CHAPTER 194
HARRY'S POV
The decision to fight our way out instead of surrendering came naturally, the way breathing came naturally after years of tactical operations. But as we moved through the jungle toward an extraction point that existed only in our heads, I couldn't shake the feeling that this time we were fighting not just for our lives, but for our children's future.
"Contact left," Lucas's voice was steady in my earpiece as automatic weapons fire erupted from the tree line. "Three hostiles, military formation."
"Suppressing," I replied, laying down covering fire while Skylar and Jax flanked right through terrain that would have been impossible for anyone without our specific training.
But even as we moved with the lethal efficiency that had kept us alive for fifteen years, I could feel the weight of everything we'd built pressing down on us. Three children at home who needed their parents. A foundation that employed dozens of people working to save innocent lives. A legitimate life that had taken years to construct and could be destroyed in a single news cycle.
"Movement ahead," Skylar's voice cut through my thoughts. "Checkpoint at the road junction. Four vehicles, at least twelve personnel."
"Professional grade equipment?" Jax asked.
"Better than professional. Military contractors, probably Eastern European based on the gear configuration."
I processed this information while maintaining my firing position. Someone had hired serious professionals to eliminate us, which meant this wasn't just about stopping our current operation. This was about permanently removing us from the anti-trafficking landscape.
"Claire's voice returned through the comm interference. "You're outgunned and surrounded, Skylar. How many more people have to die because you can't accept that some battles can't be won?"
"How many children have to suffer because good people won't fight the battles that need fighting?" Skylar shot back, her voice carrying the cold fury that meant someone was about to have a very bad day.
"Your children are going to grow up orphans if you don't start thinking tactically instead of emotionally."
The mention of our children hit like a physical blow, forcing me to confront the reality that our commitment to saving other people's kids might leave our own without parents.
"Thermal shows movement in the canopy," Lucas reported. "Snipers, at least three positions."
"Range?"
"Effective range for anything we try to do in open ground."
I could see the tactical situation deteriorating with each piece of information. We were trapped in terrain that favored our enemies, facing professional opposition that had prepared specifically for our arrival.
"Options?" I asked Skylar, though I could see in her posture that she was already calculating something the rest of us wouldn't like.
"We make this expensive for them," she said. "Expensive enough that whoever hired them thinks twice about targeting anti-trafficking advocates in the future."
"That's not an option, that's a suicide mission."
"Is it? Or is it sending a message that some people are too dangerous to hunt?"
Through the jungle, I could hear vehicles repositioning, boots moving through undergrowth, the sound of a net closing around our position. But I could also hear something else - the distant whine of rotors that might mean extraction or might mean more enemies.
"Skylar," Jax's voice was urgent. "Unknown aircraft approaching from the northeast. Single helicopter, moving fast."
"Hostile?"
"Unknown. But the timing is either very good or very bad for us."
The helicopter came into view through the canopy - civilian model, no visible weapons, flying the kind of approach pattern that suggested either rescue or reconnaissance.
"This is Raven Six," an unfamiliar voice crackled through our comm system. "Skylar Mitchell, do you copy?"
"I copy, Raven Six. Identify yourself."
"Federal task force, operating under authorization you requested three months ago. We're here to extract you from a deteriorating situation."
I felt hope bloom in my chest for the first time since this operation had gone sideways. The federal contacts Skylar had been cultivating through our legitimate work had apparently been monitoring our situation.
"Can you confirm identity?" Skylar asked, her operational paranoia overriding hope.
"Authorization code Delta-Seven-Seven-Alpha. Your foundation's emergency protocols specifically requested federal intervention if you went dark during unauthorized operations."
It was exactly the kind of contingency planning that had kept us alive for fifteen years. But it was also exactly the kind of information that could be used against us if our communications had been compromised.
"Skylar," Claire's voice cut through the federal transmission. "That's not a rescue helicopter. That's cleanup crew coming to eliminate witnesses."
"How would you know?"
"Because I'm the one who called them."
The admission hit like lightning, revealing the full scope of the trap we'd walked into. Claire hadn't just betrayed our current operation - she'd used our own emergency protocols against us.
"Raven Six," I called into my comm. "Abort approach. Repeat, abort approach. Landing zone is not secure."
"Negative, ground team. We have authorization to extract you with or without your cooperation."
"That's not how federal extraction works," Lucas observed grimly. "Federal teams don't override field commander decisions about landing zone security."
The helicopter was descending toward a clearing fifty meters from our position, its rotors churning jungle vegetation into a whirlwind that would provide perfect cover for ground forces to advance undetected.
"It's a kill box," Skylar said with flat certainty. "They want us in that clearing so they can eliminate us without having to hunt us through the jungle."
"Then we don't go to the clearing," I said.
"Then they come into the jungle after us with superior numbers and professional equipment."
"Better odds than standing in an open field while they shoot us."
Through the comm interference, Claire's voice returned with what sounded like genuine sadness. "Skylar, I'm sorry. I tried to give you chances to walk away. But you're too dangerous to be allowed to continue."
"Dangerous to whom?"
"To an industry that employs millions of people and generates billions in revenue. You think you're fighting evil, but you're actually threatening economic systems that entire governments depend on."
"Economic systems built on slavery."
"Economic systems built on reality. Human trafficking will exist whether you approve of it or not. The question is whether it's managed by professionals or left to sadistic amateurs."
The helicopter had landed, and I could see armed figures moving through the vegetation toward our position. Not rescue personnel - elimination specialists.
"Last chance," I said to Skylar, though I already knew what her answer would be.
"We fight," she said simply. "For our children, for the victims we couldn't save, and for the idea that some things are worth dying for."
"Together?" Jax asked.
"Together," she confirmed.
As we prepared for what might be our final battle, I realized that this moment represented everything our relationship had always been about - choosing love over safety, principle over survival, each other over everything else the world had to offer.
But looking at Skylar's face as she prepared to fight impossible odds for the sake of strangers she'd never meet, I wondered if our children would understand that their parents had died for something meaningful.
Or if they'd just grow up believing that love wasn't strong enough to keep families together.
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