All Chapters of The Silent Trace : Chapter 61
- Chapter 69
69 chapters
THE DELETION PROTOCOL
CHAPTER 60 The sub-basement swallowed sound.Not just quiet , but soundless, as if every vibration that touched the concrete was smothered before it lived. Ethan paused at the final landing with one hand braced against the wall. The cold from the lower level climbed through his arm like frostbite.The automated voice still echoed in the darkness below:“Deleting subject: Ethan Grey.”“Initiating purge sequence.”A low mechanical thrum vibrated through the stairwell, like a massive engine waking from a long sleep. Ethan felt it before he heard it — a pulse radiating through wires, floor plates, steel conduits.The Network Core.A place he’d never seen.A place Control had sworn didn’t exist.A place she was racing toward now.He took the last steps fast, boots hitting concrete with sharp, steady strikes. A faint emergency strip light flickered along the wall, guiding him into a cathedral-sized chamber carved out beneath the tower.And there it was.The Core.A cylindrical vault of st
THE THIRD SIGNAL
CHAPTER 61 The warning sirens didn’t sound like ordinary system alarms.They were lower.Heavier.Almost… biological.A deep resonance shook the cables overhead, vibrating through the Core chamber until even the steel supports hummed like tuning forks. Ethan and Control turned at the same time, staring into the shimmering blue ring at the center of the vault , the place where the Network Core’s quantum threads braided into one point.A single light flickered there.Then another.Then dozens, spiraling outward like an iris expanding.Ethan felt it before the lights formed a pattern: an intelligence pushing through the fracture he’d made.The unknown entity.Control staggered back from the console, horrified.“That’s not possible… that’s not possible,” she whispered. “Nothing else has access to the Core. Nothing. Nothing except,”“Except us,” Ethan finished.Control shook her head violently. “Except me.”The lights pulsed again , faster now, flickering in a rhythm that felt wrong, like
THE UNEASY DAWN
Chapter 62 Morning crept in slowly, a weak ribbon of pale gold pushing through the blinds as though unsure it had the right to enter. The house was quiet, too quiet,and that silence pressed against the walls like a warning. Maya woke first, her eyes open before her mind fully caught up, her chest rising in a shaky breath she didn’t realize she had been holding. For the first time in days, no one was shouting, crying, or pacing the hallway. Peace should have felt comforting, but instead it felt unnatural, like calm before something sharper.She slipped out of bed, feet touching the cool floor. Every muscle in her body remembered the fights, the revelations, the night of half-truths turned into weapons. She still felt the echoes of it in her bones.Down the hall, Elena was sitting on the edge of the couch, hands clasped, staring at the front door as if she expected it to open on its own. Her hair was pulled back messily, her eyes carrying the exhaustion of someone who had fought battle
THE VISITOR AT THE DOOR
Chapter 63 Naomi’s fingers tightened around the edge of the door as the figure stepped fully into view. The early morning sun cast a long shadow behind him, turning his presence into something larger, heavier. Maya and Elena stood slowly, uncertainty knotting in their chests.“Detective Harris?” Naomi breathed, disbelief slicing through her voice.He nodded once. Serious. Focused. His dark coat looked too heavy for the warm morning, and the badge clipped at his belt glinted sharply in the sunlight. He scanned each of their faces, first Naomi, then Elena, then Maya, studying them the way only someone trained to read people would.“Sorry to show up unannounced,” he said, “but we need to talk. All three of you.”Maya swallowed hard. “About what?”Harris stepped inside without waiting for permission, though his presence didn’t feel forceful, just urgent. He closed the door behind him and let out a breath as though he’d been holding it for miles.“It’s about the incident,” he said. “The o
THE SECOND CALL
Chapter 64 Naomi didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Detective Harris finished speaking. The living room felt suddenly too small, the air too thin, as if the walls themselves were leaning in to listen.Maya was the first to find her voice. “What do you mean someone called asking about us? Who?”Harris didn’t sit. He stayed standing, tense, watchful, every muscle tight like he expected the situation to turn at any moment.“I don’t have a name,” he said. “The inquiry came through an encrypted line routed through three different servers. Whoever made that call knew how to hide. But they asked directly for you three. By full name. And they referenced the night of the incident.”A shiver rolled through Elena. “How would anyone outside the department know the details? That case wasn’t public.”“That’s the problem,” Harris said. “Someone on the inside is leaking information. Or someone on the outside has access they shouldn’t.”Naomi paced, fingers pressed against her temples. “
THE HOUSE THAT KNEW THEIR NAME
Chapter 64 Naomi didn’t understand why the quiet felt hostile, but from the moment the three of them stepped into the abandoned safe house, something was wrong. It was too still, like a place waiting for its occupants, not welcoming them.Detective Harris locked the door behind them, then moved through the room with the sharp, scanning focus of a man who expected danger in every shadow. He checked windows, corners, floorboards, every surface his eyes touched carried suspicion.Maya rubbed her arms, trying to shake the goosebumps rising there. “Harris, how long are we supposed to stay here?”“Long enough to figure out who’s hunting you,” he said, voice low. “And long enough for me to confirm if what I’ve been told is real.”Naomi turned to him. “What you’ve been told? By who?”He didn’t answer.Instead, he held up a small envelope. Thin, brown, sealed.None of them had noticed it on the kitchen counter before.Elena frowned. “Where did that come from? That wasn’t there when we walked
THE BASEMENT DOOR
Chapter 66 Darkness swallowed the house so quickly it felt intentional, precise, engineered, timed down to the heartbeat. Naomi’s breath hitched as the lights blinked off, leaving only the thin silver glow leaking through the cracks around the boarded windows. Maya grabbed her hand. Elena stumbled back, hitting the wall with a soft thud. Harris didn’t yell. He didn’t panic. He spoke with the cold authority of someone who had rehearsed this moment in nightmares. “Stay close. Move now.” He switched on a small tactical light clipped to his vest. A tight white beam cut through the dark, trembling slightly with his breath but steady enough to guide them. He led them toward the kitchen, toward the cellar door that sat half-hidden behind an old, dust-covered shelf. Another click cracked through the house. This one louder. Deeper. Mechanical. Elena flinched. “What is that? What did they turn on?” Harris didn’t look back. “A lock. Or a trigger. Either way, it means we’re running out
THE MAN IN THE TUNNEL
Chapter 67 The tunnel twisted like a throat carved beneath the earth, narrow and damp, the air thick with dust stirred by the collapse above. Naomi’s lungs burned as she sprinted forward, boots slapping the cold concrete. Behind her, Maya and Elena followed close, their breath ragged, their shadows flickering in the dim emergency lights lining the walls like dying fireflies.“Harris,” Maya gasped. “We have to go back for him,”“No,” Naomi said, voice cracking but firm. “He told us to run. You know what that means.”Elena flinched at the truth in those words.If Harris was still alive, he was buying them seconds.If he wasn’t… then he had already given everything he could.The tunnel sloped downward, the angle steeper than Naomi remembered from the old schematic Harris had shown them weeks earlier, back when hiding underground was still a theoretical fear, not a reality closing in on their heels.A deep metallic groan echoed through the tunnel walls.Not structural.Mechanical.Maya s
THE CITY THAT LISTENS
Chapter 68 The alarms didn’t scream. They breathed. A low, rhythmic pulse rolled through the tunnel, red light waxing and waning as if the walls themselves had a heartbeat. Naomi stood frozen, every instinct tearing her in opposite directions, run, fight, scream, deny. The man before them hadn’t moved, yet the space felt smaller with each pulse, compressed by his presence. Maya tightened her grip on Naomi’s arm. “Naomi,” she whispered, “say something.” Naomi swallowed. Her mouth tasted like copper. “Don’t, don’t let him separate us.” The man smiled faintly at that, as if she’d solved a riddle too late. He lowered his hand, and the alarms softened, settling into a steady hum. “I won’t,” he said. “Not yet.” Elena’s voice trembled. “You said he was dead.” “I said the case was closed,” Naomi replied. “I said the evidence ended him.” Her eyes never left his face. “I never said the truth did.” He inclined his head, acknowledging the distinction. “Truth is inefficient,” he said. “I