FLIGHT TO ALASKA

The C-130's engine roared. Anya pressed her forehead against the cold metal wall and tried to breathe through the panic.

Ninety minutes. Her sister had ninety minutes before the procedure became irreversible.

They were still 4,000 miles away.

"Hey." Nikolai dropped beside her. Not Dimitri. Not Alexei. Nikolai, the violent one, the one who laughed at death. "You good?"

"No."

"Fair enough." He pulled out a flask. Offered it. "Vodka. Good stuff. Not the shit they sell in America."

She took it. Drank. Fire down her throat. "Thanks."

"You're thinking we won't make it." Not a question.

"We won't. The math doesn't work. Even if we breach perfectly. Even if we fight through thirty guards without casualties. We'll never reach her in time."

"Probably not." He took the flask back. Drank. "So we don't fight through. We go around."

"There is no around. The facility is a fortress."

"Every fortress has a weakness." Nikolai pulled out his phone. Showed her schematics. "This vent system. Runs through the whole facility. Connects to the medical wing."

"The vents are too small. A person can't..."

"I can." He smiled. Feral. "I'm smaller than Dimitri. Smaller than Alexei. And I've done tight spaces before. Mogadishu. Baghdad. Places where doors were death traps."

Understanding dawned. "You crawl through the vents. While we create a diversion."

"Exactly. You three hit them loud. Draw every guard. While I crawl through this air shaft..." He traced the route. "...pop out in the medical wing, grab your sister, exfil through the same vent."

It was insane. The air shafts were barely two feet across. One wrong turn, one moment of panic, and he'd be trapped. Die slow in the darkness.

"Why?" she asked. "Why risk that for someone you don't know?"

"Because you're pack." Simple. Absolute. "Because Dimitri loves you. Because the bond is complete and you're Luna." He met her eyes. "And because I know what it's like to lose family. To watch them die while you're powerless. I won't let that happen to you."

The bond pulsed. Not her connection to Nikolai, that was different, pack but not mate, but through Dimitri. She felt his awareness of their conversation. His approval.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't thank me yet. Wait until we all survive." He stood. Offered his hand. "Come on. Dimitri's about to have an aneurysm worrying about you."

She let him pull her up. Followed him to where Dimitri sat checking weapons. Preparing for war.

"You two plotting?" Dimitri asked without looking up.

"Always." Nikolai grinned. "I'm going to crawl through air shafts like a demented Santa Claus.

Anya and you are going to shoot everyone. Alexei's going to blow shit up. Good times."

Dimitri finally looked up. At Anya. Through her. The bond let him feel her fear, her desperation, her fragile hope that maybe, maybe, they could save Katya.

"Come here," he said.

She went. Let him pull her down beside him. Let him wrap his arms around her, solid, warm, alive.

"We'll get her," he said against her hair. "I promise."

"Don't promise things you can't guarantee."

"Then I promise I'll die trying. Better?"

It shouldn't be better. But it was. Because the promise meant something. Meant he'd fight until his last breath. Meant she wasn't alone in this.

"I love you," she said. Simple. True.

"I know." He kissed her temple. "I can feel it.

Through the bond. Constant. Like a heartbeat."

"Is it always like this? The bond?"

"I don't know. You're my first mate. My only mate." His arms tightened. "But if it is...if I get to feel you like this forever...I'll die a happy man."

"Don't talk about dying."

"Why not? We're probably going to."

"Dimitri..."

"I'm serious." He pulled back. Made her look at him. "The odds are shit. We all know it. So if this is it....if we die in Alaska trying to save your sister...I want you to know it was worth it."

"Worth it?"

"Meeting you. Mating you. Having you as my Luna." He touched her face. Gentle. "You made me remember what it's like to care about something other than survival. Other than the Bratva. You made me feel."

She was crying. Couldn't help it. The tears just came.

"Don't cry, milaya. We haven't lost yet."

"I'm not crying because we're losing. I'm crying because..." She couldn't finish. The emotion too big for words.

He understood anyway. The bond carried what language couldn't.

They sat like that. Wrapped in each other. Until Alexei appeared.

"We're twenty minutes out," he said. "Time to prep for the jump."

Right. The jump. The insane HALO insertion that had seemed like a good idea when they'd planned it.

Now, staring at the cargo door, Anya felt doubt creeping in.

"You've done this thirty times," Dimitri said. Reading her. "You can do it once more."

"I've done it thirty times. You've done it never. Neither has Alexei or Nikolai."

"Then we trust you to talk us through it."

She nodded. Started helping them into their rigs. Double-checking connections. Making sure altimeters were calibrated.

"Remember," she said over the engine roar. "Exit clean. Arch your back. Arms and legs spread. Track toward me if you drift. Pull at 2,000 feet. Exactly 2,000."

"And if we fuck up?" Alexei asked.

"Try not to." She managed a smile. "I like you guys."

The plane climbed. 15,000 feet. 20,000. 25,000.

The air got thin. Cold. Anya put on her oxygen mask. Helped the others with theirs.

"Five minutes!" Marcus called.

Anya moved to the door. The ramp was already lowering. Wind roared. Below, Alaska. Endless wilderness. Somewhere down there, Katya was running out of time.

"One minute!"

Dimitri appeared at her shoulder. She felt him through the bond, nervous but determined. Trusting her. Trusting this insanity.

"Stay close," she said. "Don't try to show off. Just follow my lead."

"Always."

The light turned green.

"Go! Go! Go!"

She jumped.

Free fall. The world fell away. Wind so loud it drowned out thought. Cold that stole breath.

She arched. Controlled her descent. Behind her, three shapes. The brothers. Following.

Good. They were together.

Fifteen seconds of fall. Twenty. The ground rushing up, mountains and snow and frozen death.

She checked her altimeter. 10,000 feet. 8,000. 6,000.

Almost time.

3,000 feet.

2,000.

She pulled.

The chute deployed. Perfect. She grabbed the toggles. Started steering toward the landing zone, a clearing two miles from the facility. Close enough to move fast. Far enough to avoid immediate detection.

Above her, three more chutes. The brothers had made it. All alive. All...

Alexei's chute malfunctioned.

She saw it happen. Saw the canopy twist. Saw him start to spin. Accelerating. Dropping fast.

"Alexei!" She keyed her comm. "Deploy your reserve! Now!"

He was trying. She could see him reaching. But the main chute was twisted around him. Tangled. Preventing...

He cut away. Emergency procedure. Released the main chute. Free-falling again.

1,000 feet.

He pulled his reserve.

It deployed. Barely. Partially inflated. Enough to slow him but not stop him.

He hit hard.

Anya landed twenty seconds later. Unclipped. Ran toward where Alexei had gone down.

Found him in a snowbank. Not moving.

"Alexei!" She dropped beside him. Checked vitals. Pulse, weak but there. Breathing, shallow. Blood seeping through his jacket.

"Fuck." Dimitri appeared. Then Nikolai. "How bad?"

"Bad. Broken ribs. Maybe internal bleeding. He needs a hospital."

"Hospital's forty minutes away," Nikolai said. "We don't have forty minutes."

Anya looked at Alexei. At the blood. At the way he wheezed with each breath.

Looked at the facility glowing in the distance.

Where her sister was running out of time.

"We split up," she said. Voice steady. Professional. The operator making the call. "Dimitri and I continue to the facility. Nikolai...you stay with Alexei. Get him stable. Call for extraction."

"Anya..."

"We don't have time to argue!" She looked at Dimitri. "We stick to the plan. Hit them hard. Get Katya. Get out."

"With two people instead of four. Against thirty-plus hostiles."

"Yes."

Dimitri looked at his brother. At Alexei bleeding in the snow. At the impossible choice.

Save his brother. Or save her sister.

The bond pulled. She felt his anguish. His loyalty torn between blood family and chosen family.

"Go," Alexei rasped. His eyes opened. Focused. "Go. Get the girl. I'll... I'll be fine."

"Alexei..."

"That's an order, Pakhan." A weak smile. "Don't make me... repeat myself."

Dimitri knelt. Pressed his forehead to his brother's. Some wordless communication. Then he stood.

"Nikolai. Keep him alive."

"Always, brother."

Then they were running. Anya and Dimitri. Through snow. Through darkness. Toward the facility that might be their tomb.

"New plan," Anya said between breaths. "We breach. I go for Katya. You provide covering fire."

"I'm not letting you go alone."

"You have to. Two targets...they can split their attention. One target moving fast...harder to track. Harder to stop."

"Anya..."

"Trust me. Please. This is what I'm trained for. Solo infiltration. Quick extraction."

The bond sang. She felt his resistance. His desperate need to protect her. But also his understanding. His acceptance that she knew what she was doing.

"Okay," he said finally. "But we stay on comms. Constant updates. Any trouble..."

"You come running. I know."

They hit the facility perimeter. Chain-link fence. Razor wire. Motion sensors.

Anya placed a charge. Small. Precise. "Breaching in three. Two. One."

The charge blew. The fence collapsed.

Alarms. Immediate. Shrieking.

"So much for stealth," Dimitri muttered.

"Stealth is overrated." She was already moving. Toward the maintenance entrance. "We go loud. Fast. Violent."

They hit the door. She placed another charge. Bigger this time. Blew the lock clean off.

Inside, corridors. Sterile. Empty. Too empty.

"It's a trap," Dimitri said.

"Obviously. But we spring it anyway."

They moved. Fast. She took point. Rifle up. Scanning corners. Dimitri at her six.

The first guards appeared. Five of them. Armed. Ready.

Anya didn't hesitate. Double-tap. Center mass. The first guard dropped. Second. Third.

Dimitri got the other two.

"Keep moving!"

They ran. Through corridors. Past offices. Past labs. Following the blueprint in her head.

The medical wing was close. So close.

Then her phone buzzed.

She almost ignored it. Almost kept running. But something made her check.

New message. Photo attached.

She opened it. Saw...

Katya. In a medical chair. Restrained. IVs in her arms. And standing over her...

Dr. Chen. The therapist. The one who was supposed to be dead.

The message was simple:

MEDICAL WING. ROOM 7. COME ALONE OR SHE DIES. - CHEN

Anya stopped. Stared at the phone.

Dr. Chen. Alive. Working with Eleanor. Part of this from the beginning.

"What is it?" Dimitri asked.

She showed him.

He cursed in Russian. "It's bait."

"I know."

"You go in there alone, you die."

"Probably."

"Anya..."

"What choice do I have?" She looked at him. Let him feel her desperation through the bond. "She's my sister. My blood. I have to try."

"Then we try together."

"Dimitri..."

"Together." Alpha command. Final. "I'm not letting you walk into a trap alone. We're pack. We go together or not at all."

The bond sang. She felt his certainty. His absolute refusal to let her face this alone.

"Okay," she said. "Together."

They moved toward the medical wing. Room 7.

Where Dr. Chen waited.

Where Katya was running out of time.

Where everything would end. One way or another.

The door was unmarked. Unremarkable. But Anya felt the weight of it. The finality.

She looked at Dimitri. "Ready?"

"No. But let's do it anyway."

She kicked the door open. Went in fast. Gun up.

Ready for anything.

What she found...

Dr. Chen. Smiling. Standing over an empty chair. No Katya. No sister. Just a recording, screaming, crying, the sounds of terror, playing on a loop.

"Hello, Agent Volkov," Dr. Chen said. "Surprise."