?Chapter 1619:


    Ethan didn’t care what anyone else thought; as far as he was concerned, Brenna’s safety came first.


    Resigned, Gracie sat back down. “Fine. You two go ahead.”


    There went her golden opportunity to kill Brenna. What a pity.


    But Gracie wasn’t the type to give up easily. Four days of jungle left plenty of room for a second shot. She believed there was no way Brenna and Ethan would be by each other’s side the whole time.


    Gary and Felix kept a few paces back, staying on high alert as they scanned for threats and covered Brenna from behind. Even with so many enemies taken out, they believed that danger might still be waiting for the right moment.


    Internally, Gracie cursed her rotten luck, her frustration building.


    Her mercenary crew had been wiped out. Most had died during the first assault, and Hector’s men had finished off the rest after she had been captured.


    Now, if she wanted to eliminate Brenna, she’d have to rely entirely on herself.


    Days of hiking through tangled underbrush left the whole group exhausted, and Gracie’s wound slowed her the most. She came down with a fever, shivering and weak. She didn’t have the energy to kill Brenna.


    Meanwhile, Brenna, the target of her hatred, ended up treating her and taking care of her.


    On the jungle’s edge atst, Brenna searched for George, who had promised to meet them there. But he was nowhere to be seen, and Brenna couldn’t reach him.


    Taylor’s vehicles still sat where they’d been left, but hope faded instantly—both gas tanks were punctured and dry, blood and shell casings scattered all around, tire tracks crisscrossing the mud. Something had clearly happened to George and his team.


    Brenna’s nerves spiked as she realized something bad had happened.


    Taylor took his men to search the clearing, reporting back with even more grim details—fresh tire ruts, more blood, abandoned weapons. With no vehicles, the group faced a hard choice: leave here on foot or wait for rescue. The team gathered, tension running high as they tried to figure out what to do next.


    Ethan’s brow furrowed. “We can’t stick around. Someone’s watching us. Let’s leave here quickly.”


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    Taylor agreed, giving Ethan a serious look. “Could be Hector’s crew tracking us. Still, I have a question. Why was Hector holding all those researchers hostage earlier? I thought they were his people.”


    Ethan didn’t hesitate. “Someone on the inside leaked the location of the research base. And Hector decided to kill them all.”


    Suddenly, a gunshot rang out—a sharp, deadly sound. Taylor fell instantly, a bullet in his head. Instincts kicked in as everyone moved, diving for cover behind the battered trucks. Brenna huddled beside Ethan, her heart pounding.


    In a hushed voice, she said, “If Taylor hadn’t been there, that bullet would’ve hit you.”


    A hail of bullets ripped through the slowest mercenaries, dropping them where they stood. In less than half a minute, nearly a third of the squad was gone.


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