The jet touched down in Keflavík under a sky the color of bruised iron.
No customs.
No questions.
Just a black van waiting on the tarmac.
I stepped out.
Rhea followed.
The driver didn’t speak.
Just handed me a keycard and a tablet.
The tablet lit up.
A single message: “Hub entrance: Gate 7.
Biometric bypass required.
Carrier presence mandatory.”
I looked at Rhea.
She nodded.
We got in the van.
The hub was a fortress.
Concrete.
Steel.
Cameras.
Gate 7 was hidden behind a warehouse.
I placed my palm on the scanner.
It didn’t recognize me.
Rhea stepped forward.
Placed her hand.
Green light.
Gate hissed open.
We walked in.
Inside: cold air.
White walls.
A single corridor leading to a lab.
We moved fast.
Lab was empty.
Equipment hummed.
Freezers lined the walls.
I opened one. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
Vials.
Hundreds.
Labeled: VECTOR-51 through VECTOR-100.
I opened another
Carrier samples.
One label made me pause.
CARRIER-002: LIN, MEI.
I snapped a photo.
Rhea was at a terminal.
Downloading files.
“Harlan’s backups,” she said.
“Phase Two isn’t just drones.
It’s water supply.
Air filtration.
Public transit.”
“Timer?”
“Sixty-eight hours,” she said.
“Same as the kill-switch.”
I closed the freezer
“Where’s the master key?”
She hesitated.
“Not here.”
“Where?”
“Zurich,” she said.
“But there’s a problem.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“The key isn’t a drive,” she said.
“It’s a person.”
I froze.
“Who?”
She met my eyes.
“Me.”
Heavy.
Wet.
I didn’t speak.
I just stared.
At her.
At the terminal.
At the timer.
Sixty-eight hours.
Fifty-nine minutes.
Twelve seconds.
Until cascade.
I closed the Ledger.
“Then we go to Zurich,” I said.
She didn’t argue.
She just nodded.
And we ran.
Out the door.
Into the rain.
Into the dark.
Into the next chapter.
Cliffhanger: As we reached the van, headlights swept the lot.
Three SUVs.
Tacticals.
Rifles raised.
A voice boomed: “Asset Mercer.
Surrender the carrier.
Or we activate the kill-switch early.”
I looked at Rhea.
She looked at me.
And I made my choice.
I raised the pistol.
And fired.