Declan boarded the military transport just after six. The aircraft was nothing like the private jet he'd been expecting. It had metal seats, engine noise that never let up, soldiers packed in on both sides staring ahead or sleeping. He found a seat, put his bag between his feet, and said nothing. A few soldiers glanced at him when he first sat down, taking in the civilian clothes, but nobody asked questions. Whatever orders had come through, they were clear enough. The flight took several hours. He knew they were getting close before anyone told him. The air changed first. He knew from the heaviness in his chest. He looked down at his hand. The phoenix ring was pulsing faintly like a second heartbeat. He pressed his thumb against it and felt it again. It was responding to something out there. The ramp dropped and Declan stepped out. The sound hit him immediately. Distant explosions rolling across the landscape like thunder that wouldn't quit. Gunfire somewhere far off but not

General K stepped forward before Declan had even finished speaking. "Absolutely not," he said. His voice was flat and firm, the voice of someone who had spent decades making decisions that kept people alive. "That area is one of the most heavily contested zones in this entire war. I've sent special forces teams in there, trained soldiers who have spent years preparing for exactly that kind of environment, and they came back with half their numbers if they came back at all." He looked at Declan directly. "You're a civilian. You've been on this base for less than an hour." "I understand the risk," Declan said. "I don't think you do," General K said. "Risk is something you calculate and manage. What you're describing isn't risk. It's something else entirely." "My grandfather saved my life," Declan said quietly. "He put himself in danger to protect me when I was too young to protect myself and he's been in a coma ever since because of it. I've spent my whole life not knowing that. Now

Nathan had been patient long enough. He sat in his office at Vanguard Corporation, looking at the latest reports from his team. Apex was still standing. Still operating. Still holding its ground despite everything he had thrown at them over the past week. The supplier acquisition hadn't been activated yet, the surveillance on the Harper girl hadn't produced anything useful, and the hacking attempt had been blocked clean. None of it had worked the way it was supposed to. He picked up his phone and made a call. Frank Chen answered on the second ring. "I have a proposal for you," Nathan said. There was a short silence on the other end. "I'm listening." "You know Apex better than anyone. You spent twenty years inside that company. You know how it works, where it's vulnerable, who can be turned." Nathan leaned back in his chair. "I want you to use that knowledge." "In exchange for what?" Frank asked. "A senior position at Vanguard. Compensation that makes what Apex was paying you l

It moved fast for something that size, covering the ground between them in a way that felt wrong, like its legs were working differently from how they should. The crystal growths on its back caught the faint light as it came and its red eyes were fixed and unblinking.Squad Leader M barked a single word and the team split without hesitation, two going left and two going right, pulling the creature's attention in different directions. Declan held his ground for half a second, feeling the energy around him the way The Physician had taught him, drawing it inward and letting it settle into his arms and legs before he moved.The wolf lunged at Sniper N, who had broken right. N dropped low and the creature's weight carried it over him, crashing into the ground and turning with a snarl that came out as something between a growl and a sound Declan had no word for.Declan moved in from the side.He wasn't thinking about technique. There wasn't time for that. He was doing what The Physician had

He hit the valley floor and kept moving, crossing the open ground toward the beast in a straight line. There was no point in being subtle. The plan needed the creature's full attention on him and the fastest way to get that was to give it something it couldn't ignore. The beast felt him coming before he was halfway across. It stopped its slow circuit around the flower and turned. For a moment it just stood there, looking at this small thing running toward it across the broken ground. Then it opened its mouth and roared. The sound was physical. It moved through the air like a shockwave and Declan felt it in his chest and his teeth and the soles of his feet. Above him on both sides of the valley, loose rocks broke free from the cliff faces and clattered down into the ruins below. The luminescent plants around the flower trembled. The beast dropped its head and charged. The ground shook with each impact of its weight. The crystal plating across its shoulders and chest caught the pal