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Chapter 16: No More Safehouses
The crack of a branch.
The whisper of boots on leaves.
Eliot heard it a second before the security system lit up like fireworks.
"Get down!" he shouted.
Windows shattered. The cabin erupted in chaos—flashbangs, shouts, and the metallic clatter of tactical boots.
Rina ducked as Eliot pulled her behind the steel-framed kitchen island. Kilo crawled to the back door, blood seeping through his shirt again.
"They're not just here to scare us this time," Eliot muttered. "They want a body."
"How many?"
"Too many."
He reached beneath the floorboards—pulling out a duffel bag with two handguns, three passports, and what looked like a detonator.
"You had a blowout plan?"
"I always have a blowout plan."
Rina glanced at the scar on his arm.
Of course he did.
He tossed her a small pistol. "Only shoot if you have to."
Her hand shook. "I've never—"
"Today's a good day to start."
A second later, the back wall exploded inward.
Kane Corp's operatives moved like phantoms—tactical armor, silent rifles, green lasers.
But Eliot moved faster.
Two were down before they knew what hit them.
Rina helped drag Kilo to the woods, coughing as smoke and light swallowed the cabin behind them.
By the time they reached the creek at the bottom of the hill, the house was gone. Engulfed.
Rina turned to Eliot. "Where now?"
He looked at the rising moon. Cold. Calculating.
"We stop running," he said. "We take the war to them."
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