Page 92 of Echos and Empires
“Victor is already gone,” it said, taunting them with the weight of the words. “You fell for the bait.”
Everything froze, then blazed into motion again. William shot a glance at Alex, his relief transformed into a new kind of urgency, a new kind of fear. They knew what it meant, just as he did. Knew the cost of the time they’d wasted.
“Your pregnant woman is about to become Victor’s prize,” the voice added, cold and precise as a knife.
Alex barely heard William’s voice over the noise, the fury, the wild beat of his own heart. It was all around him, the brutal knowledge of how thoroughly they’d been outplayed, how close Emma was to being taken. They’d left her, left her thinking this would be their chance, their victory. It had never been.
Bash was at his side, his expression hard and urgent, already moving, already acting. “Get to the truck!” he shouted, his voice a command, a lifeline, a desperate cry.
Alex didn’t think, didn’t pause, didn’t stop to consider. He was in motion, pushing, running, rage and fear anddetermination propelling him forward. They couldn’t lose her. Not again.
“Leave the rest,” Bash shouted, the words cutting through the chaos. “We can’t afford to wait.”
“We’re going!” Alex yelled back, the defiance and drive burning bright in his chest. He wouldn’t let it end like this. He wouldn’t let them take her, not when he could already feel her slipping away.
His breath came fast and wild, his feet pounding the metal floors like the beat of a frantic heart. He was out of the chamber, out of the building, barely registering the world as it flashed by in a blur of speed and fury.
They had to get back. They had to get to her before it was too late. Before Victor stole her from them, before he turned all their sacrifices to dust.
Liam in the lead, his mind clearly only on Emma as he moved faster than should have been possible, forgetting his duty to the unit the same way Alex nearly had.
Alex’s fear became a living thing, an animal that tore through the confines of the compound with a fierce, wild momentum. His fear and fury propelled him like a force of nature, but Liam was still faster. Alex moved with the others, through them, his desperation so loud in his head that he couldn’t hear anything else. It was a race against time, against Victor, against everything that threatened to rip her from his arms again. They knew what they had to do. They knew what mattered most.
Get to Emma.
The jungle blurred past Alex in streaks of green, the ground hard and punishing beneath his feet. His movements were a blur of speed and urgency, a furious rhythm that matched the frantic pulse in Alex’s veins. His thoughts were a chaotic tangle of fear and love and the desperate need to get back to her before it was too late. She was everything. He couldn’t lose her again.
Couldn’t.
He pushed harder, the raw burn starting in his legs while the wild beat of his heart threatened to break loose from his chest.
It was all or nothing, and they didn’t have time for nothing. Liam remained ahead of him, fierce and focused, his drive like a magnet pulling the rest of them forward. William was right there, his determination fierce and unyielding. Bash was the shadow of their urgency, a silent presence that gave their desperation form and speed.
Liam snarled something as he broke through a dense line of trees, his voice fierce and raw. Alex couldn’t make out the words, but the meaning was clear, pounding in his head, in his heart, in every gasping breath he took.
They had to reach Emma. Had to. It was the only thing that mattered.
Don’t stop. Don’t lose her.
He remembered the feeling, the raw ache of losing everything when it had all fallen apart before. Remembered how long it had taken to get back to her, to get back to the life they’d barely begun to build. He wouldn’t do it again. He’d tear the world apart first.
Chris.
The name was a brief, fleeting thought as they ran. Was he okay? Had Victor’s men reached them already? It was a new fear, a new terror, but it only drove Alex harder, only made him more determined. He pushed past it, focused on the one thing he could still change, still save. Emma.
The jungle tried to slow the unit, tried to drag them back, but they fought against it, each step an act of love, of sacrifice, of the raw will to win.
“Almost there,” Liam shouted, the words a sharp breath in the frenzy. It was both hope and warning, and it cut through thechaos with brutal clarity. “Jose, get this fucking truck moving, now!”
THIRTY
“Why doesit feel so much more dangerous now? No one knows where we are.” Emma whispered to Ranger, as if whispering—or even talking—to the dog was needed.
She crouched against the cold stone, pulling the blanket tight around her and staring into the darkness as if the shadows held answers. Bash and Alex already confirmed there were no additional entrances to this portion of the cave the day they arrived, so it made no sense for her to stare into the darkness, but fear wasn’t always rational.
Ranger gave a low whine and shifted against her, and she wondered whether his simple mind understood more than hers did. They’d left her here. She should have trusted Chris. Or Liam. Or any of them. She shouldn’t have trusted herself. She had thought she could do this. She had thought she could manage to be alone.
And now the anxiety is going to push you over the edge when you know you’re safe.
