Leonhart Holdings – Cyber-Operations Hub8:03 AMKenna’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Dozens of facial recognition scans ran in parallel, cross-matching a single photo—an old, faded picture of Amarachi Leonhart with a man who’d vanished in 2008.“Still nothing,” she muttered.Henry leaned over her shoulder, eyes narrowing.“There has to be a link,” he said. “My mother didn’t just pick anyone to uncover the Syndicate. Whoever he was, he knew something that made her trust him with her life.”Adaora stood by the glass wall, arms folded. “We’ve traced every known associate of Amarachi from the last three years of her life. None match.”Kenna frowned.“Unless he’s not in the public system.”She tapped a few keys, shifting to internal company employee logs—the off-grid list of contracted assets and shadow consultants hidden behind encrypted layers.Suddenly—Ping.One name popped up.Gabriel Nduka.Former Data Security Auditor. Hired briefly in 2007. Record ends 2008.Employee photo: 7

Location: Unknown Syndicate SafehouseTime: 2:11 AMThe cold steel table beneath Adaora’s wrists had long since numbed her skin. Her hands were bound. Her mask discarded. Her pride? Cracked but not broken.Across from her sat The Raven, a man cloaked in midnight, his face still hidden behind a bone-white mask. A single overhead light cast flickering shadows that danced like ghosts between them.“You did well,” he said calmly, setting a silver device on the table. “But then… you hesitated.”Adaora stayed silent.“I’ve seen hesitation before,” The Raven continued. “From your father. Before we buried him in that shallow grave off the coast of Anambra.”That struck home.Her jaw clenched, but her eyes didn’t break.“You expect me to crawl now?”“No,” he replied smoothly. “I expect you to finish what you started. You opened the gate to the System. Now… you’re going to deliver the key.”He slid a data chip toward her.“Insert this into the Leonhart System core before sunrise. Or we release

Lagos Mainland – Federal Cybersecurity Office2:04 AMInside a darkened server room, three masked operatives moved with surgical precision. Their target: the Nigerian National Registry, where the official records of birthrights, citizenship, and biometric access were stored.They weren’t here to steal.They were here to erase.Operation Inheritance Blackout: Phase One – Identity SeveranceTarget: Henry Amarachi LeonhartObjective: Wipe all national identification linksStatus: In ProgressWithin minutes, Henry’s birth record vanished. His banking biometrics? Scrambled. His citizenship status? Marked as “Pending Verification.”The lead agent turned to his encrypted device.“Identity purge complete. He no longer exists on paper.”Elsewhere – Private Syndicate ChannelEncrypted Feed – 2:47 AMThe Raven’s voice came through the darkness, low and cold:“The lion has roared for too long. Now we cut out its tongue.”Onscreen, a map displayed Henry’s properties, accounts, and access nodes.“P

Aba, Abia State – Perimeter of the Decommissioned Leonhart Biomedical Facility10:17 PMRain beat down like bullets. Thunder cracked above as a blacked-out convoy stopped near the jungle-shrouded perimeter of the Syndicate’s stronghold. Henry stepped out, dressed in tactical black, his eyes cold with resolve.Behind him, Kenna loaded her rifle. Five elite agents—former intelligence operatives loyal to the Leonharts—moved into position.Adaora adjusted her comms, standing at Henry’s side. “Once we breach, I’ll run point at the terminal. Your mother’s encryption keys should still be embedded in the original server architecture.”Henry nodded. “Get us inside. I’ll handle Obinna.”Operation: Sins of the BloodlineObjective: Infiltrate, Extract, DestroyInside the Syndicate Lab – Control Nexus10:29 PMObinna—The Raven—sat on a high platform overlooking his vast machine. Below him, cables coiled like serpents, glowing red with corrupted code. Technicians moved in silence, eyes sunken from

Location: Enugu – Outskirts of Amechi RoadTime: 2:21 AMThe rain came down like judgment.Chidinma Okoye, only twenty-two, had no idea that the knock on her door was the start of a war. She blinked into the darkness at the man standing in a black suit.“You said… my sister sent you?”“Yes,” the agent said, smiling as he showed a falsified ID. “She wanted to surprise you. Can we talk inside?”Chidinma hesitated. Then stepped back to let him in.That was her first mistake.Ten seconds later, a needle was in her neck. She gasped once.Then everything went black.Leonhart Safehouse – Lagos Mainland3:04 AMAdaora screamed when she saw the message.“We have your sister. You have 24 hours. Surrender yourself to the Syndicate. Come alone. Or we send her back—piece by piece.”Attached: a photo of Chidinma tied to a chair, bruised and gagged, eyes swollen from crying.Henry grabbed the tablet from her hands. “No encryption. They want us to trace it.”Kenna moved fast, scanning the metadata. “