Chapter 9: Fire on the Horizon
904 Words
The air turned colder the farther they drove from Las Rocas, as if the coastline itself had exhaled its last warmth the moment they left Gabriel behind. The canister containing Elena’s unaltered blood sample sat locked in the glove compartment between her and Kai, humming with significance.
No one spoke for a long time.
Elena stared out the window, watching the dense forests blur past. Her mind reeled with Gabriel’s words—You were the prototype. Her heart felt like it was being pulled in opposite directions: between the mother she never truly knew and the father who had built her life on a lie.
In the backseat, Ivy was typing on a secure tablet, decrypting Gabriel’s backup files. “There’s more than just blood records,” she said suddenly. “There are locations, lab names, asset IDs. This—” she held up the screen “—this could take him down.”
Kai gripped the steering wheel tighter. “If we survive long enough to leak it.”
Elena turned her gaze to the road. “Someone’s following us.”
Kai didn’t flinch. “I know.”
—
The black SUV appeared in the rearview like a shadow emerging from the trees—silent, steady, menacing. Not fast enough to draw attention. Not slow enough to dismiss.
“Same plates as in Salcedo,” Ivy muttered. “Rodrigo’s elite clean-up crew. Tier One.”
“How many?” Elena asked.
“Usually six. Trained in exfil and erasure.”
Elena inhaled sharply. “They’re not here to bring us back.”
“No,” Kai said. “They’re here to erase us.”
—
The chase began the moment Kai turned off the main road and onto a crumbling back route that snaked toward an abandoned mining village. Trees closed in like claws, their shadows thick and twitching in the headlights. Ivy initiated the jammer. Elena braced herself.
The SUV sped up.
Gunfire shattered the back windshield.
Elena ducked. Ivy cursed, returning fire through a side window. Kai didn’t stop.
“Hold on!” he shouted, jerking the wheel.
They careened through a rusted fence and into the collapsed mining grounds. Old warehouses loomed like dead gods. Kai cut the engine and killed the lights. Silence fell.
Then: the unmistakable crunch of approaching boots.
“We don’t have much time,” Ivy whispered.
Elena clutched the canister. “Split up. We lead them away. I’ll be the decoy.”
“No,” Kai snapped. “They’ll shoot on sight.”
“I’m not asking for permission.” Her voice was steel. “I’m the one they want. And they’ll follow me if they think I’m alone.”
Ivy locked eyes with her, then nodded slowly. “You have five minutes. Then we meet at the drainage tunnel.”
Kai looked like he was about to argue, but Elena touched his arm. “You taught me how to survive, remember?”
He searched her face, then gave a grim nod. “Don’t die.”
She smiled faintly. “Not today.”
—
Elena ran, her footsteps echoing against cracked concrete and rusted beams. She weaved through the ruins, letting just enough sound trail behind her to lure them.
Gunshots rang out.
Dust exploded from the wall near her head. She ducked behind an old generator, heart thudding, every breath sharp with adrenaline.
They were closing in.
One figure stepped into view—black combat gear, visor glinting.
She grabbed a rock and flung it toward the far end of the warehouse. The echo bought her two seconds. She dashed left, down into a collapsed loading bay.
Suddenly—
A hand yanked her back into the shadows.
Elena nearly screamed.
“Shh—it’s me.”
Kai.
“I thought—”
“I couldn’t let you go alone.”
He pulled her behind a rusted truck just as another soldier entered. They watched, barely breathing, as the enemy scanned the space.
One wrong move. One cough. One breath too loud.
But then—
A gunshot.
Not at them. From the other side.
Ivy.
The soldier spun and sprinted in the direction of the sound. Kai squeezed Elena’s hand. “Now.”
They ran.
—
The drainage tunnel was hidden beneath a pile of sheet metal and wild grass. Ivy was already inside, flashlight bobbing as she signaled them forward.
Once sealed behind the tunnel’s gate, Elena collapsed against the damp wall, chest heaving.
“That was too close,” Ivy said, checking her gun.
Kai looked at Elena. “You sure you’re okay?”
She nodded. “I’m not broken.”
“No,” he agreed, softer now. “You’re just getting stronger.”
Elena pulled the canister from her bag and stared at it. “They want to erase me. Because I exist. Because I’m proof he’s not a god—just a man who turned love into a lie.”
Ivy stepped closer. “What do we do now?”
Elena met her eyes. “We go public. We leak everything—Gabriel’s files, my blood test, the corruption, the names. We burn Rodrigo’s empire down to the roots.”
Kai’s voice was quiet. “Once we do this, there’s no turning back.”
“There never was,” Elena said.
Outside, in the darkened world above, Rodrigo’s hunters were already retreating—empty-handed for now.
But war had been declared.
- Writer
