Ch 42: The First Trap

The desert winds howled through the skeletal remains of a forgotten world. Twisted steel beams jutted from cracked concrete, remnants of factories and refineries that had long since fallen silent. Kael and Mira wove through the ruins, their crawler kicking up dust and debris as they fought to stay ahead of their relentless pursuers.

The Consortium forces weren't slowing. If anything, Thorn was tightening the noose.

Kael glanced at the console, watching the flickering signals of multiple tracking drones hovering in the sky. The machines weren't just following—they were relaying movement data, cutting off potential escape routes before Kael could even attempt them.

"Thorn's boxing us in," Mira muttered, gripping her rifle. "They're predicting our moves too damn well."

Kael's fingers tapped against the console in thought. "Good. Let them."

Mira's eyes narrowed. "That's not the response I was expecting."

Kael didn't look at her. Instead, he adjusted the crawler's course, making a sharp, seemingly erratic turn that sent them deeper into the ruins. Then another. Then another.

Mira tightened her grip on the seat as the crawler jerked through the remains of a collapsed overpass. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Making us unpredictable," Kael said simply.

Mira didn't buy it. It wasn't just unpredictability. She'd been with him long enough to notice patterns, and this wasn't random. Every sharp turn, every forced detour—it was leading them somewhere.

But she didn't have time to question him. Not yet.

They skidded through a narrow alley, flanked by rusting industrial structures. The sound of approaching engines rumbled behind them. Kael took another sharp turn, sending the crawler through a shattered loading bay filled with broken-down machinery.

A drone hovered overhead, its blue light sweeping across the rubble. Mira cursed and fired, her bullet striking its core. The drone sparked, wobbled, then spiraled into the ground.

"That won't stop them," she muttered.

"It doesn't have to," Kael said. "Just needs to buy us a few seconds."

They burst through the other side of the ruins just as Consortium vehicles swarmed in behind them. Mira twisted around, counting at least three pursuit craft closing fast.

Then she noticed where they were.

A massive steel framework loomed ahead—a crumbling industrial refinery, its skeletal remains forming a maze of catwalks, pipes, and precarious scaffolding. Kael angled the crawler toward it with deliberate precision.

Mira's stomach twisted.

"This isn't a shortcut, is it?" she asked.

Kael's smirk was the only answer she needed.

Thorn's forces followed without hesitation, their engines roaring as they entered the crumbling complex.

Kael drove straight into the heart of the ruins before making a hard turn down a narrow corridor lined with rusted pipes.

"Get ready," he muttered.

"For what—" Mira started, but then she heard it.

A low creaking sound. The groan of stressed metal.

Kael pressed a detonator.

The explosion was controlled, precise—a cluster of shaped charges he had planted earlier, triggered at just the right moment.

With a deafening roar, a section of the refinery collapsed in on itself. Massive steel beams and shattered concrete came crashing down, obliterating the lead pursuit vehicle in an instant and sealing off the corridor behind them.

Mira barely had time to register the chaos before Kael was already accelerating forward, skimming past the debris.

She turned in her seat, watching as dust and fire consumed the passage. The other Consortium vehicles skidded to a stop, trapped on the wrong side of the wreckage.

Kael exhaled. "That should slow them down."

Mira stared at him. "You planned that."

Kael shrugged. "Wouldn't be much of a trap if I didn't."

Mira clenched her jaw. This wasn't just about escaping. He wasn't just reacting to Thorn's pursuit—he was controlling it. Directing it.

"How much of this chase is real?" she demanded.

Kael didn't answer. Instead, he turned the crawler toward the next stage of his plan.

Behind them, Thorn's radio crackled with new orders.

"Reinforcements inbound. Continue pursuit."

The hunt wasn't over yet.