From what Tyler and Denton said, they completely trusted that old teammate. At the same time, Caroline learned a little about the Black Sword Mercenary Group they used to be part of. Tyler's squad had six members total—two women and four men. One man and one woman had already died on a mission. The remaining woman and man were the ones Tyler had been searching for. Especially the man, Ryan Cole. He was super close with Denton and Tyler, and he was strong too. "I'm looking for him not just because he's a teammate," Tyler said, frowning. "He also knows the location of a really dangerous shipment. It has to be destroyed." "What shipment?" Caroline thought about the mercs' usual style. Maybe it was guns? Tyler's face hardened. "It's a batch of chemical weapons Draylith just finished developing." Caroline shivered. That was serious. "Three days before the comms went down, I was still talking to him. Everything seemed normal. After that, he was supposed to check in daily, but he went silent. Then the comms went out completely. "That shipment could wipe out all of Hornvale. I wanted to find it, then destroy or bury it. It's the apocalypse—buyers are gone. Leaving it out there is a ticking bomb. "And if he actually wants me dead, he could use it to threaten me. Hornvale still has you all in it. Anyone caught up in it wouldn't survive. "Originally, we were going to deliver it to Novaris. Then the squad took another job, and we split up. I was with Denton; he and Clara handled the chemical payload in Draylith. "We were still in touch three days before the apocalypse hit, then all contact was lost." Tyler didn't say more. They needed facts before jumping to conclusions. Caroline didn't push. She remembered that a few days ago, Tyler had asked Francis to help search and had asked Crow about his teammate's whereabouts. Whenever he had a free moment, he checked around Hornvale.Who knew Ryan had other plans? "We'll roll with the punches," Caroline said. They found a hidden spot and started moving everyone out. Medusa and Handsy went into the storage space, and they swapped cars. Since Dyson had seen the first vehicle, they switched to a new one. They knew their location would be found eventually, but delaying it as long as possible was key. They switched into a standard off-road SUV and hit the road. Along the way, they took a few detours and sent Jet and Silver ahead to scout. If anything felt off, they were to alert the team immediately. After four or five hours of careful driving, they were finally near their new base. It was about 4:00 a.m., just before dawn. On that last stretch, no one was following them. Dyson's crew hadn't appeared. Everyone started to relax, ready to make a straight run home. Then, out of nowhere, a man appeared more than 300 feet ahead. He was big and muscular, wearing only shorts. It was the third time they'd run into him. Jet and Silver reported them, confirming the distance. At first, they planned to avoid him—no need to fight. But the man kept appearing, like he had them marked. Even after they switched routes twice, he showed up again a few hundred feet ahead. When he appeared the third time, standing right in the middle of the road, Caroline and the others stopped trying to avoid him and drove straight at him. When they were barely 30 feet away, a dozen more people appeared behind him. They were all shirtless, wearing just shorts. They faced the oncoming SUV, spreading their arms wide. The road was blocked, forming two solid human walls.Tyler frowned and hit the brakes. But the danger wasn't done. They all leaned forward, opened their mouths, and aimed at the ground. Boom! Flames shot up higher than a man. Every single one of them had the same ability—fire users who could spit flames! The fire spread quickly, curling into a blazing ring that surrounded Caroline's SUV.