Location: Abandoned Textile Warehouse, Riverside DistrictTime: 12:43 a.m.POV: MariaMaria’s finger froze on the trigger.The emissary stood fifteen feet away, arms spread like a crucified saint, his smile unbroken despite the barrel aimed at his chest. Around him, Lazarus soldiers waited with predatory patience, their eyes glowing in the dim light. The helicopter’s rotors churned the air, whipping dust and debris across the warehouse floor, but the enhanced operatives remained still, as if even the storm bent to their will.Yet it wasn’t their presence that held her fire. It wasn’t the knowledge that bullets bounced off the emissary like rain on steel. It was Harrington’s silence—the heavy, guilty silence of a man whose secrets had finally clawed their way to the surface.“Tell me he’s lying,” she demanded, voice slicing through the roar above. “Tell me you were never one of them.”Harrington’s shotgun stayed trained on the emissary, but his jaw worked like he was chewing glass. Eve

Location: Detroit Riverfront BunkerTime: 03:42 a.m.POV: MariaThe air exploded with dust and fire. Maria’s ears rang as the first strike ripped through the bunker wall, spraying concrete shards across the room. She dropped low, rolling behind a toppled crate as a second blow cracked the steel plating. Sparks rained down like angry fireflies.“Move!” Daniel shouted, firing blindly into the breach. His bullets pinged off the armored intruder, sparks bouncing off its glowing skin.The figure advanced, slow and deliberate. White light pulsed through the circuitry embedded in its flesh, each beat matching a low hum that shook the room. Behind it, two more shapes emerged, their movements too precise to be human.Webb cursed, slamming useless keys on his dead laptop. “Systems fried. They’ve jammed everything.”Maria peeked around the crate, breath catching as the lead figure’s eyes locked on her. Cold, mechanical, yet filled with purpose. Not a drone. Not a man. Something in between.She s

Location: Northern Detroit Outskirts, Abandoned Freeway OverpassTime: 05:29 a.m.POV: MariaThe sky split open with light.Drones dropped through the cloud cover like mechanical vultures, their rotors slicing the air, red optics sweeping the ruined freeway. For a heartbeat, everyone froze—the mercenaries with their patched armor, Rourke with his scarred grin, the broker stepping calmly from the SUV.Then the first drone fired.Maria dove sideways as the beam tore concrete where she had stood, chunks exploding into sparks. Daniel yanked her down behind a rusted sedan, cursing. Bullets cracked from Rourke’s men, muzzle flashes strobing the night, but the drones moved like shadows, darting faster than human reflex.“Trap!” Daniel shouted over the storm. “I told you it was a trap!”Maria’s pulse hammered. Her pistol barked twice, rounds bouncing off one drone’s reinforced armor before it veered. She spat grit from her mouth. “Maybe they didn’t know. Maybe Lazarus tracked them same as us.

Location: South Chicago, Warehouse DistrictTime: 12:09 a.m.POV: MariaThe roof split open in white light.Ropes hissed as armored soldiers descended in perfect formation, rifles already spitting fire. Their masks gleamed in the glow—black steel with red lenses that burned like coals. Lazarus’s elite. Not mercenaries, not prototypes—worse. These were killers trained for one purpose: extermination.Maria rolled behind a shipping crate as bullets tore the air. The floor shook with the impact of grenades, sending sparks and shards of steel in every direction. Daniel slid next to her, rifle smoking.“Elite strike team,” he said, breathing hard. “We’re pinned.”She tasted iron in her mouth—fear, blood, rage all tangled. “Then we stop them. Or we die here.”Across the warehouse, Morales’s men returned fire in a roar of gunpowder and Spanish curses. Petrov swung his cane with brutal precision, smashing the throat of a soldier who landed too close, then grabbed the man’s rifle without hesita

Location: Hidden Safehouse, Chicago OutskirtsTime: 02:17 a.m.POV: MariaThe room smelled of gun oil and old wood, a cramped hunting cabin now turned into the most unlikely war council Maria had ever sat in. Outside, rain slapped against the windows in heavy sheets, turning the night into a blurred canvas of shadows. Inside, the table was covered with maps, broken radios, ammo belts, and too many eyes staring at each other without trust.Maria sat at the far end, back against the wall, pistol laid openly in front of her. A gesture. A warning. No one here was family—not even the ones who once claimed to be.Harrington leaned forward, his weathered face caught in the dim yellow glow of a lantern. His voice was calm but edged with weariness. “We have one night to hit them before Lazarus regroups. By dawn, their reinforcements will flood Chicago. If we wait, we’re finished.”“Finished already,” Morales muttered from her chair, running a thumb over the fresh bandage on her arm. She had sa