Jonah.
“He’s moving uphill,” Miles adds. “Slow but steady. Heat signature split—two bodies.”
Relief punches through my chest so hard I have to brace my hand against the console.
He didn’t leave her.
Of course he didn’t.
“He survived because he refuses to stop moving,” I say quietly. “Because pain never outranks mission.”
Aaron exhales sharply. “Jesus. He’s really free.”
“No,” I correct. “He’s mobile.”
There’s a difference.
I switch layers—surface terrain, thermal bleed, drone sweep arcs.
The exit point resolves into a shallow ravine two klicks north of our current position. Forested. Rocky. No road access.
Difficult.
Perfect.
“Re-task drone three,” I say. “High altitude only. No active sweep.”
Aaron nods, already relaying the order. “You think Malenkov sees this yet?”
“No,” Lena answers before I can. “He’s still watching the sealed node. His system shows containment.”
I allow myself one breath.
Just one.
Then I straighten.
“Delta Five,” I say into the comm, voice low and lethal, “we pivot.”
Aaron glances at me. “Extraction?”
“Not yet,” I answer. “Jonah didn’t escape just to be scooped up.”
I bring up the wider map—the entire subterranean network, Malenkov’s movement patterns, the hunter units he keeps in reserve.
“He ran Jonah underground to control him,” I continue. “Jonah flipped that control. If we extract now, Malenkov resets.”
“And if we don’t?” Jase asks.
I zoom out further.
“We let Jonah pull him forward.”
A beat.
Then Lena speaks softly. “You’re trusting him to stay ahead.”
“I trust Jonah to survive,” I say. “And I trust Malenkov to make this personal.”
