Kade roared with anger. He swung the heavy wooden back of his rifle like a baseball bat. He smashed it directly into the soldier’s wrist.A horrible CRUNCH of breaking bone echoed in the tunnel.The soldier let out a muffled grunt of pain, but he did not scream. He quickly pulled his broken hand back.The heavy metal door slammed completely shut. BOOM. It sealed tight.The silence in the dark tunnel hit them like a physical weight.There were no more gunshots. There was only the sound of their own fast, panicked breathing.The secret tunnel was terribly small. It was barely wide enough for two people to stand next to each other. Thick, rusty pipes ran along the low ceiling. Cold water dripped steadily onto their heads. Drip. Drip. Drip.Juno leaned her back against the cold wall. Her chest was moving up and down very fast.Sera pressed her ear against the sealed metal door, listening for the soldiers on the other side.Kade stood in front of the group. He pointed his rifle down the pi

Claire’s voice stayed perfectly calm. "It is every single piece of dirty evidence we have ever collected," Claire explained. "It holds every intercepted secret order. Every audio recording of their murders. Every twisted science report. It holds the name and face of every single Iron Order officer we have ever found."The burly Northern commander stared at the small drive in total shock. That tiny piece of metal held enough secrets to burn the world down.Claire continued speaking."I am not going to hide it," Claire promised them. "I am not keeping it locked in a safe to protect myself. I am not going to use it to blackmail anyone."She looked around the cold, ruined room, making eye contact with everyone."I am giving it away to the world," Claire announced. "Tonight. We are sending it across every single radio and computer network we have. We will break it into tiny pieces and hide it everywhere. We will make physical paper copies. We will make it impossible to erase."The older di

"If we can attack that base and take it over," Claire promised, "we take all their dirty secrets. We take the hidden chains they use to control the world. And most importantly... we take their cycle logs."Landon’s heavy head snapped up at those words.Cycle logs.He stared intensely at the black circle on the map.Claire noticed his reaction. She looked at him with sad eyes."You know exactly what I am talking about, don't you, Landon?" Claire asked softly.Landon’s deep voice came out in a low, painful rumble."I saw that vault in my nightmare," Landon confessed.The scientist’s hands trembled violently as he placed them flat on the wooden table."Miss Arden... are you telling us that the Iron Order has written proof... actual paper documentation... of repeated time travel?" the scientist asked in horror.Claire gave him one solid nod."I am telling you they have the absolute proof locked away in the ice," Claire said. "And we are going to break in and steal it."The Great Lakes mil

Claire turned to look at her team. "We are going to speak to the entire world," Claire announced.Juno frowned in total confusion. "But Claire, the Iron Order blocked our signal! How are we going to broadcast?"Claire turned her gaze to Sera.Sera’s eyes narrowed as she realized the brilliant, crazy plan."Oh my god," Sera whispered in shock. "You already stole one of the Iron Order's uplink stations, didn't you?"Claire nodded once. "Two days ago. My men took it over."Sera stared at her leader, completely stunned. "You didn't tell anyone you did that!"Claire’s voice stayed perfectly calm. "I wasn't ready to use it yet. Now I am."Landon watched her face in the flickering light. She did not look tired at all. She did not look unsure or afraid. She looked like a woman who had already decided exactly how she was going to die.They walked quickly down the concrete stairs.Down two floors. Then three.Finally, they walked into a much larger, windowless room deep in the basement of the h

The room did not explode into screaming. Nobody ran. Nobody panicked.Instead, the hidden basement in Michigan went completely silent. It was a heavy, terrifying silence. It felt much worse than panic. Outside the thick brick walls, the cold Midwest wind howled in the dark night. But inside, the air was hot and thick with fear.Claire stood on a small wooden box in front of a video camera. She held a small, silver computer drive high in the air. The tiny red light on the camera was still blinking. She was still broadcasting live to the entire world.Claire kept her face pointing straight at the camera lens. But her dark eyes slid to the side. She looked at the large TV monitor mounted on the concrete wall.On the glowing screen, a woman was hanging from heavy metal chains.It was impossible, but it was true. The woman on the screen was Claire. She had the exact same face. She had the exact same sharp jaw. She even had the exact same tiny, white scar near her eyebrow.But this other Cl