Rain turned the road into a river of mud and light.
Gunfire cracked through the storm, white flashes splitting the darkness as Dimitri's convoy collided with Specter's ambush.
Engines roaring, tires screeching as Bullets through the air.
Natalia pressed herself against the car door, loading her gun with trembling fingers. She could barely see through the rain, but Dimitri was already out, a shadow moving with ruthless precision, firing between the flashes of lightning.
His men, riders in black, poured down the hillside, their motorcycles weaving through the chaos like predators.
"Dimitri!" she shouted over the noise. "We need to leave now!"
He turned sharply, his hair soaked, blood mixing with rain across his jaw. "Stay low!"
A bullet tore through the windshield inches from her face. She ducked, heart hammering, and fired back. One of Specter's soldiers dropped.
The sound of metal twisting filled the air as a van exploded on the left, flames blooming like flowers in the storm. The heat burned her skin even from a distance of meters away.
Dimitri sprinted back toward her car, sliding across the hood as more rounds tore through the night. He kicked the door open and yanked her out.
"Come on!"
They ran toward the treeline, feet sinking in mud, shots biting at their heels. Behind them, the convoy disintegrated into chaos, fire, and death.
A flare went up, red against the sky.
"That's my signal," Dimitri growled. "They will cover us."
"Who?"
He didn't answer. He just pulled her behind a fallen tree, reloading with the speed of muscle memory.
Natalia pressed against his shoulder, breathless. "Your men..."
"They knew the risk."
His tone was cold, but his hand brushed hers, just for a second and she could feel it, the guilt he'd never say aloud.
The storm roared louder. Somewhere to the right, she saw a masked man raise a launcher.
"RPG!" she screamed.
Dimitri shoved her down as the rocket tore through the clearing, detonating where they'd been seconds before. The blast hurled them backward, sand and smoke swallowing them whole.
When she opened her eyes, everything was muffled and distant, like the world had been drowned in water as her vision swam.
Dimitri's voice cut through the ringing. "Natalia! Look at me, hey.."
He shook her shoulders, checking for wounds. She coughed, blood on her lips, but nodded. "I'm fine…"
"Liar," he muttered, relief flashing through his eyes before he masked it.
They crawled through the wreckage toward the ravine. Dimitri grabbed her hand, dragging her behind him. The flames painted his face in streaks of red and shadow.
At the edge of the ravine, he crouched low, pulling out a small detonator from his belt.
"What are you doing?"
"Buying time."
He pressed the button.
A line of explosions erupted across the hillside, bombs he had planted earlier. The shockwave swallowed the road, cutting off Specter's men from the convoy.
Through the smoke, Natalia saw the silhouettes of burning vehicles, and for a moment, silence returned but brief and cruel.
Dimitri exhaled slowly. "That should slow them down."
"You planned this," she said, realization dawning.
"Specter is not the only one who knows how to set traps."
He turned to her, eyes searching her face as if making sure she was still real. "Can you walk?"
"Yes."
"Good, because we are heading north on foot. There's a safe route through the gorge."
They moved through the darkness, half-running, half-stumbling along the ravine. The rain softened to a drizzle, but smoke followed them, a black trail against the pale dawn.
Natalia's pulse refused to settle. "How many did we lose?"
"Too many," he said quietly. "But they knew what they signed up for."
"That does not make it better."
"No," Dimitri said. "It doesn't."
The path narrowed as they reached a small clearing under the cliffs. Dimitri stopped suddenly, motioning for silence.
Voices.
Natalia crouched behind a rock beside him. Two of Specter's men were moving through the mist, their flashlights cutting faint beams across the trees.
"Orders were to find the girl," one of them said. "Specter said she is a priority."
Her heart jumped. The girl.
Dimitri's expression darkened. He raised his gun, two quick shots, clean and silent. Both men dropped without a sound.
He dragged their bodies aside, checking for comms. "Encrypted," he muttered. "Specter's network runs deep. These aren't just mercenaries, they are trained."
"Trained for what?"
He looked up at her, voice low. "To hunt you."
Natalia's stomach twisted. "Why me? What could Sergei have done to me that Specter wants?"
"I don't know," he said, though his tone betrayed a sliver of doubt.
"You think I'm part of whatever he created," she whispered.
"I think my father destroyed too many lives for me to rule anything out."
The cold honesty in his voice hurt more than the wound on her arm. She turned away, blinking back tears. "Then why are you still protecting me?"
"Because I owe you," he said. "Because you stayed when you could have run."
For a heartbeat, the world stilled. Their eyes met again, not in warmth, but in the fragile, dangerous bond of two people standing on the edge of the same fire.
He looked away first. "Let's go."
They followed the ravine until the trees began to thin. A faint orange glow spread across the horizon as dawn, breaking weakly through the smoke.
Then, from the ridge above them, came a sharp click.
Sniper.
Dimitri didn't hesitate. He shoved Natalia down, rolling over her as a bullet sliced through the air, striking the rock behind them.
"Go!" he shouted, firing upward. "Run!"
She didn't move. "Not without you."
"Now!"
His voice was raw, commanding. She ran, heart pounding, through the trees. Gunfire followed, echoing like thunder.
Behind her, Dimitri's shots answered, steady and merciless.
She stumbled, sliding down the slope until she reached the lower clearing, a half-collapsed stone watchtower, swallowed by vines. She pressed herself against the wall, waiting, praying.
A shadow moved through the trees.
"Dimitri?"
No answer.
Then a hand grabbed her wrist, and she almost screamed until she saw his face, pale and blood-smeared, but alive.
He pulled her into the tower's shelter. "He is gone," he said, breathless. "Sniper's retreating. But he wasn't aiming to kill."
Natalia frowned. "Then what was he aiming for?"
"To mark us."
He held up a piece of metal, a small dart embedded in his vest. It was etched with a symbol: the same phoenix sigil that burned in the sky hours ago.
Her throat went dry. "They are trying to track us."
"Always were."
Dimitri tossed the dart aside, collapsing against the wall. His breath came out ragged, exhaustion finally bleeding through his mask.
Natalia knelt beside him, pressing a hand against his chest. "You need to rest."
He gave a weak, humorless laugh. "Rest stopped being an option the day I was born Volkov."
"Then forget the name," she said. "For one minute. Just… breathe."
He looked at her, and for the first time in hours, the soldier in him faltered. His eyes softened, his jaw unclenched.
"Natalia…"
Before he could say more, a faint buzz cut through the quiet.
Her blood ran cold. "Please tell me that's not..."
Dimitri's gaze shifted upward. The air above them shimmered, a drone descending silently through the dawn mist, red light pulsing beneath it.
A voice crackled through the static.
"You ran well, Volkov. But every road leads home."
Spectar