Vincent’s smile was predatory. Satisfied. Like a chess master watching his opponent realize checkmate was inevitable.“She’s returning now,” he said, pulling up another screen. Live feed from a surveillance drone. Offshore camera showing Mei’s boat cutting through water toward the island. Maybe ten minutes away. “She doesn’t know I’m tracking her. Doesn’t know she’s sailing into her execution. Perfect.”Kai stared at the screen. Mei navigating carefully. Focused on reaching the island. On deploying Derek’s biometric forgery. On stopping Protocol Omega. Completely unaware she was being watched. Completely unaware of what Vincent was demanding.“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” Kai asked. “How do I know you’ll actually stop Protocol Omega if I kill her?”“You don’t. But what choice do you have? Forty minutes until activation. Forty minutes until Julie dies. Lila dies. Everyone dies. Unless you do this. Unless you prove loyalty.” Vincent gestured to the screens. “Kill Mei. Prove you

The first shot shattered the quiet like glass breaking under pressure.Alarms screamed to life instantly, red lights flooding the corridors of Vincent’s compound. Steel doors slammed down in distant wings, sealing escape routes. Somewhere overhead, automated turrets began rotating, searching.Kai did not flinch.“Contact front,” he said, already moving.Mei sprinted beside him, clutching the slim black tablet against her chest as bullets chewed into the wall behind them. The hallway exploded into motion. Guards poured from side corridors, boots pounding, weapons raised.Kai fired in controlled bursts, every shot deliberate. One guard went down. Then another. He grabbed the fallen man’s rifle without slowing and kept moving.“Server level is two floors down,” Mei shouted.“I know,” Kai replied. “Stay behind me.”They turned hard left into a narrower passage. Gunfire chased them. Concrete dust filled the air, burning Mei’s lungs. Her heartbeat roared louder than the alarms.A guard lung

Kai and Vincent crashed to the floor. Tangled. Fighting. Brutal hand-to-hand combat. No weapons. No tactics. Just violence. Survival. Desperation.Vincent was seventy but trained. Decades of experience. Muscle memory from a thousand fights. He twisted. Leveraged. Used Kai’s momentum against him. Professional combat. Efficient. Deadly.Kai was younger but wounded. Bullet in abdomen. Blood loss severe. Strength fading with every second. Every movement agony. Every breath struggle.They rolled. Grappling. Each trying for dominant position. Each trying to kill. Each refusing to lose.Vincent got a hand on Kai’s throat. Squeezing. Crushing windpipe. Kai gasped. Vision darkening. Oxygen deprivation adding to blood loss. Death approaching from multiple angles.Kai drove his elbow into Vincent’s ribs. Hard. Brutal. Breaking something. Vincent grunted. Grip loosened. Kai broke free. Rolled away. Gasping. Bleeding. Barely conscious.Mei recovered. Head clearing from the wall impact. She saw the

The server room was silent except for labored breathing. Kai and Vincent. Both wounded. Both exhausted. Both refusing to surrender.Vincent leaned against the wall. Blood seeping from multiple injuries. But conscious. Alert. Still calculating. “You’ve won nothing. I have backups. Protocol Omega is one system. One architecture. I have others. Failsafes. Contingencies. Networks you’ll never find.”Kai kept the weapon trained on him. Steady despite the pain. Despite the blood loss. “Then we’ll destroy those too. One by one. However long it takes.”“You can’t stop what I built. The Consortium was just the beginning. Just one organization. There are others—governments, corporations, intelligence networks. They’ll continue my work. They share my vision. My architecture. You kill me, they adapt. They survive. They win.”“Then we’ll fight them all.”Vincent laughed. Weak. Bitter. Blood on his teeth. “For how long? Years? Decades? Until you’re old like me? Broken like me? You’ll spend your who

The speedboat screamed across dark water. Engine at maximum. Structural integrity compromised. Fire spreading from the engine compartment. Greek helicopter directly overhead. Machine gun tracking. Targeting.Muzzle flash. Bullets hitting water. Spray everywhere. Close. Too close. Getting closer.Mei threw herself over Vincent’s unconscious body. Shielding him. Protecting the evidence. The prisoner. The testimony. Despite everything he’d done. Despite everything he represented. He was needed alive.“One mile to border!” Kai shouted over the engine noise. Over the gunfire. Over the chaos.Greek naval vessel closing from the east. Fast. Professional. Trying to intercept before the border. Before escape. Before international waters provided sanctuary.Then, ahead, silhouette emerging from darkness. Large vessel. Military profile. Turkish naval patrol. Positioning itself. Creating barrier. Between pursuit and border. Between Greek aggression and Turkish sovereignty.International standoff.