ARIA
The three-mile hike through darkness was worse than Lyssa's assessment suggested.
Dense forest. Uneven terrain. No moonlight because cloud cover blocked everything that might have made navigation easier. We moved with night-vision equipment that turned everything green and distorted and made every shadow look like potential threat.
"We're two miles in," Lyssa whispered after ninety minutes of silent movement. "One mile to the research station perimeter. This is the point where we're most vulnerable to patrol detection."
Through our connection I felt Kael's team approaching the warehouse, felt him preparing for the distraction breach that would pull Marcus's attention away from our approach.
Felt the moment when they breached and alarms activated and chaos erupted at the warehouse complex.
"Kael's team just hit the warehouse," I said. "We have the distraction window. How long to the research station from here?"
