Shawn's POV
The corridors still stank of blood and gunpowder. The guard's words echoed in my head like a drumbeat: They took the scientist.
My jaw locked. Tesfaye sat pale on his cot, his eyes darting between me and the broken guard. He didn't have to say a word for I could see it in his face. This was more than just an attack. It was a theft of something deeper.
"They'll move him fast," I said. "Talon won't keep him in the city. By sunrise, he'll be gone."
Virginia folded her arms. "Then we don't wait for sunrise."
Steve frowned. "Adawe told you to protect Tesfaye. Not give chase."
The tension in the room was thicker than the smoke outside. My instincts screamed one thing; my orders another.
Tesfaye leaned forward, sweat gleaming on his brow. "You don't understand. That man, that scientist, he knows things. Sensitive projects. If Talon forces him to speak…" He shook his head. "It could undo everything we've built."
That was all the confirmation I needed.
I turned to Steve and Dwayne. "You two hold this room. Nobody in or out unless I say so."
Steve sighed, "I get why, and I know that at this point there's no convincing you, but if you do this, you're breaking orders."
"Then it won't be the first time," I muttered.
The city was alive with panic, alarms wailing through the night. Columns of smoke twisted skyward from a dozen different neighborhoods where gunfire had flared. My boots pounded cracked pavement as Virginia, Spencer, and I weaved through the crowd.
"Where are we even going?" Spencer asked, his rifle clutched tight.
"They can't have taken him far," I said. "Not with the chaos still fresh. Look for signs, vehicles leaving too fast, guards acting nervous. Talon moves in shadows, but even they still leave footprints."
We reached the edge of the black market, where traders were already shuttering their stalls. The air buzzed with nervous voices, rumors spreading faster than the smoke.
Virginia grabbed a merchant by the arm. "Did you see anything? Convoy, men with rifles, foreign faces?"
The man shook his head wildly and pulled away, vanishing into the crowd.
Spencer swore under his breath. "This is useless. They'll be halfway out of the city by now."
"No," I said, scanning the rooftops. "They'll need an extraction point. Air or ground. Ethiopia's got checkpoints to the south and east, but the north routes, those are barely manned. That's where they'll head."
Virginia's eyes narrowed. "You sound awfully sure."
"I know how Talon moves," I said quietly.
Virginia just looked at me. Not saying anything back.
We caught sight of them just past midnight. A line of armored trucks idling on cracked asphalt, their headlights dimmed. Men in black armor moved around them with sharp precision, rifles slung.
And at the center blindfolded, wrists bound, the scientist stumbled between two Talon agents.
"There," I hissed, dropping low behind a broken wall. Electricity crawled down my arms, itching for release.
Virginia raised her rifle. "We take the guards first, fast and quiet."
Spencer grimaced. "Fast and quiet? With you here? Yeah, you're quite the assassin, Virginia."
I ignored him, eyes locked on the captive.
One of the Talon trucks revved, its engine rumbling to life. Time was bleeding away.
"On my mark," I whispered.
We moved like shadows, but Talon wasn't stupid. The moment Virginia's shot cracked, chaos erupted. Muzzles flashed, tracer rounds cutting through the night.
I surged forward, arcs of lightning flaring from my palms. One Talon operative screamed as his rifle sparked, the circuits frying in his hands. Another lunged at me with a blade, but a kick sent him sprawling.
"Spencer, right flank!" I shouted.
Bullets hissed past. Spencer ducked, rolled, and fired, dropping two in quick succession. Virginia picked off another at the rear, her cover fire precise as a scalpel.
Through it all, the scientist stumbled, shoved toward the waiting truck.
"No you don't."
I sprinted, my katana flashing free, carving through the straps of the guard hauling him. The man snarled and lunged, but a surge of bioelectricity left him convulsing on the ground.
The scientist collapsed into my arms, trembling. His eyes widened as the blindfold slipped free. "Y-you shouldn't have come. They'll..."
A roar cut him off. One of the Talon trucks burst forward, its grill glowing. Mounted on top, a heavy plasma cannon swiveled toward us.
"Down!" I shouted, dragging him to the ground as a searing bolt of energy lit up the night.
The wall behind us disintegrated into molten stone.
Spencer swore. "Boss, we can't hold this!"
Virginia snapped another shot. "We fall back or we fry!"
I clenched my teeth, energy crackling around me. The scientist clutched my sleeve, panic in his voice. "They'll never stop. Not until I'm theirs."
I met his eyes. "Then we'll just have to make sure they never get the chance."
We fell back through the ruins, gunfire snapping at our heels. My power lashed out, frying circuits, stalling engines long enough to slow pursuit. By the time we reached the city's edge, the trucks had turned back, unwilling to press deeper into the maze of streets.
Safe...for now.
The scientist collapsed against a wall, gasping. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His voice shook. "You don't understand what you've done."
I crouched in front of him. "Then explain it to me. Why does Talon want you so badly?"
His eyes darted between us, then down to his bound wrists. His silence spoke louder than words.
Virginia crossed her arms. "He knows something. Something Tesfaye's been hiding."
I nodded slowly. "And now Talon knows too."
The weight of it pressed on me like iron. We'd saved him...for now. But the war for his knowledge had just begun. And I wasn't sure which side he truly stood on.