The radio crackled again, voice smooth as polished steel.
“Asset Mercer.
Report to Safe Point Alpha.
You’ve been promoted.”
I stopped running.
Rain hammered my jacket.
The city screamed behind me…sirens, gunshots, the wet thud of bodies hitting pavement.
But that voice cut through it all like a blade.
Promoted.
Ije was dead.
Or dying.
The horde had swallowed her scream.
I’d heard it end.
So who was calling?
“Identify,” I said into the radio.
Static.
Then: “AVG Contingency.
Safe Point Alpha: Elliott Bay Terminal.
ETA: twenty minutes.
Come alone.
Bring the backup drive.”
They knew about the backup.
I glanced at the Faraday bag in my hand.
The real drive was shattered on the atrium floor.
The backup was a decoy….empty casing, real chip hidden in my boot.
But they didn’t know that.
“Why promote me?” I asked.
“Because you passed the test.” The voice paused.
“Asset Voss is compromised.
You’re the replacement.”
Ije was compromised.
Not dead.
Compromised.
My blood went cold.
She’d survived.
Or she’d been extracted before the horde hit.
“Twenty minutes,” I said.
“I’ll be there.”
I cut the channel.
Rhea’s voice flooded my ear.
“Kael, don’t.
It’s a trap.”
“Everything’s a trap,” I said.
“This one just has a better view.”
“Who was that?”
“AVG.
They think Ije’s out.
They want me to take her place.”
“Why?”
“Because I stole the drive.
Because I flipped Lin.
Because I’m useful.” I started moving, keeping low, using the rain as cover.
“And because they don’t know I have the real chip.”
“Kael….”
“I need to see who’s running this.” I ducked behind a delivery van.
“If Ije’s alive, I finish it.
If it’s someone else, I add them to the Ledger.”
Rhea didn’t argue.
I’ll be listening.”
I nodded to no one.
Then I ran toward the bay.
Elliott Bay Terminal was a ghost ship of glass and steel.
Ferries bobbed in the dark water.
Security lights swept the docks.
A single SUV idled near Gate 3.
I approached from the west, using stacked cargo containers as cover.
Two guards at the gate.
Tactical gear.
AVG patches.
I counted their patterns.
Fifteen-second rotation.
Blind spot at the twelve-second mark.
I moved.
Slipped past the first guard.
Pressed the pistol to the second’s neck before he could turn.
“Don’t,” I whispered.
He froze.
“Who’s inside?”
“Director Harlan,” he said.
“And Asset Voss.”
Ije.
Alive.
“Take me to them.”
He hesitated.
I pressed harder.
“Now.”
He led me through the gate, into the terminal.
Inside, the lights were dim.
A single conference room glowed at the far end.
I pushed the guard ahead of me.
The door opened.
Ije sat at the table, shoulder bandaged, face pale but composed.
Across from her: a man in a gray suit, silver hair, eyes like he’d buried empires.
“Kael,” Ije said.
She smiled.
It was tired.
“You’re harder to kill than I remembered.”
“Funny.
I was thinking the same about you.”
The man in gray stood.
“Director Harlan.
AVG Global.”
I didn’t lower the pistol.
“You called me here to promote me?”
“I called you here to offer you a choice.” He slid a folder across the table.
“Join us.
Lead the Seattle extraction.
Or die with the overhead.”
I opened the folder.
Names.
Hundreds.
Rhea’s was highlighted.
“Why me?” I asked.
“Because you understand assets.” Harlan’s smile was thin.
“And because you’ve already proven you’ll do what’s necessary.”
He gestured to Ije.
You won’t.”
Ije’s eyes met mine.
There was something there.
Not fear.
Warning.
I closed the folder.
“Give me five minutes alone with her,” I said.
Harlan nodded.
“Five.”
He left.
The guard followed.
The door closed.
Silence.
Ije leaned back.
“You’re not going to join them.”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I need to know something.” I drew the pistol.
“How are you alive?”
She touched her bandage.
“Extracted.
Five minutes before the horde hit.
The Ferryman’s people pulled me out.”
“Why?”
“Because I know something you don’t.” She leaned forward.
“The vector isn’t just a virus.
It’s a key.
And Rhea is the lock.”
My grip tightened.
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing,” Ije said.
“AVG did.
Before the outbreak.
She’s Patient Zero’s cousin.
Stable carrier.
Immune but infectious.”
I remembered the scar on her arm.
The way she’d hidden it.
“Why tell me this?”
“Because Harlan won’t stop at Seattle.” Ije’s voice dropped.
“He’s activating Safe Points globally.
And he needs carriers like Rhea to spread it.”
I holstered the pistol.
“Then we have a problem.”
“We do.” She stood.
“I can get you into the global network.
But you’ll have to trust me.”
“Never.”
“Then you’ll lose her.”
I stared at her.
The door opened.
Harlan stepped in.
“Time’s up.”
I looked at Ije.
Then at him.
“I’ll take the promotion,” I said.
Harlan smiled.
Ije’s eyes widened.
And the game changed.