The cabin felt different after they took Leo. Empty. Wrong. He stood outside in the rain, staring at the road where the truck disappeared. His clothes were drenched. He didn't seem to care.Elena was inside with Maja and Lars. Maja had her arms around Lars. She wasn't crying. She was just sitting there, holding him, staring at the wall. His breathing was slow. Too slow. Like he was trying to disappear.I stood by the window. Borealis was at his tablet, pulling up files, checking cameras, trying to find something. Anything.Caiman came back from checking the perimeter. He shook his head. No tracks. No sign. Nothing."They had help," he said. "Inside help. Someone knew where we were."Borealis looked up. "The backdoor in the system. The one I found before. Someone on our end."Elena turned from the kids. Her voice was flat. "Who?""I don't know. But they're good. Better than me."Kenji walked in from the porch. Water dripped off him onto the floor. He looked at Borealis. "Find them!”"I

The van left the main road and entered a dirt path. There were no lights or signs on the track that went through the hills. Borealis was in the back seat, looking at the tablet. He said, "Two more miles." At the end of this track is the safe house.Kenji drove slowly. The headlights didn't cut through the dark very well. The track was not smooth. There are rocks, mud, and puddles from the rain. Maja was sleeping next to Elena. Lars was lying on the floor between Caiman's feet. Borealis looked at the screen.I asked, "is there any change with the signal?"Borealis shook his head. "Still moving north toward the coast."Elena said, "They are leading us."Kenji did not answer.The safe house was a stone cottage at the edge of a loch. Dark water. Dark hills. No other buildings. No lights anywhere. Kenji parked the van and turned off the engine.We sat there for a minute just listening. Nothing.Caiman got out of the van first. He checked around the cottage. He came back and nodded.We carr

The morning after we got Leo back, the cottage was quiet. Not the good type of quiet. It was the type where everyone is waiting for something to break.Leo was asleep on the bunk. His face was still bruised. His lip was still split. But he was breathing. He was alive. Maja sat on the floor next to him with her back against the wall watching his chest go up and down. Lars sat across from her with his arms around his knees. He was not looking at Leo. He was looking at the floor.Elena was in the kitchen. She was making food nobody was going to eat. Borealis was at the table with his tablet. Caiman was by the door. Kenji was in the corner sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. He had not slept. None of us had.Elias arrived at dawn. He walked in without knocking. He looked at Leo. Then at Kenji. Then he sat down at the table.He said "we need to talk."Kenji looked up. "About what."“About what comes next,” Elias replied.Elena brought tea. She set cups on the table. They al

The water was colder than I thought it would be. It was dark in a way that felt heavy. Like it was pushing against your eyes. We had been in it for twenty minutes already. The island was still ahead of us. Lights on the dock. Guards were moving around the edges.Borealis spoke through the earpiece. "The submarine is two hundred meters south of where you are. Tied to the seafloor. You should start seeing it."Kenji was ahead of me. Caiman on my left. Elena on my right. We moved slowly and quietly. The current kept pulling at everything we were carrying.Then I saw it. A dark shape underneath us. A small metal sub. A private submersible. Elias's contact had left it there for us. The hatch was already open.Kenji went down first. Then I followed. Caiman. Then Elena.Inside was tight. Four seats. A control panel. Screens showing the island from below. Kenji pulled the hatch shut and the water drained out of the cabin.Caiman went through the systems. "The air is fine. Power is fine. We ca

The plan was simple. Hit the server room. Destroy the archives. Wipe every backup of every stolen mind. No more transfers. No more resurrection for the rich.I laid out the map on the table. The safe house was cold but the fire was burning. Everyone was gathered around. Kenji stood across from me. Elena to my left. Caiman by the door. Borealis with his tablet. The kids were in the back room but Maja had her ear pressed to the door. She always listened.I pointed at the building schematic. "The server room is underground. Sub-level three. Reinforced walls. Independent power supply. We hit it first, then everything else collapses."Kenji studied the map. "How do we get in?"I traced a line with my finger. "Service tunnel. Same as last time. But the entrance is on the north side. We'll need to disable the cameras."Borealis looked up. "I can blind them. Give you a ten minute window."I shook my head. "Not enough. We need fifteen.""I can try.""Try harder."Borealis nodded.Elena said