The mountain range took nearly a week to reach by the time Ashworth's team finished coordinating transport, permits, and the small matter of explaining to the academy why Group Three would be absent for an extended research assignment.
"They bought it?" Caleb asked, watching Samuel finish a call with the principal's office.
"Bought it enough not to ask further questions," Samuel said, pocketing the phone. "Ashworth's influence carries more weight than I expected, even with people who technically outrank her on paper."
"Convenient," Nyx said.
"Useful, at least."
The convoy assembled at dawn, considerably smaller than the full staging operation at the Dark Forest, just two vehicles carrying Group Three, Samuel, Ashworth, Corvin, and a handful of specialists Ashworth trusted enough to bring on what she'd repeatedly emphasized was a reconnaissance mission, not a combat operation.
