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Chapter 20: One Shot, One Exit
The second Voss said her name—Echo—everything collapsed.
Eliot reached for his weapon.
Too late.
Hidden turrets dropped from the ceiling. Electric pulses surged through the floor.
Rina fell first, gasping. Then Eliot.
They woke separately.
Rina strapped to a medical gurney, hands numb.
Eliot locked in a cell, watching her through a wall of glass he couldn't break.
Savannah's voice crackled in his comm.
"Abort the mission."
He blinked, blood running from his temple.
"No," he growled.
"They have her. We wipe the data and walk."
Eliot turned toward the door. "I don't leave people behind."
"You did once," Savannah snapped.
Silence.
Eliot stared at Rina, who was staring back—not with fear.
With trust.
"I'm not that man anymore," he said.
He tore open a vent. Pulled a charge from his boot.
Savannah cursed. "You'll die."
"Then I die changing something."
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Rina watched Voss enter.
He smiled with practiced calm.
"You have no idea how special you are," he said.
"I do," she replied. "I'm the reason you're going to lose."
He leaned close.
"No, Echo. You're the reason I'm going to live forever."
Behind him—the lights flickered.
Alarms howled.
The wall shattered as Eliot burst through, covered in blood and dust.
Rina screamed, "Now!"
He tossed her a blade.
She caught it mid-air.
And stabbed Voss's injector hand before it could reach her neck.
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They ran.
Savannah met them at the evac tunnel, fire blooming behind her like a second sun.
"Next time," she said breathlessly, "we follow my plan."
Eliot grinned, barely.
"But then you'd miss the fun."
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