Location: En Route to Valenridge – 3:19 AM
The roar of the stealth aircraft split the silence above Tavara's mountains. Inside, Nora sat strapped into tactical gear, her face partially obscured by a matte-black comms visor. Her dark eyes gleamed with focused fury.
She wasn't just coming for Damien.
She was bringing an inferno.
Beside her, the Outrider unit reviewed schematics and synchronized their neural implants. These were not ordinary soldiers—they were ghosts of the battlefield, rumored to be unkillable. Nora had personally trained two of them and had blackmailed the rest into loyalty with files only she could've unearthed.
"Commander," one of the Outriders, Valen, spoke. "We've just crossed the EMP grid. Ten minutes until we hit Valenridge's blind spot."
Nora nodded, her mind ticking like a war clock. She wasn't gambling on brute force. This was precision warfare.
"Any word from Maverick?" she asked Reiss over the encrypted channel.
"He's on the ground. Embedded inside Valenridge under alias 'Silas Crane.' Feeding us an inside layout as we speak," Reiss replied.
"Tell him he gets his full pardon if Damien walks out breathing."
The air inside the cabin turned sharp, tension thick. They were flying toward the deadliest military installation in Tavara—now privatized by Leonidas' faction and turned into a black site for weapon testing and high-level detainees. Nora knew what happened to men in that fortress. And she would die before letting Damien endure it.
She turned to the team. "We have one shot. The southeast turbine shaft is unguarded for precisely seven minutes during the cooling cycle. That's our entry point. After that, no way in or out."
Valen's voice cut through. "What if he's not there?"
Nora looked at him. Cold. Unblinking.
"He's there. They wouldn't dare hide him anywhere else. Not if they wanted me to come."
A chilling smile flickered at the edge of her lips.
"He always told me I was too rational to be dangerous. Let's prove him wrong."
---
Location: Valenridge Detention Sector – Sublevel 9
Damien's head pounded. The cold steel of the floor pressed against his temple. Blood stained the corners of his mouth, and the restraints on his wrists dug into already bruised skin.
But his mind was sharper than ever.
Leonidas had underestimated him. Again.
In the brief moments of unconsciousness, Damien had run every calculation. He knew the rhythm of the guards' boots, the flicker patterns of the surveillance drones, the cooling intervals of the facility's power core.
He just needed one break.
A siren blared overhead.
His lips curved into a faint smile.
It had begun.
---
Back in the Air – Four Minutes to Entry
Nora steadied herself as the aircraft began descent. She closed her eyes and whispered something only she could hear.
It wasn't a prayer.
It was a promise.
"I'm coming, Damien."