Chapter 286

Aria Bennett pressed herself against the wall, her fingers lightly tapping the smartwatch on her wrist. As the recording indicator lit up, she held her breath.

In the darkness, two hushed voices drifted toward her in fragments. Her lashes fluttered slightly as she committed every syllable to memory.

Click.

The moment the recording ended, she darted into the shadows three meters away, swift as a cat.

[OMG that was close!]

[That guy literally drew his gun!]

The live comments exploded just as one of the soldiers suddenly halted. He whirled around, his weapon sweeping across the spot where Aria had stood moments before.

Moonlight stretched his shadow long and thin, its edge barely grazing the darkness where Aria hid.

Thirty seconds.

Sixty.

When the sound of combat boots finally faded, the livestream audience collectively exhaled.

"Found you." Ronan Caldwell's voice cut through the silence. He steadied Aria as she stumbled, his palm icy against her arm.

Inside the tent, the recording played for the third time when Miles Sutton raked a hand through his disheveled hair. "This gibberish—"

"It's Korani, from the South Seas." Aria paused the playback. "They said—"

With every word she translated, her teammates paled.

"Four a.m.?" Ezra Vaughn's canteen hit the ground. "That's—"

"Two hours and forty-three minutes from now." Declan Ross's voice tightened as he checked his watch.

All eyes turned to Aria. She adjusted her firearm, her lashes casting faint shadows under her eyes.

"Lu—" Miles swallowed hard. "We—"

"Shh." Aria raised a finger abruptly. "Listen."

The distant whir of mechanical gears echoed—the sound of the armory's biometric lock resetting its encryption.

A sudden smile curved her lips, moonlight catching in her dimples. "Now it's Lieutenant Carter who should be worried."

The tension shattered instantly. Declan nudged her shoulder. "Seriously, how'd you understand that obscure language earlier?"

"Oh, that?" Aria tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Is knowing a hundred-plus languages weird?"

"H-how many?" Declan's tactical knife clattered to the ground.

The tent plunged into stunned silence. Five pairs of eyes widened like night-vision lenses.

"It's actually simple." Aria loaded a magazine without looking up. "Just learn one per day, and in half a year—"

"Stop!" Declan clutched his chest. "Is this the humblebrag of a genius?"

His exaggerated glare broke the tension. As Aria tossed him a spare magazine, the livestream flooded with comments:

[Aria! Korani language major here—there's a detail in that convo...]

But no one noticed. Because the first gunshot had already rung out in the distance.