Too Late to Hold Me Back novel Chapter 1052

"And you swear you won't try to run?"

The officer demanded, his eyes narrowed with profound distrust.

"We're in the middle of nowhere surrounded by an entire military detachment. Where would we even go?

Even if we did run into the jungle, we'd starve to death in a matter of days without supplies."

Owen scoffed, leaning back in his seat.

The officer glanced out the window at the dense, unforgiving wilderness stretching for miles in every direction.

Fourteen unarmed foreigners with no vehicles and no rations wouldn't last a day out there.

"Fine. Stay in your seats. We'll wipe them out and be right back."

Still maintaining a sliver of caution, the officer ordered two of his subordinates to remain on the bus and keep their rifles trained on the prisoners.

The second the officer stepped off the bus, Master Ellis unleashed a burst of aerosolized sedative, dropping the two remaining guards instantly.

Mira, Owen, and Master Ellis quickly slipped out the door. Moving like shadows, they went from transport to transport, systematically pumping the knockout gas through the cracked windows of the military vehicles.

Then, they sprinted back to their own bus.

Settling back into her seat, Mira leaned in and whispered to Owen, "It's a good thing we didn't slaughter that militia last night. They ended up doing us a massive favor."

A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Owen's mouth. "Talk about divine intervention," he murmured.

Meanwhile, Master Ellis pulled out a small vial of stimulant and wafted it under the noses of the two unconscious guards. They snapped awake, completely disoriented.

"What... did we fall asleep? What happened?"

one of them slurred, shaking his head.

Owen patted their shoulders reassuringly. "Shh, keep your voices down. The rest of your unit went out to handle the bandits.

Don't worry, we won't tell your commanding officer you were sleeping on the job."

The two soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and gave Owen an appreciative nod. "Thanks, man."

Outside, the chaotic firefight was violently brief. Against a fully armed military company, the militia suffered heavy casualties and quickly scattered into the jungle in total defeat.

Victorious, the Balkanan soldiers casually strolled back to their vehicles, laughing and joking amongst themselves.

To them, babysitting fourteen Mavarians with a hundred-man squad was nothing more than a paid vacation.

"Who's the reasonable one here? I'll let everyone else be the judge of that."

Dominic chuckled.

"Enough bantering. Focus.

We aren't out of the woods yet."

Master Ellis warned sharply.

The group swiftly disembarked. Because the jungle road was too narrow to easily maneuver around the stalled convoy, they needed to hijack either the lead transport or the rearguard vehicle to make their getaway.

Fortunately, there was a dirt fork in the road just ahead of the vanguard, leading off the main highway and deep into the mountains.

Working as a cohesive unit, the team dragged the unconscious soldiers out of the lead transport, dumped them on the shoulder, and commandeered the truck, speeding down the hidden mountain pass.

Once they were safely en route, Mira dialed James's encrypted number again. "Darling, we've broken free from our escorts. I need you to dispatch the extraction vehicles immediately.

I'm pinging you our live coordinates now."

"It is always my pleasure to serve, Miss Mercer. The vehicles are en route as we speak."