The word echoed in my mind with the rhythm of the tires on the asphalt. Pregnant. Pregnant. Every mile I drove, the image of Tessa changed. I didn’t just see my wife anymore. I saw a mother. I saw her protecting her belly while seven men held her down. I saw her screaming not for herself, but for the life inside her.
I pulled off the main road about 2 mi from the estate entrance. I knew the layout of the fortress. Victor had bragged about it once at a Christmas party. 12t walls, motion sensors, arm patrols. But every fortress has a flaw. And Victor’s flaw was arrogance. He thought technology could replace vigilance. I parked the truck in a dense patch of woods and continued on foot.
I moved through the forest like a ghost. I was back in the mountains of Tora. The trees were different. The air was thicker, but the mission was the same. Infiltrate, destroy, exfiltrate. I reached the perimeter wall. It was stone topped with electrified wire. I took out a pair of rubber insulated wire cutters.
