The helicopter’s engines roared to life, cutting through the night air like a blade. Inside, the team was silent, the weight of Ayla’s betrayal hanging over them. Caleb sat in the corner, his hands clenched tightly in his lap, his mind racing. The woman he had trusted, fought alongside, and cared for was gone. And in her place was someone he didn’t recognize—a shadow, a weapon, controlled by Raven.Lena glanced at Caleb, her face a mixture of concern and frustration. “Are you okay?” she asked quietly.He nodded, though the truth was far from that. “I don’t know anymore.”Keller sat across from them, his expression grim as he tapped away at the controls. “We’re not safe yet. Raven’s forces are closing in, and they’ll track us to the ends of the earth if we don’t make a detour. We need to lose them.”“We should’ve taken Ayla with us,” Lena muttered, her voice tinged with regret.“She made her choice,” Caleb replied, his tone harder than he intended. “She’s gone. And right now, we need t

The helicopter sliced through the night air, the sound of the blades cutting through the wind deafening in the confined space. Inside, the team was silent, each of them lost in their own thoughts, the weight of their failure hanging heavy. Caleb’s mind was consumed by one person—Ayla.She had been their ally, their friend, and now, she was the enemy. He couldn’t reconcile the woman he had known with the cold, calculated operative she had become under Raven’s control. There were moments when he almost believed that the Ayla he had once trusted was still there, buried beneath the layers of manipulation and deceit. But every time he allowed himself to think that, he reminded himself of the gun aimed at him, the empty look in her eyes, the finality of her words.“Caleb…” Lena’s voice broke through the fog in his mind. “We need to talk about what comes next.”He turned his gaze to her, her face set in grim determination. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap, her body tense with the sa

Caleb’s mind raced as he crouched in the shadows of the control room, his eyes never leaving the door. Every instinct told him they had to leave, but something inside him rebelled at the thought of walking away from Ayla.“Caleb, we’re running out of time,” Lena’s voice cut through his thoughts, her tone sharp with urgency. “Raven’s men will be here any minute.”He didn’t answer right away, his focus entirely on the narrow hallway outside the control room. They had succeeded in disabling the base’s systems, crippling Raven’s operations in the region. But they hadn’t taken into account the full extent of Raven’s reach. Every minute they stayed here, the risk of being caught—or worse, ambushed—grew.But it wasn’t just about survival anymore.Ayla was out there. Somewhere. Waiting. Watching. Caleb could feel her presence lingering in the air, like a shadow he couldn’t shake. She was no longer the person he had once known, but deep down, he refused to believe she was truly lost.“Ayla is

The safehouse was tucked into the underbelly of an abandoned subway station, accessible only through a service tunnel no longer listed on any city blueprint. Caleb staggered inside, bloodied and barely conscious. Rain dripped from his coat as he collapsed onto the rusted metal table in the center of the dimly lit room.Jules, the team’s medic and data analyst, rushed to his side.“Jesus, Caleb—what the hell happened?” she exclaimed, already pulling out gauze and antiseptic.“She shot me,” Caleb muttered, biting down as she pressed against the wound. “Ayla. She didn’t miss.”“Wait—Ayla? I thought we had her…” Jules’s voice trailed off as realization dawned in her eyes. “She’s gone, isn’t she?”Caleb nodded grimly. “She let me live. That has to mean something.”Jules didn’t reply, but her hands moved swiftly. Her training kicked in. Caleb had been through worse before—but not emotionally. Not like this.He stared up at the ceiling, eyes distant. “We were so close.”“Caleb,” Jules said,

A storm howled above the city as a stolen VTOL aircraft sliced through the clouds, heading due north—toward the shadowed mountain range where Site Zero lay buried. Inside the dimly lit cabin, the remnants of Caleb’s team prepared for what could very well be their final mission.The Judas Protocol had spread like wildfire. In just under an hour, reports flooded in: erratic behavior from civilians, bursts of aggression, then eerie calm. People were beginning to act in ways that weren’t their own—thoughts, memories, entire personalities overwritten by subtle lines of code. And it was only the beginning.Caleb stood near the cockpit, staring out into the darkness, one hand gripping a metal strut for support.Jules approached, her voice quiet. “We're thirty minutes out.”He didn’t turn around.“Any word from Ayla?” he asked, though he knew the answer.She shook her head. “Not since she disappeared after Berlin.”Silence.“You think she’s gone?” Jules asked.“No,” Caleb said. “I think she’s