"Use this mantle," Alexander whispers, draping a water-resistant, aramid fiber-coated fabric over Olivia’s shoulder. His fingers deliberately brush her neck, providing warmth.
Daniel, with his shoulder tightly bandaged, leads the group toward a sleek black tactical vehicle parked in the backyard. "The Vanguard reconnaissance helicopter confirms the perimeter of the cathedral is surrounded by a hundred Shadow Personnel from The Covenant. Eleanora has sealed all civilian access."
"We don’t need civilian access," Alexander responds coldly, stepping into the car. "We only need a way into the underground room beneath the altar."
However, on the right side of Eleanora stands a five-year-old girl with wavy brown hair and silver eyes that look exactly like Alexander’s. The girl wears a clean white dress, clutching an old cloth doll with a blank, frozen gaze.
"Don’t cry, Stella," Eleanora whispers softly, gently stroking the girl’s hair with her jeweled fingers. "Soon, your papa and mommy will come to witness the true crown of power."
Alexander pushes through the thick smoke, followed by Olivia and Daniel. His tactical rifle is aimed directly at Eleanora’s chest.
"Let my children go, Eleanora!" Olivia’s voice roars in the grand hall, filled with unparalleled anger as her eyes lock onto Ethan and the little girl on the altar.
"Impressive," Eleanora claps slowly, her tone calm and laced with a nauseating superiority. "A very persistent mother. Alexander, my rebellious son."
"You’ve never been a mother, Eleanora," Alexander cuts in coldly, his eyes fixed on Stella, the girl beside Eleanora. His chest swells with a fierce heartbeat as he recognizes the silver eyes reflected in his own daughter, whom he’s never met before. "You’re just a parasite using the Rington blood to satisfy your hunger for power."
Eleanora chuckles elegantly, rising from her golden throne. "Power is the only real thing in this world, Alexander! Arthur is too weak, busy gambling in the black market, and Julian is too crazy, consumed by revenge. But I built The Covenant from the shadows!"
She snaps her fingers.
Suddenly, dozens of red laser dots appear and lock onto the chests of Alexander, Olivia, and Daniel. Twenty-four members of The Covenant’s council, dressed in black robes embroidered with gold, step out from a secret passage behind the altar, surrounding the central area of the cathedral.
"The asset transfer requirements for Rington Bio-Tech demand a full blood sample from two direct descendants born of the same woman," Eleanora says as she pulls out an automatic titanium syringe from her dress pocket. "Ethan and Stella are the perfect biological pair created by our family’s medical lab."
"Don’t touch them!" Olivia screams, stepping forward, but Alexander gently holds her back with his muscular arm.
Eleanora approaches Stella, pressing the needle’s tip against the child’s tiny neck. "One drop of blood from this child’s heart, combined with Ethan’s blood sample, will grant full access to fifty tons of gold reserves owned by the Zurich Consortium beneath Lake Geneva. After that, you two can rot at the bottom of this lake with your bad memories."
"You forget one thing, Eleanora," Alexander says softly, his voice calm and measured amid the encroaching gunfire.
Eleanora narrows her eyes. "What can a man cornered in his own altar do?"
Alexander puts his tactical rifle down on the marble floor, raising both hands. But his right hand presses a button on his military watch, activating a transmission.
"I’m not here to fight in this cathedral," Alexander whispers. "I’m here to hand over the keys to the power you desire."
A giant projection screen above the old organ suddenly lights up, showing a live feed from the main server room of the Zurich Central Bank in Geneva.
On the screen, all assets, bonds, and gold reserves labeled under The Covenant are being transferred en masse into an international charity account under the supervision of the International Military Police (Interpol).
"What are you doing?!" Eleanora screams hysterically, her elegant face twisting into a monstrous expression of rage as she watches trillions of dollars drained from the screen.
"The asset transfer documents Daniel took from Victoria Station are more than just a power of attorney," Alexander replies with a deadly, icy smile. "They’re a biological Trojan virus that activates as soon as your banking system scans the digital stamp of Arthur—thirty minutes ago. Your entire financial empire... is now worthless."
The members of The Covenant’s council in the gallery panic. They start shouting and blaming each other, pulling out their own guns and ignoring Eleanora’s orders.
"Kill them all! Kill them all!" Eleanora screams wildly, aiming her titanium syringe at Stella’s neck.
"No!"
Olivia lunges forward recklessly through the laser points! At the same time, Alexander leaps onto the altar in an explosive move, slashing Eleanora’s arm with a tactical knife until the syringe flies out and shatters on the stone altar.
Olivia embraces Ethan and Stella tightly, pulling her children behind the thick stone pillars. For the first time, Olivia holds her small daughter, who has been presumed dead for five years. Tears stream down Olivia’s cheeks as she kisses her children’s foreheads.
"Mommy..." Stella whispers softly, her tiny fingers touching Olivia’s tears. "Papa said Mommy would come."
"Yes, my love. Mommy is here. Mommy will never leave you again," Olivia sobs, tears falling as she kisses her children’s foreheads.
On the altar, a severely injured Eleanora crawls toward an ancient detonator console hidden behind a cathedral saint statue. Her bloodied face breaks into a crazed smile.
"If I can’t have this empire, then this cathedral will be a grave for the entire Rington lineage!" Eleanora yells, pressing the emergency brass lever.
The underground foundation of the Grossmünster Cathedral trembles violently. Main pillars crack apart, releasing massive stones from the Gothic ceiling fifty meters high!
"Evacuate through the underground tunnels!" Alexander orders as he rushes toward Olivia and the children.
He carries Stella with his left arm and pulls Olivia, who is clutching Ethan, with his right hand, jumping over the falling stones blocking the main exit.
Behind them, Eleanora Rington laughs hysterically on the altar as a giant stone pillar crashes down, burying her and the entire Covenant council beneath the ruins of their dark history.
They manage to break through a secret underground door as the cathedral’s roof completely collapses, burying the main hall in dust and dark stone debris.
Inside a Vanguard safe house overlooking the city on a high hill, medics and rescue teams tend to Daniel and Alexander’s injuries.
Olivia sits at the edge of a large bed, watching Ethan and Stella sleep peacefully under a thick blanket. The two twins hold each other’s tiny hands in unprecedented serenity.
Alexander steps closer, his shoulder neatly bandaged. He stands behind Olivia, gazing at his children with a face completely free of past sins.
"Everything is over, Olivia," Alexander whispers softly, placing his hand on her shoulder. "No more Rington Corp. No more The Covenant. We are completely free."
Olivia looks up, smiling the most beautiful smile Alexander has ever seen. She stands, resting her head on Alexander’s chest, enjoying his steady heartbeat.
"Thank you for finding me and the children, Alex," Olivia says quietly.
The safe room door opens smoothly. Daniel enters with a silver briefcase stamped with the Hague International Court seal.
"Mr. Rington, Miss Carter," he says respectfully. "All new identity documents for your family have been approved. There are no more Rington or Carter names in the civil records. You are now a family untouchable by the world."
Alexander accepts the file, nodding softly. "Thank you for everything, Daniel."
"It’s an honor to serve you, Alex," Daniel replies, bowing politely before leaving the room, giving the family privacy.
Alexander looks at Olivia, squeezing her hand tightly. "Let’s start our new life, Mrs. Rington."
But suddenly, the satellite phone on Alexander’s desk blinks with a flashing red light.
An automatic data transmission from the Atlantic Ocean monitoring satellite connects directly to the main monitor.
The computer screen shows sonar scans of the sunken Sovereign cruise ship from three months ago.
On the 3D radar, a military submarine without any national markings lifts the wreckage of the laboratory beneath the ocean floor.
And in the high-definition video attached to the transmission, a massive cryo-stasis chamber is being lifted into the submarine.
A low-frequency voice message automatically plays through the room’s speakers:
"Subject Trial Alpha has been successfully synthesized. The Eternal Consciousness Project, Julian Rington, is ready for launch in Southeast Asia."