Lucas sat in the passenger seat of Naomi's car, staring out the window as she drove downtown. Neither of them had slept. They'd spent all night researching the Syndicate, finding nothing, watching Lucas's decoy system pretend to be scared while his real work happened underneath.Forty hours left."You don't have to tell her anything," Naomi said, breaking the silence. "Chen doesn't need to know about Maya.""She already knows." Lucas pulled out his phone. Showed Naomi the text that had come through an hour ago from Agent Chen. We need to talk about the Syndicate. And your sister. 10 AM. Don't be late.Naomi's hands tightened on the wheel. "How does she know?""FBI's been monitoring Syndicate communications. They probably intercepted the same messages I got." Lucas put his phone away. "Or they've been watching me closer than I thought.""What are you going to tell her?""I don't know yet."The federal building loomed ahead. Glass and steel and the particular kind of architecture that w

Lucas called Agent Chen from the car.She answered on the first ring. "Lucas. Where are you?""Driving to a warehouse. Syndicate location. They moved up the deadline. I have three hours to show up alone or they kill Maya."Silence. Then: "Give me the address."Lucas rattled it off. Heard Chen typing in the background. "That's industrial district. We've had that area flagged for months. High criminal activity. Suspected Syndicate operations.""Can you get a team there?""I can have SWAT in position in forty minutes." Chen's voice was all business now. "But Lucas, if you go in there...""I know. I'm bait. But it's the only way to get Maya out.""Then you go in wired. Full surveillance. Tactical support. The moment we have a visual on your sister, we extract both of you.""Agreed.""Where are you now?""Ten minutes out. Naomi's with me.""Naomi shouldn't...""Naomi's coming," Lucas interrupted. "Non-negotiable."Chen was quiet for a moment. Then: "Fine. But she stays in the van with our

Byte showed up at the mansion at 2 AM carrying three laptops and looking like he hadn't slept in days.Lucas opened the door. "You look terrible.""Thanks. You look worse." Byte pushed past him into the house. "Where can we set up?""Study. This way."They walked through the quiet mansion. Everyone else was asleep. Just Lucas awake, sitting in the dark, staring at the countdown timer on his phone.Twenty-eight hours left.Byte spread his equipment across William's desk. Cables. External drives. A portable server that looked like it had been assembled from spare parts."I've been digging since you mentioned the Syndicate," Byte said, fingers already flying across keyboards. "Found their server hub. Took me forty-eight hours but I found it."Lucas leaned over his shoulder. "Where?""Dockside. Warehouse district. Abandoned building that's not actually abandoned." Byte pulled up satellite images. Security camera feeds. Network traffic analysis. "They're hiding in plain sight. Just another

Night had fallen by the time they pulled up two blocks from the warehouse.Lucas sat in the back of Robert's car. Beside him sat Marcus Chen, the ex-Navy SEAL Robert had hired. In the driver's seat was Marcus's partner, a woman named Sarah who'd done three tours in Iraq and looked like she could kill you with a spoon."Eyes on the target," Marcus said quietly. Binoculars up. "Count six guards outside. Four on the ground. Two on the roof."Lucas looked through his own binoculars. The warehouse sat dark against the night sky. Exactly as Byte's satellite images had shown. No visible changes.But something felt wrong."Too many guards," Lucas said. "For a supposedly abandoned building.""Agreed." Marcus scanned the perimeter. "Cameras on every corner. Motion sensors on the fence. This isn't amateur hour. Whoever set this up knew what they were doing."Sarah spoke up from the driver's seat. "Guard rotation every thirty minutes. Like clockwork. Professional. Military training."Lucas watche

The phone call ended and Lucas stood there staring at nothing.Around him the room had gone completely silent. Marcus and his team. Robert. William. Byte. Naomi. All of them watching. Waiting.Naomi spoke first. "What did she say?"Lucas put the phone down. "Midnight tomorrow. The warehouse. I'm supposed to come alone.""You're not going." Naomi's voice was flat. Final."I have to.""No you don't." She stood up. Crossed her arms. "It's a trap, Lucas. You heard Maya. She chose them. This whole thing is designed to get you inside that building. The moment you walk through that door...""I know." Lucas looked at her. "But it's also the only way to get answers. The only way to know for sure if Maya really chose this or if they broke her somehow.""And if they did break her? If she's been brainwashed or manipulated for fifteen years? Walking in there alone won't save her. It'll just get you killed.""She's right," Marcus said from across the room. "Tactical perspective, this is suicide. Th