Chapter 5 - Shadows at the Gate
The drive to the mountains took six hours.
The snow grew deeper,
and the roads became treacherous winding paths.
Elara fell asleep against Phantom’s flank.
The dog stayed awake,
his head resting on the window sill,
watching the trees go by.
I sat in the front seat,
my eyes on the rearview mirror.
No one was following us yet.
But the Council had resources beyond my imagination.
They would have satellites.
They would have trackers.
“Switch the plates at the next clearing,”
I told the driver.
We pulled into an old logging trail.
My men moved quickly,
swapping the vehicle’s identity and spraying it with mud to hide the reflective paint.
I stepped out to stretch my legs,
the mountain air biting at my skin.
It felt clean here.
Away from the city,
away from the stench of death.
I looked at the coordinates again.
They didn't just point to a location.
They pointed to a specific time.
Midnight. Friday.
That was tomorrow.
“Boss,”
one of my scouts called out.
“I’m picking up a signal.”
He held out a handheld scanner.
“It’s a high-frequency burst.
Coming from the girl.”
I froze.
“The girl?”
“It’s faint,
but it’s there.
It’s coming from her shoulder.”
I hurried back to the SUV.
Elara was still sleeping.
I gently peeled back the collar of her coat and then her dress.
There,
just under the skin of her collarbone,
was a small,
unnatural lump.
A tracking chip.
The mercenaries hadn't been trying to find her by sight.
They were following a beacon.
“I need a kit,”
I hissed.
Dr. Vale stepped forward with a medical bag.
“I can remove it,
but I don't have local anesthetic.”
“Do it,”
I said.
“She has to wake up for this.
I won't have her hurt while she’s defenseless.”
I shook Elara gently.
“Hey,
little bird.
I need you to be very brave for me.”
She opened her eyes,
looking confused.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s a little bug under your skin,”
I explained.
“We need to take it out so the bad men can't find us.”
She looked at the scalpel in the doctor’s hand.
She didn't cry.
She didn't even flinch.
She just grabbed Phantom’s collar and squeezed.
“Okay,”
she whispered.
The procedure took less than a minute.
The doctor worked with a steady hand,
extracting a tiny glass tube.
It was blinking with a faint red light.
As soon as it was out,
I crushed it under my boot.
“They’ll know we found it,”
I said.
“They’ll be converging on this location now.”
“We have to move,”
the driver said,
starting the engine.
“No,”
I said.
“We stay.
We give them what they want.”
I looked at the destroyed tracker.
“How many men do we have left?”
“Seven,”
the guard replied.
“And the dogs.”
“Set up an ambush,”
I commanded.
“We aren't running anymore.
We’re going to thin their ranks.”
We moved to a narrow pass where the road was flanked by steep cliffs.
It was a natural bottleneck.
I put Elara and the doctor in a small cave nearby,
with Phantom as their guard.
“If I don't come back,”
I told her,
“the dog knows the way to the old estate.”
She hugged me,
her small arms barely reaching around my chest.
“You’re coming back,”
she said.
“Mommy told me the giants never fall.”
I hoped she was right.
I took my position on the ridge,
my rifle overlooking the trail.
An hour passed.
Then two.
The only sound was the wind.
Then,
the hum of rotors.
They weren't coming by road.
They were coming from the sky.
Two black helicopters appeared over the tree line.
“Get ready!”
I shouted.
The helicopters didn't land.
They dropped fast-ropes.
Men in grey fatigues began to descend.
I took the first shot.
The lead soldier dropped before his feet hit the ground.
My men opened fire from the trees.
The pass turned into a killing field.
One of the helicopters swung around,
its door gunner opening up with a heavy machine gun.
The rocks around me disintegrated into dust.
I dived for cover,
feeling the heat of the bullets passing by.
“Target the tail rotor!”
I yelled.
One of my guards,
a man named Kael,
stood up with an RPG.
He took a deep breath and fired.
The rocket streaked through the air,
hitting the second helicopter square in the tail.
The machine spun wildly,
screaming like a wounded animal,
before crashing into the side of the cliff.
A massive explosion lit up the night.
But the first helicopter was already on the ground.
And the men it had dropped were the elite.
I saw them moving toward the cave.
Toward Elara.
“Phantom!”
I roared into my radio.
“Defend!”
From the cave,
a sound erupted that made my hair stand on end.
It was the sound of the beast unleashed.
I ran down the slope,
ignoring the fire coming my way.
May you like
I wouldn't let them touch her.
Not while there was still breath in my body.
