CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER 49: HUNTER’S INSTINCT

Recap – Chapter 48: The Trade

What started as a simple exchange spiraled into chaos. The plan had been clear: meet the buyer, make the trade, and walk away with the information. But the forest became a war zone within minutes. Gunfire erupted from unseen positions, splitting the team apart in the worst possible terrain.

Kael and Aaron were forced to retreat into the thick woodland, losing sight of Milo entirely. Elena, holding the critical USB drive, slipped away in a different direction, intent on keeping it safe — but she wasn’t alone. Hostile forces moved in shadows all around her. Meanwhile, somewhere far away from the chaos, Grayson received a call that might alter the course of the entire mission... and the stakes have never been higher.

Main Story

The forest was too quiet.

Kael hated quiet like this. It wasn’t peace — it was the kind of silence predators made before the kill. The gunfire had stopped five minutes ago, but that didn’t bring comfort. It was worse than hearing bullets fly. At least then, you knew where the threat was.

Silence meant the enemy was moving. Flanking. Herding them.

"Tell me you’ve still got eyes on Milo," Kael whispered into his comm, crouched low behind a fallen log slick with moss.

"Negative," Aaron’s voice crackled through, tense and short. "Lost him two minutes ago. Thermal’s blind. Canopy’s too thick. Either he’s ghosting us... or—"

"Don’t finish that sentence."

Kael’s jaw clenched. Milo wasn’t the type to just vanish without a fight. But the forest had swallowed better men than him.

A sharp snap — a single twig breaking somewhere to his left — froze him mid-breath.

Kael shifted, pistol raised, scanning the jagged shadows. The forest had too many hiding places. Each trunk could be a shield or a coffin.

Aaron’s voice whispered in his ear. "We need to move. They’re pushing us toward the ravine."

Kael cursed under his breath. That was exactly the kind of kill zone he didn’t want to be in. "Break right. Two minutes. Meet at the old pine with the lightning scar."

"Copy."

Somewhere else in the same forest...

Elena pressed herself flat against the rough bark of a cedar, every muscle straining to stay still. Her right hand was wrapped tight around the USB drive — the edges digging into her palm, warm from her body heat. She had been playing cat-and-mouse for twenty minutes now.

She had laid false trails, doubled back, even paused to let her pursuers get close before slipping away again. But the man hunting her wasn’t fooled.

She had seen him twice — tall, lean, with a posture that screamed training. He wasn’t scanning the ground for footprints. He wasn’t even looking around much. No, he was listening. Feeling. Moving in slow, deliberate steps, like he could sense her presence through the air.

Her breathing slowed. If she kept running, he’d track her. If she fought, she had to make it count.

She shifted her grip on the small knife at her hip.

And then — a sound she didn’t expect.

A faint, rhythmic tapping.

She glanced down and saw it — a droplet of blood falling onto the moss.

Her blood. Somewhere along the way, she’d been nicked. That meant she was leaving a trail.

She didn’t have much time.

Far away from the forest, in a dimly lit apartment in the city...

Grayson’s phone rang. Not his personal one — the encrypted, untraceable one. He let it buzz three times before answering.

A voice on the other end was low and calm. "It’s begun."

Grayson leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing. "You’re sure?"

"Every piece is in motion. The trade failed. They’re scattered. This is your window."

Grayson’s fingers drummed on the table. His lips curled into a faint smile. "Then let’s not waste it."

He hung up, stood, and reached for his jacket. Whatever was happening in that forest, it was only the first move in a much bigger game.

Back in the forest...

Kael reached the lightning-scarred pine first, his back pressed to the trunk as he scanned the dark spaces between trees.

Aaron slipped in moments later, his chest heaving. "We’ve got a problem."

"That’s new," Kael deadpanned.

"I think we’re not the only ones being hunted."

Kael frowned. "Elena?"

Aaron nodded. "Caught a glimpse of her heading north. She wasn’t running from the same guys chasing us. Looked like she had her own shadow."

Kael checked his magazine. "Then we find her before he does."

Elena heard him before she saw him.

The soft crunch of boots on leaves. The faint inhale of breath.

He stepped into view — and for the first time, she got a full look at his face. Calm eyes. Expression unreadable. His movements were measured, almost polite, like he wasn’t chasing prey... but inviting her to make the first mistake.

She didn’t move.

His head tilted slightly, like he was studying her.

And then he spoke. "You’ve been bleeding."

Her grip tightened on the knife. "You’ve been following."

"That’s my job."

Something in his tone told her he wasn’t just another hired gun.

She lunged.

Elena’s blade flashed silver in the dim light, slicing through the air toward the man’s throat.

He moved like water — fluid, unhurried — tilting just enough for the knife to miss by a breath. His hand snapped up, catching her wrist, twisting it toward the forest floor.

She shifted instantly, letting the momentum drop her to one knee before slashing upward with her left hand. This time the blade came within an inch of his ribs.

He smiled. A small, almost curious expression.

"You’re good," he said softly, "but you’re thinking like prey."

Her eyes locked on his. "And you’re talking too much."

She drove her shoulder forward, breaking his grip, then pivoted to run — not away, but deeper into the thickest patch of trees. If she couldn’t kill him outright, she’d make him work for it.

He followed. Always at the same pace. Never rushing. Never breaking rhythm.

It was maddening.

Kael and Aaron were moving fast now, ducking under low branches, boots sinking into damp soil.

"Northwest, right?" Aaron asked between breaths.

"Yeah. If she’s not already dead."

"She’s not," Aaron said without hesitation. "Elena’s too stubborn to die."

A sharp burst of motion to their left — a figure darting between trees. Kael raised his pistol, tracking the movement until he realized who it was.

"Elena!"

She didn’t stop running — but she flicked her eyes toward them for half a second before diving behind a fallen log.

Kael and Aaron closed the distance, guns up. And then they saw him.

The man stepped out of the shadows like they were a doorway. Calm. Composed. Empty hands at his sides, but his presence alone felt like a weapon.

Aaron muttered under his breath. "That’s not one of ours."

The man’s gaze drifted from Kael to Aaron, then to Elena.

"She has something of mine," he said.

"You’ll have to kill us first," Kael replied.

A faint smile. "That was the idea."

The fight erupted in an instant.

Kael fired first — three rapid shots aimed center mass. The man moved in a blur, twisting sideways, the rounds tearing into bark instead of flesh.

Aaron swung wide, trying to flank him, but the man read the move and closed the gap on Kael instead. His elbow came up, catching Kael across the jaw hard enough to send him staggering.

Elena took her opening, springing from behind the log with her knife. This time she didn’t aim for the kill — she went low, slicing at his leg. Blood bloomed through the fabric, but he didn’t falter.

Instead, he pivoted, catching Elena by the collar and hurling her into Aaron’s path. Both went down in a tangle of limbs.

Kael recovered, drawing his backup blade. "Aaron, get her out!"

Aaron shoved Elena toward cover. "And leave you here? Not a chance."

The man’s eyes flickered to the treeline — a subtle glance Kael didn’t miss. He was stalling. For what, Kael didn’t know, but the gut-deep warning in his chest said nothing good was coming.

And then the first shot rang out — not from Kael’s team, but from somewhere deeper in the forest.

More were coming.

The crack of the rifle shot tore through the forest, sharp and final.

Kael froze mid-step, instinctively ducking. The sound hadn’t come from the man in front of them — it came from somewhere deeper, farther, like a predator announcing its arrival.

The man’s eyes shifted, narrowing just slightly. Not fear. Not surprise. Recognition.

And that was worse.

Elena’s grip on the knife tightened. Aaron’s hand went to her shoulder.

The forest had gone still — no birds, no wind, just the echo of that one gunshot hanging heavy in the air.

Kael’s voice was low. "We’re not alone."

The man smiled, almost imperceptibly.

"No," he said. "You’re hunted."

Next Chapter — "Ghosts in the Trees"

The trap has been sprung. Caught between the hunter in front of them and unseen sharpshooters in the forest, Kael, Aaron, and Elena must survive a fight they never planned for. But with alliances shifting and secrets unraveling, survival might be the least of their problems...