CHAPTER 161
JAX'S POV
I watched Henry's helicopter disappear over the mountain ridge, carrying away the woman I loved and our unborn child, and felt something break inside my chest that I'd never experienced before. Not grief - grief was what you felt when someone was gone forever. This was pure, focused rage mixed with the desperate certainty that I would tear apart anyone who stood between me and getting them back.
"Tracking signal is strong," Lucas reported, his fingers flying over his tablet as he monitored the beacon Skylar was carrying. "They're heading northeast, probably toward that private airfield we identified during reconnaissance."
"How long until they reach it?" Harry asked, already checking his weapon and preparing for pursuit.
"Twelve minutes at current speed."
"And how long until we can intercept?"
"If we commandeer one of the Swiss helicopters? Eight minutes. But Skylar will be in the air and gone before we can mount an assault."
I stared at the tactical display showing Skylar's position moving steadily away from us, feeling the helplessness that came with being unable to protect the people you loved most. But underneath the desperation was something else - the absolute faith that Skylar had a plan.
She always had a plan.
"She's not just surrendering," I said, thinking out loud. "She's positioning herself for something."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Think about it. Skylar could have stayed in cover, could have let us fight our way to an extraction point. Instead, she walked out into the open and demanded that Henry come get her personally."
"Because she knew we'd track her," Lucas said, understanding beginning to dawn. "She's not being captured - she's infiltrating."
"Infiltrating what?"
"Henry's primary base of operations. The place where he's been coordinating his trafficking networks, where he keeps his intelligence files, where he stores evidence of his crimes."
I felt hope beginning to replace despair as the logic of Skylar's sacrifice became clear. She wasn't just protecting us from the firefight - she was giving us access to the one location where we could destroy Henry's entire organization.
"But she's seven months pregnant," Harry pointed out. "Whatever she's planning, she can't execute it alone."
"She's not alone. She's got us."
My tablet chimed with an incoming message, encrypted and routed through channels that only Skylar knew how to access. When I opened it, I found detailed schematics of what looked like a fortified compound, along with security protocols and guard rotations.
"How the hell did she get this?" Lucas breathed, looking over my shoulder.
"She's been preparing for this confrontation longer than we realized," I said, scrolling through intelligence reports that were more detailed than anything our official sources had provided. "Look at the timestamps. She's been gathering information about Henry's operations for months."
"While pregnant and running UN missions," Harry added. "When did she have time to conduct this kind of surveillance?"
"The same way she had time to record William's conversations and build a case against him. She never stopped being a weapon, Harry. She just got better at hiding it."
The helicopter tracking display showed that Skylar had reached the airfield and was being transferred to what looked like a private jet. Within minutes, she'd be airborne and heading toward whatever secure location Henry used as his primary base.
"We need transport," I said, already moving toward the Swiss military units that were regrouping after the firefight. "Something fast enough to follow that jet."
"The Swiss aren't going to just loan us military aircraft for an unauthorized international pursuit," Lucas pointed out.
"Then we don't ask permission."
I approached the Swiss commander, a professional-looking woman in her forties who was coordinating medical evacuation for the wounded. She looked up as I approached, her expression wary but not hostile.
"Commander," I said in careful German, "my name is Jax Morrison. The pregnant woman who was just taken is my partner, and she's carrying intelligence that could expose an international trafficking network."
"I'm aware of the situation, Mr. Morrison. My government is coordinating with UN Security to—"
"With respect, Commander, by the time your government finishes coordinating, she'll be dead and Henry Mitchell will have disappeared with evidence that could save thousands of children."
"What are you proposing?"
"I'm proposing that you let us borrow one of your helicopters to pursue that aircraft. Unofficially."
"Absolutely not. I can't authorize civilian personnel to—"
"Commander," Harry interrupted, having appeared beside me with Lucas in tow, "six hours ago, we coordinated the rescue of fifteen kidnapped children, including the daughter of an Interpol agent. We've spent the past two years dismantling trafficking networks across four continents. We're not civilians - we're the people who do the jobs that governments can't."
The commander studied our faces, probably trying to determine whether we were heroes or criminals. Finally, she spoke into her radio in rapid German.
"What did you tell them?" I asked.
"I told them that three UN contractors needed emergency transport to continue a humanitarian mission," she said. "The helicopter will be fueled and ready in ten minutes."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet. If this goes wrong, if you start an international incident or get killed in the process, my government will deny any knowledge of your activities."
"Understood."
As we prepared for departure, Lucas pulled up satellite tracking data showing the route of Henry's jet. "They're heading toward Romania. Looks like they're making for a private airstrip about fifty kilometers outside Bucharest."
"How do you know that's where they're going?"
"Because that's where Skylar's intelligence reports say Henry's primary compound is located. She's been planning this infiltration for months, probably since she first learned he was still alive."
I felt a mixture of pride and terror at the thought of Skylar walking voluntarily into Henry's stronghold. Pride because it was exactly the kind of brilliant, dangerous gambit that had made her legendary. Terror because she was carrying our child into the heart of enemy territory.
"She knows we're coming," Harry said, as if reading my thoughts. "Whatever she's planning, she's counting on us to be there when she needs us."
"Then we'd better not let her down."
As the Swiss helicopter lifted off and began the long flight toward Romania, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were racing toward either the most spectacular rescue operation of our careers or the most devastating failure.
But watching the sunset paint the mountains in shades of gold and crimson, I realized that it didn't matter which outcome awaited us.
Skylar had taught me that love meant being willing to follow someone into hell itself if that's what it took to bring them home.
And hell was exactly where we were heading.
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