Relief crashes through me so hard I nearly sit down. “Oh my God.”
“You okay?” she asks, scanning me, before her eyes land on Julian and her gaze softens. “There’s my godson.”
“I’m fine, he’s fine. We’re safe,” I assure her.
She smiles, small but real. “You look like hell.”
I laugh, something hysterical and broken spilling out of me. “You disappeared.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t be sorry. Are you okay? How bad is it?” I inquire, scared of the answer.
Addison exhales, dragging a hand down her face. “We’re stuck,” she answers bluntly. “They shut down the airspace two days ago. No commercial flights, no charters, nothing. Every plane that tries gets shot at before it clears the runway.”
My stomach drops.
“They’re grounding everything,” she continues. “The militants are everywhere now—roadblocks, patrols, men with guns who don’t bother pretending anymore. Every hour, it gets worse. They’re not just angry, Kate. They’re organized.”
Ryder steps closer to the screen. “Sea?”
Addison lets out a sharp laugh. “Pirates. It’s a mess out there. Anyone with a boat is either armed or already dead. No one’s taking chances.”
She looks straight at me then, eyes fierce even through the distortion. “This isn’t like last time when it was just background danger. This is active retaliation. Hassan Barre is making an example out of anyone who was in that room.”
Ryder’s fingers move fast across the console. “I’ll get you out by land, through Kenya. I’ll send coordinates and contacts.”
Addison’s shoulders sag with relief she doesn’t bother hiding. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Her gaze flicks between us. “Things are collapsing fast, so you two need to be ready. This doesn’t stop with Somalia.” She draws in a breath, about to say something else. “I was only able to find you because—“
Before she can finish explaining, the screen stutters, then goes black. Ryder tries getting her back to no avail.
“I don’t like the sound of that. If the way she found you is not through credible sources, then…” I whisper.
He turns to me, eyes dark. “Then others can too.”
Fuck.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he decrees, looking at me, then at Julian. “Either of you.”
“I know.” I smile even though deep down I’m freaking out.
Suddenly, the mountain feels smaller. Less like a refuge, and more like a battleground waiting to be claimed.
20
RYDER
Dinner should be simple, quiet, and safe, but it’s the furthest thing from it. Julian sits in his high chair between us, banging a spoon against the tray, throwing food everywhere. Kate laughs softly, tired but real, the sound tugging at something in my chest I don’t have words for. The dogs lie near the table, Ash closer to Kate, Rook positioned where he can see the windows and the door without looking obvious about it.
As for me, I sit quietly, cataloging everything: the wind direction outside, how the trees are too still, and the faint delay between the perimeter cameras cycling through their feeds. Usually, this mountain has a rhythm, but tonight, it’s off.
I shift in my chair, restless energy crawling under my skin. Every instinct I have is whispering the same thing. They are going to attack soon. Barre’s son won’t be deterred by distance or time because men like him don’t forgive. They calculate, wait, and bleed quietly until they can make someone else bleed louder.
The mountain will buy us time, but it will not grant immunity.
“You’re quiet,” Kate observes, cutting through my daunting thoughts.
