The rain had eased by the time Ethan led them out of the depot, but the city still glistened beneath the streetlights. Water ran along the gutters, carrying ash from the burning church toward the storm drains. Behind them, the false signal continued through the underground passage, drawing whoever was tracking the drive away from the depot.It would buy them minutes.Perhaps less.Ethan had learned not to confuse time with safety.He crossed the street first and checked the parked cars before allowing Luca to follow. Elena came behind him, her attention moving between the rooftops and the dark windows of the buildings around them.No one spoke until they reached the next block.Luca kept one hand inside his jacket, where he had hidden the photograph and the Iron Circle communicator. He looked too young to be carrying evidence capable of bringing down powerful men, but Ethan had already learned not to mistake youth for helplessness.“You said the signal would lead them into the tunnel,

Ethan closed his hand around the communicator.The trap was already waiting.Rainwater slipped from the bridge above them and struck the pavement in slow, uneven drops. Beyond the shadows, the northern district glowed beneath the city lights, its towers and government buildings rising through the mist.Somewhere inside the Kane House compound, Colonel Nathaniel Cross was being held at gunpoint.Somewhere else, the people who had taken him were watching Ethan decide what to do.“You are not going alone,” Elena said.Ethan looked at her. “That was the condition.”“It was the trap.”“Those are not mutually exclusive.”Luca pushed away from the wall. “I’m going.”Ethan turned toward him. “No.”“They know what I saw.”“That is why you are staying behind.”“No.” Luca’s voice shook, but he did not retreat. “That is why I am part of the plan.”Elena watched him carefully. “Luca—”“I have spent five years running from people who want what I remember.” He looked at Ethan. “If I stay behind, the

“Welcome back, Commander.”The drainage door unlocked.Ethan did not touch it.For several seconds, no one moved. The narrow entrance stood beneath the compound wall, its old steel surface slick with rain, while the lock mechanism clicked softly in the darkness.Behind him, Elena raised her weapon.“That is not an invitation,” she said.“No,” Ethan replied. “It is proof they have been waiting.”Luca held the Iron Circle communicator between both hands. Its screen had gone black, but the speaker inside the device still whispered with static.The compound wall towered above them. Cameras sat beneath the concrete ledges, their red indicators moving in slow arcs. Every few seconds, one turned toward the drainage entrance, paused, then shifted away.Ethan studied the pattern.“They are giving us a window.”“They are giving you a window,” Elena corrected.“I know.”“You do not have to enter.”“Cross and Victor are inside.”“And the people holding them know exactly how badly you want them.”

The observation-room door clicked shut.For one second, neither Ethan nor Elena moved.Then the locks engaged.Metal bolts slammed into place above them, below them, and somewhere inside the walls. The sound rolled through the corridor like the closing of a vault.Elena turned toward the access panel. “Move back.”She pressed her palm against the scanner.**ACCESS DENIED.**Her expression hardened. “That is impossible.”A red line appeared beneath her name.**ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY SUSPENDED.**At both ends of the corridor, heavy doors began sliding down from the ceiling.Ethan looked at the narrowing gaps, then at the black monitor inside the observation room.“The feed was bait,” he said.Elena drew her pistol. “Luca was on that screen.”“His image was.”“You think they manufactured it?”“I think they wanted us to believe he was here.”The first security door dropped halfway.Beyond it, boots struck the floor in measured unison. The officers had resumed their advance.Ethan crosse

The red marker crawled across the map.Ethan leaned over the console at Sector Nine. “How far ahead?”Elena checked the transfer data. “Twelve minutes.”“Then we leave now.”He copied the station’s active files onto a drive and pulled it from the console. The monitors flickered as the connection began shutting down.One red marker remained on the screen.Ethan watched its pulse.“Wait.”Elena turned toward him. “What?”“That is not a body signal.”The marker moved too smoothly. Its interval never changed, even when the route crossed sections where the relay coverage should have weakened.Ethan enlarged the trace. The system showed a biometric tag attached to the transfer.“Someone put a relay beside Luca,” he said.“So they are leading us away from him.”“Maybe.”“You still want to follow it?”Ethan looked at the signal. Beneath the regular pulse, a weaker pattern appeared every six seconds.Irregular.Uneven.Alive.“Luca is close to the device,” he said. “The signal is carrying his