Ethan moved just as Unit One drove the knife toward her throat.He caught her wrist inches before the blade touched skin. The impact rattled both of them. The knife trembled between her fingers, its edge pressing hard enough against her neck to leave a thin white line.For a second, neither of them moved.Then the implant struck again.Unit One cried out. The sound was raw, torn from somewhere deep inside her. Her body convulsed as invisible currents ripped through her nervous system. Blood spilled from her nose, tracing a dark line down her lips before dripping onto Ethan's hand."Release me," she gasped."I won't.""You have to."Her voice cracked. "They're inside my head."The speakers answered as if they'd been waiting."Override unsuccessful.""Escalating neurological correction."Unit One screamed.Her knees buckled, dragging Ethan down with her. Every muscle in her body locked so tightly that her shoulders shook. Veins stood out along her neck, and her breathing came in ragged

The footsteps never changed pace.Each one landed with quiet certainty, echoing through the tunnel beyond the vault. Whoever was coming wasn't running toward the fight. They weren't hurrying to rescue anyone. The measured rhythm carried a confidence that settled over the room like another layer of dust.Ethan remained beside Unit One.Her pulse fluttered weakly beneath his fingertips. She was alive, but only just. The scorched skin behind her right ear smelled of burnt metal and singed flesh. Tiny curls of smoke still drifted from the ruined implant."Can you hear me?" he asked.Her eyelids trembled.No answer.Sophia knelt beside him, tearing a strip from the lining of her dress. The expensive fabric ripped with a harsh sound that seemed strangely loud in the ruined chamber. She folded it carefully and pressed it against the blood running from Unit One's ear."She's burning up."Number Zero crouched opposite her."The implant overloaded. If we're lucky, it destroyed itself before it

The first blast door slammed shut somewhere deep beneath the estate.The metallic impact rolled through the underground complex like distant thunder. A second door followed. Then a third. Each heavy collision carried through the concrete, reminding everyone in the vault that the countdown wasn't a threat. It had already begun.No one spoke.Unit Two's question still lingered in the air.Did we ever have birthdays?Number Zero looked away first. Her composure held, but Ethan saw the tiny tremor in her hand. It wasn't fear. It was memory—or perhaps the realization that there were memories she'd never been allowed to have."I don't know," she admitted at last.Her voice was quiet."So they took that from us too."Unit Two lowered his knife.He wasn't looking at anyone now. His eyes drifted across the ruined chamber, taking in the shattered pillars, the blood on the floor, the broken files scattered across the concrete. His gaze finally settled on Unit One, who still lay unconscious besid

The footsteps faded into the darkness.Sophia stared at the drifting cloud of dust where the silver-haired man had been standing only seconds before. There was nowhere he could have gone. The vault had only one visible exit, and Captain Rowan's operators had been watching it the entire time.Yet he was gone."He escaped," Scarlett said through clenched teeth.Captain Rowan shook his head."No."He swept his flashlight across the ruined chamber."Someone planned this route years ago."Another violent tremor rolled through the underground complex.The emergency lights flickered twice before one entire row went dark. Concrete dust poured steadily from fresh cracks spreading across the ceiling.The computerized voice returned."Forty-five seconds until structural failure.""We move," Rowan ordered.Ethan nodded once.He slipped the brass key into his pocket before helping Unit One to her feet. She swayed immediately, and Sophia caught her before she collapsed."You shouldn't be standing."

The siren echoed through the ancient tunnels again, low and steady, vibrating beneath their boots before fading into the maze of stone. It wasn't especially loud, but something about the sound made the silence afterward feel heavier. Captain Rowan's operators instinctively tightened their grips on their rifles, eyes scanning every dark corner as if expecting the walls themselves to move.Gabriel lifted the old lantern a little higher. Its amber glow barely reached beyond the nearest stretch of tunnel, revealing damp brickwork slick with moisture before darkness swallowed the passage again. The air smelled of wet earth, rust, and machinery that hadn't truly stopped running in decades."We don't have much time," he said.Ethan stepped closer. "You said there were lower levels. What are they?"For several moments Gabriel didn't answer. The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he stared into the darkness, as though he were looking at memories instead of stone."The world believes the Sele