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I looked at her, my expression open, raw in the dim light. “Me too.”

It was the simplest, truest thing I could have said.

Jude leaned her forehead against my shoulder. For the first time since I met her, she let the fear show. Not hidden behind anger and not buried under survival.

“We’ll get through it,” I murmured, my hand moving to the back of her head, steady and sure. “One way or another, we’ll get out of here.”

She closed her eyes, and let herself believe me, just for tonight.

In the deep quiet of the wilderness, one broken soul and a protector leaned on each other, not as warriors, not as fugitives—but as something far rarer.

Humans.

And for the first time in a long, brutal journey, Jude let herself fall back to sleep not alone, but safe.

9

Cyclone

We ran until our legs screamed, the sounds of dogs and boots pounding through the jungle behind us. There was no time to think, only move.

“We won’t outrun them forever,” Jude gasped beside me.

“No,” I agreed, ripping my pack open and yanking out the compact radio unit I’d hidden there. It was old-school—less traceable that way.

I keyed it on. “Cyclone to Golden Team Base. Emergency pickup. Code Red. Two of us.”

Static.

“Golden Base copies. Give coordinates.”I was so glad to hear Oliver’s voice. Thank God they hadn’t left yet.

I rattled them off, glancing at Jude, who scanned the treeline like she expected death to step out of it.

“Estimated time of arrival is fifteen minutes,” his voice crackled. “Hold your ground.”

“We’ll be there,” I promised, killing the signal and jamming the radio back into my pack.

I turned to Jude. “Help’s coming. We just have to survive till then.”

Her eyes were determined. “Surviving’s what I do.”

We kept moving.

The cargo planerattled and groaned as it climbed higher, cutting through thick cloud cover. Jude sat across from me on a bench, arms crossed, gaze distant. I kept my head tilted back against the wall, catching my breath, but my eyes never left her.

Golden Team members moved around us, quickly checking gear and weapons and giving us casual glances. River tossed us a bottle of water.

“Damn, Cyclone,” Tag said shaking his head. You scared the hell out of us. We would have been gone if you had called an hour later.”

I caught the bottle one-handed and gave him a look that shut him up fast, but not before a few of the others agreed we were indeed lucky.

“You two put on one hell of a show back there,” River said. “Whole squad on your heels, and you still made it look easy.”

“It wasn’t easy,” Jude said, her voice flat. “I’m glad Cyclone was with me, or I would be dead right now.”

Everyone quieted a little at that. Good. Let them feel it.

I twisted the cap off the bottle and took a long drink, keeping my focus on Jude. There was a tightness around her mouth, a haunted look she couldn’t quite hide.