, pointed to a darker shape behind the convoy’s last car

Dawn crept slow and bruised over the burned ridges of the desert, painting the rocks in muted golds and long shadows. The world felt quieter than it should have. Too still. Too expectant. As if the earth itself was holding its breath.Echo Unit reached the edge of the canyon just as the sun broke fully over the horizon. Mercer led from the front, scanning the terrain with a focus that narrowed the world into angles, elevations, and potential threats. Behind him, Rafe and Lena supported Navarro, who was walking but still weakened. Jace—awake at last—moved on his own, though every step seemed to carry a weight deeper than injuries.They were battered, scraped raw by two days of running battles and ambushes, but still together. Still moving. Still Echo.But the canyon ahead told a different story.“What… happened here?” Lena whispered.Mercer didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.The canyon floor below was scarred by an enormous crater—fresh, jagged, steaming in places. The safehouse that ha

Night fell like a curtain over the desert. The pop-up field hospital was dimly lit, generators humming just loud enough to mask every breath and heartbeat inside. Outside the canvas walls, Echo Unit’s temporary perimeter was spread wide — not to keep enemies out, but to brace for the storm they all knew was coming.Inside the main tent, Viktor Hale lay sedated on a cot, pale beneath the oxygen mask. Amir sat beside him, knees bouncing, exhaustion and worry tangled in every breath.“He’s stable,” Dr. Patel whispered, finishing a quick check of the IV line. “But barely. If his organs shut down again…”“We won’t let that happen,” Amir said, a fierce edge in his voice he barely recognized.Dr. Patel nodded once before slipping out, leaving Amir alone — or as alone as anyone could be in a war zone.Across the tent, Lena helped Maeve settle Navarro into a chair. He was awake again but weak, fatigue pulling at his eyelids.“You should rest,” Maeve said.Navarro shook his head. “Rest later. W

The rain came down like falling bullets, hammering the rooftop as Echo Unit pushed through the night. The city below burned brightly, a wounded beast refusing to lie still. Iron Division banners were visible on half the buildings now—slick black flags illuminated by the firelight.Mercer led the way, soaked to the bone, but purpose made him unstoppable. Behind him, Rafe checked their rear approach while Lena secured sightlines with her rifle. Navarro supported Jace, who stayed determined even with injuries slowing him down. They had come too far to break now.Up ahead, a massive satellite uplink tower pierced the clouds—Zeta Relay. Their target. The last and only way to broadcast the truth to the world before Sentinel’s purge wiped Echo Unit from the records forever.“We get one shot,” Mercer reminded them. “One transmission. One chance to expose Iron Division and Command’s cover-up.”“And save Amir and Maeve,” Navarro muttered, tightening his grip on his weapon.Mercer nodded. That w

The rain came down in sheets, turning the forward operating base into a basin of mud and steel. Floodlights cut pale cones through the storm, illuminating sandbags, armored vehicles, and the men who moved between them with the practiced urgency of soldiers who knew the difference between chaos and collapse.Captain Mercer stood beneath the overhang of the command shelter, helmet tucked under his arm, eyes fixed on the perimeter. Echo Unit was back together—wounded, thinner, scarred—but intact.That alone felt like a victory.Rafe leaned against a crate nearby, cleaning his rifle with slow, methodical care. Navarro sat on an ammo box, his leg wrapped tight, jaw clenched as he ignored the pain. Lena checked sightlines on the eastern barricade, her posture calm, lethal. Jace, pale but standing, moved carefully among them, alive in a way that still felt unreal.They had survived Iron Division’s hunt.They had survived capture, escape, betrayal, and loss.But tonight wasn’t about survival.