Wren urgently linked with Tana to report that Command had taken Julian "Jim" Ash and blamed herself for drawing attention by shooting in front of soldiers. She noted one soldier had been left at the ranch and decided not to return, instead heading to a contingency lean-to in the northern pass. Using a trapdoor and ramp, she retrieved a stashed solar bike and a go-bag, sent her horse Kelley home, and rode toward Hamlett, hiding the bike at a network drop shed.

At the shed, Wren avoided a nearby surveillance drone, recognizing intensified monitoring now that Jim—revealed as the infamous deserter Julian Ash—was exposed. She ran to a Prime-dug tunnel under the forest and emerged to meet Griff, Tana’s father and a network ally. Griff confirmed Tana had alerted him and asked about Jim; Wren could still sense Jim’s mental signature but could not link, which worried her. Griff suggested getting Wren out via a safe house in Ward S, but Wren refused and insisted on going to the city to rescue Jim. Griff warned Jim would face the Tribunal at Sanctum Point and that rescues from the Point were not viable; Wren demanded help anyway, and Griff agreed to contact the network.

The Uprising arranged a leisure pass and train ticket to Sanctum Point, temporarily removing a new flag on Wren’s ID for six hours. Wren boarded unarmed, anxious that Jim might already have faced the Tribunal, and failed to reach him telepathically. During the ride, she recalled Jim’s early lessons on telepathy: visualizing a silver rope path, shields, dual mental frequencies for reading and linking, and how she advanced unusually fast, to Jim’s worried pride.

Arriving at the city, Wren connected with her handler Polly, then met contacts Faye (a Prime) and Declan (her new silent-contact handler). In the car, Faye revealed Jim had already met the Tribunal and been found guilty of treason and concealment, the latter attributed to Jayde Valence joining the Tribunal and reading Jim’s mind. Wren feared what Valence might have gleaned about her.

Faye further reported Jim’s execution was scheduled for nine the next morning. Wren pressed for a rescue, but Declan refused, arguing Jim had been compromised for years and was not an asset worth risking resources like bomber pilot Grayson Blake or civilian lives. Faye backed him, stating leadership had decided a rescue was too dangerous; their directive was to hide Wren and procure a new identity.

Rejecting the safe-house plan, Wren linked Tana to vent that the network would not act. With roughly twelve hours until the firing squad, Wren considered the public South Plaza execution site as potential access, acknowledging the crowd could help her get close but that she had no weapon, no clear plan, and faced near-certain death if she tried to confront the squad directly.