The paper strip slipped from Tari’s fingers as the printed ink stared back at us with cold, impossible reality.My father was supposed to be dead. For sixteen years, Zara had told me that the high board executed him when the original council fell apart. She told me his name was wiped from every public database in the country to keep us safe from people like General Kalu and Director Vance. But the signature at the bottom of the digital transfer notice was fresh, encrypted with the exact frequency of the vessel, and stamped with an active transit code from Sector Nine in Abuja."This is a trap," Zara said instantly, stepping forward and snatching the paper from the metal console. Her face had gone completely pale, her dark eyes wide with shock as she stared at the signature. "Kalu is dead, but his network had secondary servers. This is just a trick to draw

The countdown timer on the small data pad blinked red against the dark background, ticking down from ten minutes with cruel, unstoppable speed.My mother was alive.For sixteen years, I had carried the heavy burden of her supposed death, believing the fire in Abuja had wiped out my entire family before I ever really knew them. I had trusted Zara's words, letting myself believe we were survivors of a tragedy. But right there on the screen, sitting in cold iron chains inside a high-security bunker, she looked up at the camera lens with familiar, tired eyes.Beside her sat the man who called himself my father, wearing the dark ink patterns of the vessel across his skin just like me, smiling into the lens as if he were welcoming a guest to a family dinner."Turn it off," I s

The heavy vault door clicked shut behind us with a loud, final sound, sealing off our only exit from the underground chamber.My father stood in the center of the room, tall and composed, his skin covered in the same glowing black ink patterns that burned across my own arms. He did not look like a captive who had spent sixteen years trapped in chains. He looked like a king standing in his own throne room, watching his final plan fall neatly into place.Beside him, my mother raised her head slowly from the metal chair. The tired look in her eyes vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp expression that matched his. She unbuckled the leather straps around her wrists with a casual flick of her fingers, stood up, and brushed down her jacket without a trace of weakness.Zara stopped dead in her tracks, her pistol still pointed

The small communicator in Zara's hand felt like a live bomb ticking in the quiet lift.The cold voice had barely finished speaking before the speaker cut off with a sharp static click, leaving us trapped in the smooth, ascending hum of the elevator. My chest tightened. I stared at the metal doors, my fists clenching so hard the dark ink beneath my skin flared up in a bright, warning glow."Geneva," Zara said, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife. She stared down at the small device in her hand as if she wanted to crush it. "They think destroying Sector Nine makes you the new king of the board. They think you will just step right into your father's seat.""I am not going to Geneva," I said, keeping my voice low and steady. "I spent sixteen years cleaning floors for people who thought they could own my l

The private jet slammed down onto the hidden mountain runway with a violent jolt that threw us hard against the cabin seats.Outside the small windows, blinding white snow swirled in a furious blizzard, hiding the steep cliffs of the Swiss Alps. The engines screamed as the pilot fought to keep the heavy aircraft from skidding off the icy concrete, finally bringing the nose to a grinding halt right in front of a massive steel fortress built directly into the side of the mountain."They hacked our manual controls the second we crossed the border," Yetunde said, her fingers flying across her satellite laptop as she tried to force a reboot. "Our flight system is locked tight. We cannot take back off."Zara did not panic. She stood up smoothly, checked the clip of her heavy pistol with a sharp click, and looked toward th