Chapter 169

YENA

It had been hours of sitting in silence with no updates, no nothing, and I was edging into panic on the inside.

Outwardly, I kept my cool. I reminded myself several times that Nolan was the one doing the truly difficult work right now. All I had to do was play the waiting game.

It was just an awful, terribly long time to wait, and I was not in very pleasant company.

I was inside a small tank that was idling at the base of the mountain. Six Gamma warriors were in there with me, including the driver.

We were waiting for Nolan’s signal. He’d insisted on total radio silence until he called and said it was time for backup.

The Gamma warriors sat tall with straight spines, their knees at ninety degree angles, their booted feet flat to the floor. They were still as statues and just as silent. I focused on breathing steadily, telling myself to be patient.

The day grew dark as the hours passed. Storm clouds rolled in and cast the wooded world outside into grayscale. When the sun finally finished setting, a tiny sliver of moon appeared for a minute only. Then it disappeared behind the cloud cover and plunged the mountainside into total blackness.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the satellite phone rang.

Nolan’s commanding voice came booming over the line, which was being broadcast into speakers in all of the royal fleet vehicles.

“Begin ascent,” he said. He repeated it a second time.

The driver in my tank was the one who responded, saying, “Roger. Beginning ascent.”

And then we were on the move, rolling up the winding mountain road as fast as a little tank can go. The soldiers were suddenly activated, double checking their ammo, calling out position confirmations on their radio comms, and generally preparing for action.

All the tanks and trucks stopped at the place where Nolan and his troop of mercenaries had last confirmed their location. They parked and idled in a neat row along the mountain road, facing the forest. Hundreds of bright lights shone into the woods, casting an eerie white glow over the dense forest, making it look haunted.

I was told very firmly to remain in the vehicle as the Gamma warriors piled out into the street. That was perfectly fine with me.

About half of the soldiers swiftly disappeared into the forest. The rest of them lined up along the road and drew their guns, aimed them at the trees and assumed a uniform stance with their feet hips’ width apart. Then they went statue-still once again.

I pressed against the bulletproof window inside the tank, watching. I hardly dared to blink for fear of missing the first glimpse of activity.

At last the looming storm clouds decided they’d had enough waiting of their own. A sudden downpour fell down on us in a sheet of rain, as if a giant water balloon had burst over the peak of the mountain.

The soldiers on the road did not move a muscle. They held their positions as the deluge continued, no doubt soaked to the bone within minutes, and never even flinched.

At last, after more painful waiting, there was movement from the tree line.

My heart leapt up into my throat and decided that was where it was going to live now.

When their hands, heads, faces and bodies finally inched forward into view, I saw it was a group of humans emerging from the forest with their arms held high into the air. They were soaking wet and shivering, every one of them big-eyed with a thousand-yard stare. Gamma warriors flanked the party on either end, their guns down at their sides, escorting and protecting the group.

It was the human hostages. They’d been rescued.

A huge exhale rushed out of my mouth. I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath.

This was definitely a good sign. Something out there was going right. But my heart could not rest yet. It only started beating even faster than before.

That was not going to stop, I knew, until I saw Nolan again.

Once the hostages were out of the woods, their military escorts hurried them downhill and ushered them into waiting ambulances at the end of the line. The humans – there were so many of them! – piled into the big white ambulances fast. Then they were sailing down the mountain, growing small on their way to safety.

Not a minute later, there was more movement. More shapes and shadows within the white-lit trees. A smaller flurry of activity than the hostages had made on their way out.

Maybe it was all the tension and anticipation that drew this inappropriate reaction out of me, I don’t know. But for whatever reason, I burst out into riotous laughter when I saw Harlan Kerr, the Secretary of State, tripping over his feet with Gamma warriors dragging forward him by the elbows. I recognized him from TV and was certain it was him – he had a rather distinctive, bulbous head – even though he looked quite different than he had on the news.

He was in handcuffs and absolutely every inch of him, from that big head down to his toes, was covered in a thick layer of mud. Under the powerful lights, I could see mud flicking off his eyelashes every time he blinked. I watched on as Gamma warriors shackled his feet and locked him in the back of van, then slammed the doors shut.

It was maybe ten minutes later that the rest of them came out. They appeared all at once, it seemed, all of them rain-soaked and mud-splashed.

One of Nolan’s mercenaries, the one with the crazy scar, hobbled forward limping. A Gamma warrior was supporting his weight, holding one arm around the tall man’s waist. There was a mass of fabric wrapped tight around one of his thighs; it was soaked with blood.

Behind them was another of the mercenaries, and he was cradling someone in his arms. Someone who was red all over and limp as a ragdoll.

Medics from the remaining ambulances rushed forward with gurneys. They took the blood-soaked figure first, wheeling the gurney downhill fast once it was loaded.

Then came the arrestees. All of them were handcuffed behind their backs and had at least two Gamma warriors gripping their arms tight and pulling them roughly through the trees.

I recognized more politicians as they were shoved forward under the lights.

One, a brunette woman, I was pretty sure was Harlan Kerr’s sister. I’d seen her on the news a lot lately, too. A bruise covered the right side of her face, her right eye swollen almost completely shut. The others, three men and two women, appeared roughed-up but otherwise uninjured.

Activity suddenly buzzed all up and down the mountain road as the captured fugitives were dealt with, shackled and loaded separately into the backs of different vans and trucks.

Vehicle doors slammed shut, one after the other, and then quiet returned to the mountainside.

My heart was hammering in my throat. It felt like it might jump right out of my mouth.

Nolan and Adan were still out there in the forest somewhere. Alone together, seemed like.

The tree line was still. No more signs of life flickered under the spotlight glare. The rain even stopped, coming to a sudden halt just as quickly as it had started.

I could have easily fallen down into a spiral of worry in the long minutes that followed. But the voice in my head kept me from going over that edge.

Lily reminded me about the airport.

“You will know it when he needs you,” she told me. Her voice was quiet and calm.

I had no reason to doubt my wolf any longer. I didn’t want to question her instincts ever again, not after what she’d done for Nolan.

My own heart was still beating. My own lungs were still breathing.

I had to believe that meant Nolan was still living.