RONAN The disbelief in Nguyen's eyes evaporated in an instant, wiped clean and replaced by something far darker. Pure menace settled into his expression, hard and unmistakable. "Listen here," he began. He never finished. His head snapped violently to the side, like he had been struck. His right hand shot up, palm slapping against the side of his helmet, fingers pressing hard over the ear as if trying to hold his skull together. Lucas, Elena, and I all looked up at the same time. A heavy, bone deep thud reverberated through the ceiling above us, followed by the unmistakable scrape of something large skidding across wooden floorboards. The sound crawled straight down my spine. "Everyone down!" Nguyen bellowed.My body betrayed me. Confusion locked my muscles in place, freezing me upright as my brain scrambled to catch up. Lucas didn't hesitate. He lunged forward, grabbing Elena and hauling her down with him. They hit the tile hard, the impact echoing through the room. Nguyen moved faster than thought. He vaulted the kitchen island in a blur of armored motion, boots barely grazing the countertop, just as the front windows detonated inward. The explosion of glass and wood was deafening. Shards, splintered shutters, and debris screamed through the air like shrapnel. The roar of gunfire ripped into the house, bullets tearing through walls and furniture, drowning out everything else. I barely registered Nguyen slamming into me before we hit the floor together. Pain detonated along my ribs, still tender, as his armored weight crushed me against the unyielding stone tile.For a split second, my mind fractured, unable to decide which hurt worse, the man pinning me down or the floor grinding the breath out of my lungs. Nguyen rolled off me immediately, already moving, already fighting, while I lay there gasping like a landed fish, lungs refusing to draw air. My chest burned. My vision swam. He snapped his visor down, sealing his helmet. The dark, reflective surface caught my face for a heartbeat, wide eyed, pale, stripped bare by terror. Then he turned sharply toward Lucas, who had just sealed his own helmet. "Ackerman's gone!" Nguyen shouted over the gunfire. He reached for the cylindrical tube clipped to his vest. My drone. Folded down, compact, harmless looking. With one violent motion, he tore it free and hurled it through the ruined window into the chaos outside, where gunfire and shouting bled together into a single roar. Nguyen spun back toward me, pointing a gloved finger straight at my face, then jabbing it toward the base of the island. "Get over there! Stay flat!" The order cut off mid breath. His head snapped toward the kitchen door that led outside. "Breach!" he roared, swinging his rifle to cover it. Something small and metallic sailed through the shattered window. For half a heartbeat, my stunned mind thought they had thrown the drone back. Then it detonated. Blinding white light swallowed the kitchen whole. A concussive bang followed, so violent it felt like it punched straight through my skull. Sound vanished instantly, replaced by a shrill, screaming void. My hands flew to my ears on instinct as the world dissolved into brightness and pain.Nguyen's last order echoed dimly in my head. Blind. Deaf. I rolled blindly across the tile, scraping skin and fabric raw as I crawled toward where I thought the island was. I opened my eyes. Or at least, I tried to. The world was still a smeared, glowing haze. Colors bled together. Shadows lurched and collided. Distant, muffled shouts reached me as if from underwater, warped and indistinct. Then something hard and metallic slammed into the side of my face. Pain flared, hot, sharp, immediate, ripping a scream out of my throat before I could stop it. As my vision slowly clawed its way back into focus, the chaos resolved into shapes. Two men were fighting right beside me. Nguyen was on his back, armor scraping against tile as he struggled. A man dressed entirely in black, black armor, black helmet, straddled his chest. Both of the attacker's hands were locked around the hilt of a knife. The man leaned forward, forcing his weight down. Centimeter by agonizing centimeter, the blade descended toward Nguyen's throat. Cold fear flooded my veins, washing everything else away. My limbs went numb. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. The Guardians of Christianity had found us. They were here. Seconds away from winning. Seconds away from taking me. My hand brushed against something solid and cold. I looked down. A black pistol lay on the floor beside me. Blood smeared the hammer and grip, dark and slick. That was what had struck my face. I swallowed hard.My fingers closed around the weapon. It felt heavy. Wrong. Unfamiliar. Like something that didn't belong in my hands. I had never held a gun in my life. That was my brother Robert's world, not mine. But now I was lifting one anyway. My arms trembled as I raised it, vision still unsteady, aiming it at the side of a man's head.