My pulse stays even, but my focus narrows until the world is nothing but that black opening in the hillside.
“Confirmation?” Aaron murmurs.
“Wait,” I answer.
Patience wins wars.
Finally, heat signatures bloom on the other side of theridge—low, controlled, careful. Secondary team. Transfer detail.
Malenkov didn’t trust the transport alone.
But he didn’t overprotect it either.
“Shadow confirmed,” Miles says. “Two vehicles. Light crew.”
I let out a slow breath.
Jonah’s alive.
Still valuable.
Still wanted.
“Delta Five,” I say quietly. “We don’t engage. Not yet.”
Aaron glances at me. “Ronan—”
“This isn’t the grab,” I cut in. “This is themap.”
They understand instantly.
We let the vehicles pass.
Let them think they’re alone.
We track them deeper—through back corridors, forgotten infrastructure, routes no one’s used in decades.
Malenkov is building something new down there.
And Jonah is just one piece of it.
Lena’s voice cuts in again, tight but controlled. “Ronan… I’m seeing a secondary signal.”
“Explain.”
“She’s not meant to be permanent,” Lena says. “This is a temporary node. A staging area.”
“For what?” Aaron asks.
I already know the answer.
“For leverage,” I say.
Because Malenkov isn’t running anymore.
He’s setting the table.
And this time, he wants me close enough to smell the trap before it snaps.
