--:JAY-JAY'S POV:--
The air was bone-dry, tasting of dust and the metallic tang of fear. Kaizar stood over me, He was waiting for the drive—the data that Yuri had entrusted to me.
"The pendrive, Jay-jay,"he said, his voice a low, lethal silk. "Don't make me lose my patience."
Suddenly, a roar tore through the silent woods. "JAY-JAY!"
It was Keifer. He sounded desperate, his voice carrying a raw, protective fury. Kaizar flinched, his head snapping toward the sound of crashing brush on the ridge above us. For a split second, the predator was distracted.
I didn't think. I acted on pure instinct. As Kaizar's back was turned, I collapsed to my knees. My hand dove into my sock, my fingers clawing at the cold silver metal. In one swift, frantic motion, I shoved the pen drive deep into the loose, dry dirt at the base of the massive oak tree behind me. I kicked a pile of dead leaves over the spot, burying the secret just as Kaizar turned back.
"I... I don't have it," Igasped, forcing a sob."I hid it in my room... under the floorboards!"
Kaizar's eyes narrowed. He didn't have time to verify the lie; the sounds of Section E were getting louder. He snapped his fingers. Two men emerged from the shadows. Before I could scream, a blindfold was shoved over my eyes and my wrists were bound tight. I was hauled into the back of a van, and the world began to move at a terrifying speed.
--: KEIFER'S POV:--
"He's moving! North-east!" Edrix's voice was a frantic scream in my ear. "Keifer, they are hitting ninety! They're taking her out of the district!"
I pushed the car to its absolute limit. My mind was a red haze of confusion. Why her? This didn't feel like Kaizar's usual revenge plots. Usually, he went for our territory or our pride. This time, he went for Jay-jay with surgical precision.
"They've stopped,"Edrix shouted."Gate 4. The old packing warehouse."
I drifted the car around the final corner and burst through the warehouse doors just as the rest of Section E arrived in a screeching halt behind me.
The warehouse erupted into chaos instantly. Kaizar's men were professionals, but they weren't prepared for the sheer, unhinged desperation of Section E. It wasn't a fight; it was a war. Section E were a blur of motion, taking down guards with brutal efficiency. Heavy crates were smashed, and the sound of metal clashing against metal echoed through the rafters.
I fought through the center of the storm, my knuckles splitting against tactical vests and jaws. I saw Kaizar near the back exit. He was clutching his side, his face contorted in pain—someone, likely Aries or someone, had landed a heavy blow. Realizing the tide had turned and the "deal" was failing, Kaizar slipped into the shadows of the loading dock, retreating into the night before I could get my hands on his throat.
With their leader gone, the guards scrambled, but I didn't care about them. I saw the van.
Jay-jay was there. Her hands were tied behind her back, her blindfold torn. She was throwing her weight against a guard, trying to headbutt him even as she swayed on her feet. She looked ghostly pale.
"JAY-JAY!" I roared, clearing the final distance.
As I reached her, the guard shoved her away to draw his weapon. Because her hands were bound, she couldn't break her fall. She hit the concrete floor hard. I saw her head snap back, her eyes going glassy.
"Jay!" I dove, catching her just as her eyes rolled back. She looked at me for a single, heartbreaking second. "Keifer... you're here..."
Then, she went limp. Her breathing was shallow. She had hit her head, and the exhaustion had finally won.
--AT HOSPITAL:--
I stood behind the glass of the ICU, my hands pressed against the cold window. The monitors were a chaotic mess of lines.
"Is she going to be okay?" Ci-N whispered, his voice shaking.
I didn't answer. I looked down at my hands—they were covered in the dust from the warehouse floor. Then, I looked at her hands through the glass. Her palms were scratched, and there was dark, fresh earth packed deep under her fingernails.
The ground in the warehouse was concrete. The road was asphalt. You only get dirt like that from digging.
The realization hit me like a physical blow. Kaizar didn't kidnap her to get back at us. He wasn't looking for revenge. He was looking for something she was hiding. He had chased her into the woods, but seeing those fingernails, I realized he had left that forest empty-handed.
Kaizar hadn't won. Not yet.
I looked at her pale face, a cold fire igniting in my chest. She had buried something in those woods—something so important that she chose to be kidnapped and beaten rather than give it up.
"What did you hide, Jay?" I whispered, my forehead hitting the glass. "And why didn't you tell me?"