The blade flashed in the air.“Forgive me” Ryker whispered “Forgive you?” Skye exclaimed She pulled the Lotus dagger back. ​She spun on her heel and delivered a brutal horizontal slash. The blade through Ryker's tuxedo. It carved a bleeding trench across his right bicep.​Ryker gritted his teeth.​He crossed his forearms over his chest to protect his vital organs.​The black Lotus toxin boiled in his veins. The poison acted like liquid lead inside his bloodstream. Every single muscle in his body screamed in protest.​"They made us sleep on the bare concrete," Skye shrieked.​She pivoted and drove her elbow into his wounded left shoulder. Ryker let out a sharp gasp. Fresh hot blood spilled down his arm and dripped onto the white carpet.​"The syndicate guards threw buckets of freezing water on us to wake us up," Skye wept with every vicious strike. "We huddled together just to keep our hearts beating."​Ryker absorbed the blows. The damage meant nothing compared to the horror of her

"The bedrock is failing."Vesper screamed over the deafening roar of grinding stone.The fortress was tearing itself apart. The Vanguard siege and the unleashed floodwaters destroyed the structural integrity of the mountain. Massive fissures opened along the thick titanium walls."Move him," Vesper ordered her operatives.Four elite Vanguard soldiers grabbed the thick straps of Ryker's vest. They hauled his paralyzed body down the shaking corridor. The black Lotus toxin kept his legs dead and useless.Chloe sprinted right behind them. She gasped for air in the dust filled tunnels.The stone floor buckled beneath her feet. Dust choked her lungs. She could barely see Vesper ahead of her in the dim emergency lighting.The mountain groaned like a dying beast. A deafening crack echoed above her. The stone ceiling gave way.A heavy chunk of jagged granite plummeted from the dark. It struck Chloe directly on her left side.Snap. The impact fractured her forearm.Chloe cried out in sudden bli

The heat scorched his blood.Ryker Zhao sat on the floor of the back bedroom. He folded his legs into the tight lotus position.Empty glass vials and crushed remnants of premium herbs littered the floor around him. Thick white steam radiated from his broad bare shoulders.He forced his inner Qi through his damaged meridians. The golden energy acted like an incinerator. It actively hunted the black Lotus toxin inside his nervous system.The poison fought back. It sent sharp agonizing spikes of pain down his spine. Ryker gritted his teeth and pushed harder. He refused to be weak.He thought of his little sister chained to the vault wall. He thought of General Vyke holding the black detonator.The blinding rage acted as an accelerant. The golden energy burned brighter. He turned his own body into a blazing furnace.Dark purple veins receded from his neck. The paralyzing numbness in his lower spine began to melt away. The heavy dead weight in his legs vanished.Ryker flexed his right hand

"I heard the beggar finally woke up."​The voice echoed across the hospital lobby. Chloe turned her head and held her fracture tight against her ribs.​Mike Donavan strolled out of the staff wing wearing a coat. As the son of the chief director he operated this hospital like his own kingdom.​He used his father's medical empire to trap desperate families in debt, and he stopped near the triage desk to look at Chloe. He ignored the bone pressing against her skin before shifting his gaze down to the wheelchair to see Ryker sitting in the seat.​Mike laughed, and the sound carried across the waiting room.​"You spent three years crying in my office over this piece of meat," Mike mocked. "He is awake. But he is still in a chair. He is useless."​Chloe felt a surge of disgust. Mike had pursued her relentlessly during Ryker's coma. He used the mounting bills as leverage to offer debt erasure in exchange for her body, but Chloe rejected him every single time.​She chose to work extra shifts

"Trace the signal right now."​Ryker pressed the phone to his ear while the police sirens wailed outside the glass doors of the hospital.​Vesper spoke through the speaker and confirmed the cyber division was actively hunting the broadcast origin. She watched the television feed air across the national networks, and she recognized the lie General Vyke told the public.​"He bounced the transmission across a dozen orbital relays," Vesper explained over the line. "He is trying to mask his coordinates from our satellites."​"Break the firewalls," Ryker commanded his shadow commander.​"My slicers are bypassing the defense grid as we speak," Vesper promised. "We will find the origin point of the broadcast. We will locate Skye before sunrise."​"Do not engage the federal troops until I arrive," Ryker instructed.​"We will wait for your order," Vesper agreed. "We will bring her back."​Ryker ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket, knowing he needed the coordinates before he cou